Macroscope | Putting in place sustainable development goals at the UN
Goals seek to spur action and create sense of common purpose
At a United Nations Summit just over two weeks ago, governments adopted the Sustainable Development Goals to replace the Millennium Development Goals that were set for 2015. The goals reflect a perception of the most pressing contemporary social, political, and economic problems facing the world.
They seek to create awareness and a sense of common purpose to galvanise action. Specific goals are linked to measurable performance indicators.
The MDGs have received mixed reviews. They encompassed 8 explicit targets dealing with poverty, education, the empowerment of women, child mortality, maternal health, disease, environmental sustainability, and strengthened global partnerships.
The environment receives greater attention, with separate goals dealing with water, energy, the oceans and climate change
A UN report assessing progress cited a broad range of improvements in indicators. For example, the share of the population in the developing world living on less than US$1.25 a day – the threshold defining extreme poverty – fell from 47 per cent to 14 per cent between 1990 and 2015.
The report recorded similarly positive results across the spectrum of indicators associated with the 8, albeit linked targets.
But the same report recognised that much remained to be done. It noted that progress had been uneven among countries and regions. Others have argued quite explicitly that progress was very largely attributable to vigorous growth in China and India.
The UN also acknowledged that gender inequality persists, and that large gaps remain between the rich and poor. Continuing conflict blights a number of nations, and climate change is a growing threat.
Attenuated success with the MDGs made space for the SDGs. The SDGs are a lot more broadly based. They comprise 17 goals instead of the MDG’s 8, with no fewer than 169 sub-goals. The indicators for the SDG goals will not be fully developed until next year. All the MDG goals find expression in one way or another in the SDGs.
