Less than 4 years from the development goal deadline, progress shows what is possible

West African countries have increased domestic income by 0.5 percent of GDP every year over the last decadeissue Africa’s first SDG bonds in 2021 and use the resulting funds to expand access to education and drinking water, Aristide Medenou, Benin’s economic cooperation minister, said on Friday.

Access to drinking water there increased from 40 percent to 80 percent in the last five years, Medenou said, while new industrial zones launched in 2021 have created 25,000 jobs.

“If a country is unable to increase its domestic income, then that country cannot progress in implementing the SDGs,” Mr. Medenou said at the UN SDG Moment annual event ahead of the General Assembly’s High Level Week in New York.

Although the world is still far from achieving the SDGs, Medenou said Benin is a clear example of how governments translate commitments into useful policies.

Many goals went off the rails

In 2015, all UN Member States adopted it 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Developmentis committed to 17 SDGs that focus on issues such as eradicating poverty, protecting the earth, and ensuring lasting peace.

Member States set targets to achieve the goal by 2030. However, the UN latest progress report show that progress in achieving goals is slow and uneven – of the 139 targets with trend data available, 36 percent are on track or making moderate progress.

“Progress never happens automatically,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Friday. “This was achieved through the determination of society, community and country.”

SDGs create meaningful progress

At UN Headquarters in New York, UN officials and world leaders highlighted the progress made over the past decade – and the magnitude of the challenges that remain.

Nearly one billion people have gained access to safely managed drinking water since the SDGs were adoptedand 1.2 billion people have gained access to safely managed sanitation. Electricity now reaches 92 percent of the world’s population – up from 87 percent in 2015 – and internet access has increased from 40 percent to 74 percent.

However, 49 percent of the SDG targets with trend data available are these targets growing too slowlywhile 15 percent is below the 2015 baseline, according to the SDG Progress Report.

Food insecurity impacts 2.1 billion people by 2025 one in 10 people still live in extreme povertysaid President of the General Assembly Khalilur Rahman.

The world faces an annual SDG funding gap of $4 trillionwhile official development assistance falls by 23 percent by 2025. In many countries, debt payments exceed spending on social services.

Global temperatures are currently on track for a temperature increase of around 2.8 degrees Celsius this century, well above the 1.5 degree threshold set by the UN. Paris Agreement.

“This is a loss that many people cannot absorb,” Mr. Rahman said. “For most of us, sustainability is a matter of life and death.”

Young leaders are calling for action

Japan’s Suzuka Nakamura and Haiti’s Adelin Pierre, two UN Young Leaders for the SDGs, called on governments to act with the same urgency that led them to endorse the SDGs 11 years ago.

“To the leaders in this room and around the world, you made this promisesaid Ms. Nakamura. “We ask you to keep it.”

Mr Medenou also stressed the need to involve the private sector, and said the government “cannot do it alone.”

‘Strong obstacles’ to SDG progress

Guterres said the lives that have been improved through the implementation of the SDGs show that multilateral cooperation can produce real improvements when governments act.

He explained that achieving these goals had helped reduce child and maternal mortality, prevent millions of new HIV infections, and expand access to education, social protection, renewable energy and other services.

But that progress faces “major obstacles” such as conflict, weakening international cooperation, the climate crisis, attacks on the rights of women and girls, and debt and investment constraints, Guterres said.

“The promises made by the government in adopting these Goals were not kepthe said. “It’s time to put it away.”

Peace is a prerequisite

The Secretary-General emphasized the priorities of fighting inequality, protecting the planet, financing sustainable development and using all available tools and technologies to accelerate progress.

He called for greater investment in education and health, a just transition to renewable energy, stronger financing and debt support for developing countries, and greater “responsible” use of technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Mr. Guterres said Peace is the foundation and driver of sustainable developmentstressed that the world needs new efforts to ensure peace everywhere.

There’s still time

With four years left of the deadline, speakers stressed the need to turn commitments into results while reaching the most disadvantaged communities.

UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) President Amar Bendjama said progress can be achieved if ambition is aligned with implementation.

For the young leaders at the event, an impending deadline is not an excuse to abandon goals, but a reason to act with increasing urgency.

“There is still time to act, but we must move together,” Nakamura said. “We have not given up hope on the SDGs, and neither should you.”