# data[].attributes.headline
World leaders adopt Sustainable Development Goals

# data[].attributes.subject
World leaders adopt Sustainable Development Goals

# data[].attributes.body
~Josh

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
World leaders adopt Sustainable Development Goals

Sep 25, 2015

NEW YORK - At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015, more than 150 world leaders adopted the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will support governments around the world in tackling the new agenda and taking it forward over the next 15 years.

The 17 new Sustainable Development Goals, also known as the Global Goals, aim to end poverty, hunger and inequality, take action on climate change and the environment, improve access to health and education, build strong institutions and partnerships, and more.

"Ours is the last generation which can head off the worst effects of climate change and the first generation with the wealth and knowledge to eradicate poverty. For this, fearless leadership from us all is needed," said Helen Clark. "If the global community collectively is prepared to step up to the challenge of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, then there's a chance of achieving sustainable development - and with it better prospects for people and our planet."

With 50 years of experience supporting countries in their development, UNDP will be the first port of call for support for many governments as they implement the SDGs.

MDGs to SDGs

The SDGs build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight anti-poverty targets that the world committed to achieving by 2015. Since the MDGs were adopted in 2000, enormous progress has been made, but more needs to be done.

The SDGs have a more ambitious agenda, seeking to eliminate rather than reduce poverty, and include more demanding targets on health, education and gender equality. They are universal, applying to all countries and all people. The agenda also includes issues that were not in the MDGs such as climate change, sustainable consumption, innovation and the importance of peace and justice for all.

Social Good Summits around the world help make the Goals famous

To raise awareness around the newly adopted SDGs, UNDP is holding Social Good Summits in more than 100 countries, running parallel with the Sustainable Development Summit. UNDP will use the Social Good Summit's platform and audience to help governments and partners around the world launch the SDGs and help make the new Global Goals a household name everywhere.

UNDP's is also partnering with Project Everyone. Initiated by Richard Curtis, filmmaker and founder of Comic Relief, Project Everyone has a simple but mighty aim: to share the global goals with 7 billion people in 7 days.

UNDP key partner in defining conversation on SDGs

As the lead UN agency mandated to eradicate poverty, UNDP has had a central role in shaping the new global development agenda. UNDP helped governments get together with civil society, the private sector and with people around the world to decide what the world's priorities were for the SDGs and make the process to determine the 2030 agenda open, transparent and global.

Since 2012, UNDP has led the global conversation on what to include on the agenda on behalf of the UN Development Group. That conversation sought the views and contributions of people from all over the world, including more than 8 million people through the MY World survey and World We Want 2015 platform.

"UNDP are committed to a strong global partnership that is key to the realization of the new agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals," Clark said.

ABOUT UNDP

UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in more than 170 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.

Media contacts

Anjali Kwatra, Phone +212 906 6389, E-mail: anjali.kwatra@undp.org
Wynne Boelt, Phone: +212 906 6860, E-mail: wynne.boelt@undp.org

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
World leaders adopt Sustainable Development Goals

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit kicks off Friday, more than 150 world leaders will adopt the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will support governments around the world in tackling the new agenda and taking it forward over the next 15 years.

# data[].attributes.headline
8 Millennium Development Goals: What We Met And Missed

# data[].attributes.subject
8 Millennium Development Goals: What We Met And Missed

# data[].attributes.body
~Josh

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 Millennium Development Goals: What We Met And Missed

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The UN created eight "Millennium Development Goals" in the year 2000 in an effort to improve the lives of the poorest people around the world. The deadline was set for 2015. How far did we get, and how far do we have to go?

# data[].attributes.headline
Millennium development goals Snapshot 2014

# data[].attributes.subject
Millennium development goals Snapshot 2014

# data[].attributes.body
~Josh

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Millennium Development Goals Snapshot 2014

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
18 August 2014 marks the 500-day countdown toward the target date to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the end of 2015. This video provides a snapshot of what has been achieved so far and what needs to be done to reach the MDGs by the end of 2015.

# data[].attributes.body
~Josh

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
millennium development goals (film festival focus)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
We Can End Poverty: Millennium Development Goals and Beyond 2015

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Check out this new UN video explaining, through a child's voice, how the UN Millennium Development Goals are helping millions to fight poverty and hunger, reduce child and maternal mortality, prevent disease, promote education and more. Learn more at www.un.org/millenniumgoals Produced by the United Nations Department of Public Information in partnership with People's Television, Inc.

# data[].attributes.body
~ Josh

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Read the full-text Articles here: Infant mortality: http://bit.ly/1ueW9hG Maternal mortality: http://bit.ly/1oaSmxI and http://bit.ly/1TmQO2k With the upcoming 2014 World Health Assembly beginning May 19, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be a focus of the World Health Organization's health agenda. Reducing child and maternal mortality are key goals for health improvement.

# data[].attributes.body
-brenna

# data[].attributes.body
-brenna

# data[].attributes.body
-Brenna

# data[].attributes.body
By: Trynitie Magee

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The World Bank - Millennium Development Goals

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The World Bank's website on the Millennium Development Goals describes the eight goals and what the Bank is doing to meet them. The page discusses the Bank's unique position in monitoring and reporting on progress, and accommodates the public conversation happening around the MDGs.

# data[].attributes.body
Gender bias -brenna

# data[].attributes.body
By: Trynitie Magee

# data[].attributes.headline
UN Millennium Project: Goals and What They Are

# data[].attributes.subject
UN Millennium Project: Goals and What They Are

# data[].attributes.body
By: Trynitie Magee

# data[].attributes.body
The 8 main goals -brenna

# data[].attributes.headline
Towards a Better World: The New Suitable Development Goals and Why You Should Care

# data[].attributes.subject
Towards a Better World: The New Suitable Development Goals and Why You Should Care

# data[].attributes.body
By: Trynitie Magee

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I recently connected with Felix Dodds, a global sustainable development leader who has worked on sustainable development for more than two decades observing and participating in international development meetings, including the recently concluded negotiations on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, and asked for his take on the UN's New Sustainable Development Goals and why the business community should get behind them.

Terry Waghorn: These new Global Goals for Sustainable Development will replace the Millennium Development Goals at the beginning of 2016 - what is the difference between the Global Goals and the Millennium Development Goals and why should we care?

Felix Dodds: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were a result of the Millennium Declaration Heads of State agreed to in 2000. The MDGs were developed afterward by experts and focused action in eight areas only for developing countries. By 2011, it was clearer that in the future there couldn't be any development which was not sustainable development and that ALL countries needed to redress their development to keep it within what we were now calling planetary boundaries.

The approach by economists to the environment has been to treat it as a free resource until it was polluted or used up. For example, the Living Planet Index shows a decline of 52 percent in biodiversity in the last 35 years. We were seeing a crisis in so many areas - another example being that two-thirds of the world's fish stocks are either fished at their limit or overfished. Climate change is already being impacted across the planet with changes in weather patterns. The list could go on and does a. As governments started to realize the extent of the challenges we were facing, it became clearer that the only way forward was through an agreed global plan. Hence the 17 Global Goals and the 169 targets.

They are different than the MDGs because they apply to every country, and they don't just address development, but also economic and environmental issues and also governance. They particularly address the causes rather than what the MDGs did, which was to address the symptoms.

Waghorn: The 17 Global Goals cover such a wide range of issues is it possible to address them all?

Dodds: This will need to be a partnership between governments and stakeholders none of us can do it alone but together working to this new blueprint, which we all contributed to create. The September meeting was the first UN Conference I have gone to where there was no condemnation of the outcome by NGOs, because we were partners in the creation of the agenda. We have our marching orders and now we need to focus on creating partnerships to implement at the local, state and national levels. It's a very exciting time to be engaged in sustainable development.

Waghorn: How does this fit in with the Paris Climate Meeting?

Dodds: The planning for this year has been difficult, as there weren't two processes - but three - that all interlinked.

The first was the Financing for Development Conference (July 2015), which attempted to put together the menu for funding the Global Goals. The cost for these new Goals were estimated by Jeffrey Sachs of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network at $2-3 trillion a year. The conference also set up a technology facilitation mechanism, this is to help facilitate the transfer of new technology to developing countries and help them jump the dirtier technologies that the developed countries used in their developed.

The second was the Heads of State UN General Assembly session in September where they endorsed the 17 Global Goals and 169 targets.

The third and final is the December Paris Climate Conference. Paris will have to confirm the commitment made in Copenhagen in 2009 to $100 billion a year by 2020 (the US contribution in 2014 was $2.7 billion). It is expected that over the time the financing will be scaled up and the donor base expanded. A key aspect of moving forward is the mobilization and shift of investment needed to transition to a zero-emissions world this Century.

Paris will also have to agree on the greenhouse targets to come into effect in 2020. After the initial round of national contributions to greenhouse gas emissions (by 119 countries), it is clear it will not reduce global emissions enough to meet the goal of limiting warming to 2°C.

The outcome from Paris will be an agreement or treaty. The question is what will be the legal obligations within the treaty. The national contributions, which will continue to improve over time, are likely to be wrapped up in the outcome document. It will probably be left to governments individually to decide if they take it to their parliaments.

Parties will be obliged to increase ambition every five years with reference to the global goal of below 2 or 1.5 degrees.

What Paris will also agree is a robust transparency regime to provide the checks and balances. Every five years there will be a global stock take to assess progress and to recommend what is needed in the future - a cycle if continuous improvement.

This will put us on the right path. The next significant climate meeting will be in 2020 when the new agreement comes into force and that will be the time to announce stepper targets by a number of governments.

Waghorn: So what happens in 2016 with these new agreements? What role will business have?

Dodds: This is where governments will have to set up national processes to implement the Global Goals, the new menus for Financing for Development and the new climate change commitments. It will be important for parliaments to play a more significant role than in previous years, holding the executive accountable for the commitments they have made.

This will also impact on all stakeholders; I believe local and state governments will play a substantial role in the implementation of these new global agreements. For it to be successful, it will need to be a partnership with their local communities.

For business and industry, they will need to - if they are not yet doing it - produce their environment social and governance reports in a way similar to their economic reports. I can imagine by 2020 that it will be a requirement for companies listed on stock exchanges to produce their ESG reports. This is already happening in many countries such as Brazil, China, India and South Africa and will only increase and so it should. Investors want to know that the companies they are investing have a future. An example of this is the growing fossil fuel disinvestment campaign. These new agendas give business more responsibility but as it should be to quote Stan Lee 'with great power comes great responsibility.'

Finally I believe even in these challenging times we live in, the next generation needs to not become a generation of crisis, it needs to not be a generation of fear. It could, with these agendas, become a generation of hope and solidarity. Let's use these agendas to innovate to have the vision and the courage to make this a reality for every woman, man, and child in the world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Towards A Better World: The New Sustainable Development Goals And Why You Should Care

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I recently connected with Felix Dodds, a global sustainable development leader who has worked on sustainable development for more than two decades observing and participating in international development meetings, including the recently concluded negotiations on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, and asked for his take on the UN's New [...]

# data[].attributes.body
By;Trynitie Magee

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our strategic plan focuses on key areas including poverty alleviation, democratic governance and peacebuilding, climate change and disaster risk, and economic inequality. UNDP provides support to governments to integrate the SDGs into their national development plans and policies. This work is already underway, as we support many countries in accelerating progress already achieved under the Millennium Development Goals.

# data[].attributes.body
By most developed measures, the gap between developing and developed countries has narrowed.

The United Nations has set eight goals to further reduce the gap in development.