Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. Underpinned by a strong resolve to ‘Leaving No One Behind', this agenda unfolds a holistic approach to let people thrive through policy interventions that promote equal opportunities for all by focusing on social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries, developed and developing, in a global partnership to create a better and more sustainable future for all.
With just under ten years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, world leaders at the SDG Summit in September 2019 called for a Decade of Action and delivery for sustainable development and pledged to mobilize financing, enhance national implementation and strengthen institutions to achieve the Goals by the target date of 2030, leaving no one behind. The 17 SDGs recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go together with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth - all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on all 17 SDGs have shown that what began as a health crisis has quickly become a human and socio-economic crisis. While the crisis is imperiling progress towards the SDGs, it also makes their achievement all the more urgent and necessary. Recent gains must be protected as much as possible. A transformative recovery from COVID- 19 should be pursued, one that addresses the crisis, reduces risks from future potential crises, and relaunch the implementation efforts to deliver the 2030 Agenda and SDGs during the Decade of Action.