I N V E S T
&
d e v e l O P
EOPLE ,
LANET ,
ROSPERITY
AND PEACE
On 24 and 25 September 2019, heads of state and government will gather at the United Nations headquarters in New
York to follow up and comprehensively review progress in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The event is the first UN summit on the SDGs since
the adoption of the 2030 agenda in September 2015. So it’s probably a good time to review them and – along with the
rest of the world – assess the progress (or lack thereof) that we have made towards achieving the 17 goals.
The SDGs are – largely – a refinement and expansion of
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were
outlined in September 2000. While it was acknowledged
at the 2015 UN Summit that the MDGs had not all been
met, and that poverty, disease and other social ills had not
been eradicated, it was clear that some progress had been
made.
But it was also clear that the mostly social agenda of the
MDGs could not be achieved in isolation, so the SDGs
were created to bring about a new understanding of how
the different elements of development and sustainability
fit together. ‘We need a paradigm shift on development,’
says Msingathi Sipuka, SDG Advisor – UN Environment
Programme.
SDGs 101
Before we can even think about how we are going to
implement policy to achieve these goals, we need to
know and understand them. And, hey, guess what? Only
a handful of people can list all 17. You can soon join that
illustrious group.