Between September 19th-September 26th, 2023, World leaders convened in New York, United States of America, under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to engage in the annual high-level General Debate under the theme, “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress, and sustainability for all.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit occurred between September 18th and 19th. It began a new phase of accelerated progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals with high-level political guidance on transformative and accelerated actions leading to 2030. According to a report aptly titled Global Sustainable Development Report 2023, at the halfway point of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the world needs to catch up.
The report found that whereas the world has moved forward on some fronts, such as the deployment of zero-carbon technologies, progress has yet to be halted in many areas, such as affordable housing, ending malaria, and achieving food security. This is occasioned by a confluence of crises – COVID-19, rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, and planetary, environmental, and economic distress, along with regional and national unrest, conflicts, and natural disasters.
The High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, while acknowledging that ‘the achievement of the SDGs is in peril,’ committed to promoting a systemic shift towards a more inclusive, just, peaceful, resilient, and sustainable world for people and the planet for present and future generations.’
