The Official UN Sustainable Development Goals For 2030 Agenda

These are the official 17 goals (simply referred to as the SDGs) for the new 2030 Agenda that was universally adopted by the nations of the world at the United Nations plenary meeting in New York on September 25, 2015.

Sustainable Development Goals (1/2016 – 12/2030)

Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries

Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*

Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

* Acknowledging that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change is the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating
the global response to climate change.

The asterisk on Goal 13 reminds the participants that it is the UN Framework on Climate Change (Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary) who will be in charge of “negotiating” and hence, enforcement.

These SDGs replace but do not invalidate the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were developed by the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000. In fact, the 2030 Agenda document itself makes this clear:

Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets which we are announcing today demonstrate the scale and ambition of this new universal Agenda. They seek to build on the Millennium Development Goals and complete what they did not achieve. [Emphasis added]

For comparison’s sake, here are the original nine MDGs that expire on December 31, 2015.

Millennium Development Goals (9/2000 – 12/2015)

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases

Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability

Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

The expanded SDGs will simply provide for more aggressive implementation of the Sustainable Development agenda on a global basis.

Nor do the SDGs replace Agenda 21 that was produced by the first Earth Summit held in 1992 in Rio. In fact, the SDGs are more inclusive of Agenda 21 than were the original MDGs.  The 2030 Agenda clearly states, “We reaffirm all the principles of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, including, inter alia, the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.”