Mohammed Advocates New Approaches for Realising 2030 Agenda
Urges tangible actions to redirect major investment towards SDGs
Abimbola Akosile
The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, has called on governments and development stakeholders to adapt new approaches for realising the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.
Mohammed also urged stakeholders to take tangible actions to redirect major investment towards SDGs, at the opening of the 2018 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, held under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, in New York, USA, Monday.
In her remarks at the opening of the ministerial segment of the 2018 High-Level Political Forum, she called for re-aligning of plans and much wider action to move forward at the speed and scale required to ensure global sustainable development.
According to her, “Almost three years have passed since world leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda (for Sustainable Development), a road map for peaceful and prosperous societies on a healthy planet.
“The HLPF is our annual opportunity to take stock of implementation efforts responding to that road map. The six goals in focus this year are an engine for driving inclusive and sustainable growth. Above all the HLPF is an opportunity to respond to two central questions: first, are we on track to achieve our Goals by 2030? And second, what do we need do differently over the coming years to deliver better results?
“On the positive side, it is already clear that we are seeing evidence of progress in some areas - such as maternal and child mortality, tackling childhood marriage, expanding access to electricity, addressing global unemployment and cutting the rate of forest loss around the globe. But, it is equally clear that in other areas, we are either moving too slowly, or losing momentum. I saw these challenges first-hand in South Sudan, Niger and Chad”, Mohammed noted.
According to her, “For the first time in a decade, the number of people who are undernourished has increased - from 777 million people in 2015 to 815 million in 2016 - fundamentally undermining our commitment to leaving no one behind.
“Poverty is becoming increasingly urban, with most of the world’s extreme poor projected to live in urban settings by 2035. Young people remain three times more likely to be unemployed than adults. Access to water is improving, but basic sanitation remains off track.
“The rate of progress on access to energy, including renewable energy, is not fast enough to meet our target. We need to also double our efforts on energy efficiency. 250 million more people in Africa have no access to clean fuels for cooking compared to 2015.
“We are seeing alarming decline in biodiversity, rising sea levels, coastal erosion, extreme weather conditions and increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases. And we know that reducing biodiversity loss and stopping land degradation will require more than increasing protected areas and forest coverage.
“At the same time, we have not yet managed to unlock and direct the scale of the resources needed towards the financing of the sustainable development agenda. Indeed, ODA (official development assistance) commitments of 0.7 per cent of gross national income remain unmet by many countries. Therefore, even the call to leverage private finance using ODA would remain hollow if it remains unmet.”
The Deputy Scribe observed that “We have 12 years to realise the Sustainable Development Goals. That’s just 4,551 days left, or just over 3,000 working days if you insist on taking weekends off. The clock is ticking, but the transformation towards resilient and sustainable societies is not only still possible - it is an absolute imperative.
“The SDGs have already had a major impact on the thinking and actions of a wide range of stakeholders across the world. Governments have adapted plans and policies with the 2030 Agenda as their guiding light.
“New multi-stakeholder initiatives have emerged. New institutions have been established. Cities, local and regional authorities and some private sector actors - actors with immense influence on peoples’ everyday lives - are increasingly taking ownership of the Goals”, she added.
“But to move forward, at the speed and scale required, we need much deeper and much wider action. Just over one month ago, Member States approved an ambitious reform of the United Nations development system, to ensure that the UN can offer governments the right response and new tools to effectively implement the 2030 Agenda.