Step up efforts now — Guterres

Displays at the United Nations Headquarters in New York illustrate the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. UN photo

“The 2030 Agenda is coming to life,” declared United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, referring to the blueprint for a healthier planet and a more just world, as he launched the first Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit in New York.

However, despite encouraging progress, Guterres warned that much more needs to be done, and “we must step up our efforts. Now.”

The two-day summit, one of the five high-level summits and meetings taking place during the opening week of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, will allow leaders from government, business and other sectors to identify specific actions on the road to 2030.

Guterres reiterated some of the many aims from the Agenda — such as an end to extreme poverty and hunger, a low carbon economy, peaceful and just societies and human rights for all — and welcomed the progress being made globally, with governments beginning to integrate the SDG into their national plans and strategies.

However, he warned that the world is, so far, set to miss the deadline, citing deadly conflicts, the climate crisis, gender-based violence and persistent inequality: “half the wealth around the world is held by people who could fit around a conference table,” Guterres told the delegates, “and, at the current pace, almost 500 million people could remain in extreme poverty by 2030.”

Indicating the direction that discussions will follow over the two days, the UN chief called for global action in areas such as conflict prevention, development finance, and the climate crisis; local action to make a difference in people’s lives; and building up partnerships that include civil society, media, the private sector, academia and others.

The incoming President of the General Assembly, Tijjani Muhammed-Bande, told the delegates that he was encouraged by the discussion regarding SDG, that have taken place since the launch of the 2030 Agenda four years ago, and welcomed the adoption of the Summit’s political declaration, “Gearing up for a Decade of Action and Delivery for Sustainable Development.”

The declaration calls for enhanced action to achieve the Goals, with member states pledging to mobilize financing, enhance national implementation and strengthen institutions to achieve the sustainable development objectives of the Agenda and leave no one behind.