The Sentinel

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Special Edition – 2 August 2015

Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] – Major Milestone Reached:
Intergovernmental Negotiations Lead to Consensus on SDG Goals/Targets/Declaration Text for full UN Action in September

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Editor’s Note:
Another major milestone in the SDG process was reached late Sunday, 2 August 2015, at the United Nations in New York as the Post-2015 Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Outcome Document [20 July – 2 August] achieved consensus on text for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

The Outcome Document (excerpts and pdf below) includes the continuing core 17 SDG Goals, along with 169 Targets supporting the Goals, and a Declaration of 91 articles outlining the vision, shared principles and commitments, means of implementation, and follow-up and review mechanisms.

This Outcome Document will be the basis for full General Assembly action and adoption in September, and, while that process may result in some minor changes, the General Assembly yesterday is expected to adopt the SDGs in this form.

A critical milestone will remain after General Assembly action in September.

Performance against the commitments of the SDG Goals and Targets will be measured by an indicator framework and specific indicators now in development by the UN Statistical Commission and its member-state statistical bodies. This work is scheduled to be completed in March 2016, and will then undergo additional review, refinement and eventual General Assembly action, probably later in 2016. With this indicator framework in place, the 2030 Agenda will be complete (structurally) and full implementation can proceed.

Our view is that the 2030 Agenda will become the unifying framework for global action across almost every sphere of endeavor involving member-states, governments at all levels, UN agencies, civil society (CSOs), industry and commercial entities, academia, and individuals.

We recommend that you invest the time to read the Outcome Document.

As we reflect on its text, we are asking this question: how might our work – and the work of colleagues, organizations and stakeholders we serve – contribute materially to realizing the SDG Goals and Targets, helping realize their overarching intent to “…end poverty and hunger, in all its forms and dimensions, and to ensure that all human beings can fulfill their potential in dignity and equality, and in a healthy environment…leaving no one behind” ?

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TRANSFORMING OUR WORLD:
THE 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
2 August 2015

Outcome Document from Intergovernmental Negotiations Process
Pdf [29 pages]: Transforming our world – Finalised text for adoption (1 August) ]

[Excerpts and Structure Notes]

Preamble
This Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom. We recognise that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.

All countries and all stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnership, will implement this plan. We are resolved to free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet. We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path. As we embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind.

The 17 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 these did not achieve. They seek to realize the human rights of all and to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. They are integrated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental.

The Goals and targets will stimulate action over the next fifteen years in areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet:

People
We are determined to end poverty and hunger, in all their forms and dimensions, and to ensure that all human beings can fulfil their potential in dignity and equality and in a healthy environment.

Planet
We are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations.

Prosperity
We are determined to ensure that all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives and that economic, social and technological progress occurs in harmony with nature.

Peace
We are determined to foster peaceful, just and inclusive societies which are free from fear and violence. There can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development.

Partnership
We are determined to mobilize the means required to implement this Agenda through a revitalised Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, based on a spirit of strengthened global solidarity, focussed in particular on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable and with the participation of all countries, all stakeholders and all people.

The interlinkages and integrated nature of the Sustainable Development Goals are of crucial importance in ensuring that the purpose of the new Agenda is realised. If we realize our ambitions across the full extent of the Agenda, the lives of all will be profoundly improved and our world will be transformed for the better…

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Declaration [53 articles including excerpts below]

The new Agenda
18. We are announcing today 17 Sustainable Development Goals with 169 associated targets which are integrated and indivisible. Never before have world leaders pledged common action and endeavour across such a broad and universal policy agenda. We are setting out together on the path towards sustainable development, devoting ourselves collectively to the pursuit of global development and of “win-win” cooperation which can bring huge gains to all countries and all parts of the world. We reaffirm that every State has, and shall freely exercise, full permanent sovereignty over all its wealth, natural resources and economic activity. We will implement the Agenda for the full benefit of all, for today’s generation and for future generations. In doing so, we reaffirm our commitment to international law and emphasize that the Agenda is to be implemented in a manner that is consistent with the rights and obligations of states under international law….

Sustainable Development Goals and targets
54. Following an inclusive process of intergovernmental negotiations, and based on the Proposal of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals1, which includes a chapeau contextualising the latter, the following are the Goals and targets which we have agreed.

55. The SDGs and targets are integrated and indivisible, global in nature and universally applicable, taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and respecting national policies and priorities. Targets are defined as aspirational and global, with each government setting its own national targets guided by the global level of ambition but taking into account national circumstances. Each government will also decide how these aspirational and global targets should be incorporated in national planning processes, policies and strategies. It is important to recognize the link between sustainable development and other relevant ongoing processes in the economic, social and environmental fields.

56. In deciding upon these Goals and targets, we recognise that each country faces specific challenges to achieve sustainable development, and we underscore the special challenges facing the most vulnerable countries and, in particular, African countries, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States, as well as the specific challenges facing the middle-income countries. Countries in situations of conflict also need special attention.

57. We recognize that baseline data for several of the targets remain unavailable, and we call for increased support for strengthening data collection and capacity building in Member States, to develop national and global baselines where they do not yet exist. We commit to addressing this gap in data collection so as to better inform the measurement of progress, in particular for those targets below which do not have clear numerical targets.

58. We encourage ongoing efforts by states in other fora to address key issues which pose potential challenges to the implementation of our Agenda; and we respect the independent mandates of those processes. We intend that the Agenda and its implementation would support, and be without prejudice to, those other processes and the decisions taken therein.

59. We recognise that there are different approaches, visions, models and tools available to each country, in accordance with its national circumstances and priorities, to achieve sustainable development; and we reaffirm that planet Earth and its ecosystems are our common home and that ‘Mother Earth’ is a common expression in a number of countries and region

Sustainable Development Goals
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.

Targets [169 targets articulating the Goals]

Means of implementation and the Global Partnership [21 articles]

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Additional Supporting Documentation of Final Intergovernmental Negotiations
:: Post-2015 intergovernmental negotiations, 20-24 July 2015
:: Post-2015 intergovernmental negotiations, 27-31 July 2015
:: Letter on the six themes for the interactive dialogues during the UN Summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda
:: Written Comments on Zero Draft made by Major Groups and other Stakeholders