The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals out an ambitious vision of a world free of poverty, hunger, and disease, and also free of fear of violence – a world with universal literacy and equitable and universal access to quality education, healthcare, and social protection; with peaceful and inclusive societies. Julia Walker, Alma Pekmezovic and Gordon Walker, discuss the progress made in deciding these goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were developed through a bottom-up and consultative process, and are intended to be holistic and universal in nature, in the sense that they encompass social, economic, and environmental goals.
The SDGs were first formally discussed at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012 (Rio+20).
During the conference, the UN Member States agreed to establish an intergovernmental process to develop a set of ‘action-oriented, concise and easy to communicate’ goals to help drive the implementation of the sustainable development agenda. The UN’s Rio+20 outcome document, The Future We Want, also called for the goals to be coherent with the UN development agenda beyond 2015.
A 30-member Open Working Group (OWG) of the General Assembly was tasked with preparing a proposal on the SDGs, as well as a concrete list of targets and measurable indicators to ensure that progress against the SDGs can be tracked. On 25 September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly accepted the OWG’s proposals and used them as a basis for developing the 2030 Agenda.
The new SDGs came into effect in September 2015. They replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and, unlike the MDGs, apply to all countries including developed and developing countries, regardless of their level of development.
The goals and targets set out an exceptionally ambitious and transformational vision, envisaging a world free of poverty, hunger, and disease, and also free of fear of violence – a world with universal literacy and equitable and universal access to quality education, healthcare, and social protection, promising more peaceful and inclusive societies. The Preamble to the SDGs states as follows:
‘. . . We envisage a world of universal respect for human rights and human dignity, the rule of law, justice, equality and non-discrimination; of respect for race, ethnicity and cultural diversity; and of equal opportunity permitting the full realization of human potential and contributing to shared prosperity. A world which invests in its children and in which every child grows up free from violence and exploitation. A world in which every woman and girl enjoys full gender equality and all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment have been removed. . . .
We envisage a world in which every country enjoys sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and decent work for all. A world in which consumption and production patterns and use of all natural resources – from air to land, from rivers, lakes and aquifers to oceans and seas – are sustainable. One in which democracy, good governance and the rule of law, as well as an enabling environment at the national and international levels, are essential for sustainable development, including sustained and inclusive economic growth, social development, environmental protection and the eradication of poverty and hunger. . .
In its scope, however, the framework we are announcing today goes far beyond the Millennium Development Goals. Alongside continuing development priorities such as poverty eradication, health, education and food security and nutrition, it sets out a wide range of economic, social and environmental objectives. . . It also, crucially, defines means of implementation.’
World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future
The SDGs are more complex than the MDGs and significantly expand the scope of the former goals. According to The 2002 Convention for Cooperation in the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Northeast Pacific, the focus is not simply on development but sustainable development or ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’
Another definition used in the 2002 Convention for Cooperation in the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Northeast Pacific defines sustainable development as:
. . . the process of progressive change in the quality of life of human beings, which places them as the centre and primary subjects of development, by means of economic growth with social equity and transformation of production methods and consumption patterns, sustained by the ecological balance and life support systems of the region. This process implies respect for regional, national and local ethnic and cultural diversity, and full public participation, peaceful coexistence in harmony with nature, without prejudice to and ensuring the quality of life of future generations.
D. French, International Law and Policy of Sustainable Development
The concept integrates economic and social developmental as well as environmental protection. In addition to being a guiding principle in the SDGs, the notion of ‘sustainable development’ is part of the ‘object and purpose’ of a growing number of international treaties, and thus relevant to the interpretation of these instruments.
The term appears often in economic, social, and environmental treaties, which make explicit reference to developed and developing countries.
According to some commentators, the new SDG agenda is likely to displace current country groupings, such as developed or developing countries, with new country classifications according to variables such as: per-capita income levels (low, middle, or high-income countries), specific conditions (e.g. post-conflict, small-island, or landlocked), or specific problems (e.g. highly polluting, ecological footprint).
The new SDGs are formulated broadly and consist of 17 goals (16 substantive goals and one goal that calls for the ‘means of implementation’ to achieve the 16 goals) and 169 targets. Thus, SDG 1 calls for the end of extreme poverty and builds on the poverty-reduction efforts of the MDGs, while SDG 2 focuses on hunger eradication. Development under the new SDG agenda will commence once extreme poverty is eradicated. Other substantive goals include universal health coverage (SDG 3), universal quality education (SDG 4), ending gender discrimination (SDG 5), universal access to water (SDG 6), access to modern energy (SDG 7), sustainable economic growth (SDG 8), sustainable infrastructure (SDG 9), environmental sustainability (SDGs 11–15, e.g. reducing exposure to climate-related extreme events; combating climate change through low-carbon energy systems as addressed by SDG 13), and reduced inequalities (SDG 10).
These broad goals link with specific targets, and address a wide range of issues that are interlinked. For instance, Goal 1 (eliminating poverty) is related to inequality in Goal 10, which again is related to gender equality in Goal 5, which, in turn is related to decent work – Goal 8 – and quality education – Goal 4. The goals and targets should be viewed as an integrated, indivisible whole and not separately, and it is important to recognise the linkages between and within the goals.
A key difference between the SDGs and the MDGs is that the SDGs tackle a dual challenge: they seek to (1) overcome poverty (which is captured in SDG 1), and (2) promote sustainable development that encompasses economic, social, and environmental dimensions.
Sustainable Development Goal 8 specifically addresses the importance of sustainable economic growth, and refers to the importance of promoting development-oriented policies that support entrepreneurship and encourage the formalisation and growth of micro-, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MMSEs).
The achievement of SDG 8 will require effective domestic resource mobilisation (DRM) and extensive private sector investment.
This is an extract from Sustainable Development Goals: Harnessing Business to Achieve the SDGs through Finance, Technology and Law Reform, edited by Julia Walker, Alma Pekmezovic and Gordon Walker (Wiley, 2019).
