UNGA adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

• The 193-Member United Nations General Assembly has formally adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, along with a set of bold new Global Goals.
• The new agenda document called “Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” was built on the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
• These goals will succeed 8 MDGs which was adopted in 2000 for fifteen years in Rio 20+ summit of United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.
• New agenda will address the three interconnected elements of sustainable development: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.
• It calls for action by all countries for all people over the next 15 years in five areas of critical importance: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership.
• The agenda recognizes that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with a plan that builds economic growth and addresses a range of social needs, while tackling climate change.
• The 17 SDGs and 169 targets of the new agenda will be monitored and reviewed using a set of global indicators.
• The global indicator framework, to be developed by the Inter Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators, will be agreed on by the UN Statistical Commission by March 2016.
• Governments will also develop their own national indicators to assist in monitoring progress made on the goals and targets.
• The follow-up and review process will be undertaken on an annual basis by the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development through a SDG Progress Report to be prepared by the Secretary-General.

The MDGs have proven that goal-setting can lift millions out of poverty. However, with 17 new SDGs that universally apply to all, countries can go further to end all forms of poverty and ensure no one is left behind.

Since the 1992 UN Conference on Environmental and Development – the Earth Summit – in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the world has identified a new pathway to human well-being, that of sustainable development. The concept of sustainable development, presented in Agenda 21, recognised that economic development must be balanced with growth that meets present generations’ needs and protects the environment, without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

By: Vishal