In 2000, 189 UN member states agreed on 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to end poverty, controlling HIV/AIDS and ensuring the provision of universal Primary education by the end of 2015. These goals provided an essential framework to the member states to ensure significant progress and development along with the international community and stakeholders. However, the implementation, progress and outcome of these MDGs remained uneven globally, especially in the developing countries. Based on the MDGs, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were conceived with the extensive and wider scope in purview of the global and national indicators to reach out the most vulnerable peoples worldwide.
Henceforth, after the expiration of Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), the United Nations adapted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. SDGs are globally defined goals for over the next 15 years with the desired targets and indicators,where every nation is expected to use this framework to design their socio-economic development for the worldwide sustainable development. Beside SDGs emphasis on socio-economic development, it does focus on environmental, health, food and other areas with the significance to contribute in the well-being of human development. Compare to the MDGs, the SDGs are more comprehensive with the focus to end the extreme poverty worldwide. SDGs are directly linked with the socio-economic welfare, healthy environment and development. It requires involvement of wider stakeholders involvement in achieving the desired targets and it does also suggest to the member states to frame their own national indicators in light of the globally adopted indicators. The following 17 goals are adopted to reshape the world by 2030.
Sustainable Development Goals
Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
However, the implementation and successful tracking of each target and goal would make the dream come true of bridging the social and economic gap and addressing the environmental challenges. Moreover, the SDGs do not only indicate where we have to be in next fifteen years to be a sustainable world, but also outline the new opportunities for all the stakeholders all over the world. The SDGs are trusted to be the leading catalysts of transformation in the worldwide. Over the next 15 years, the SDGs are universally applicable to all the countries to mobilize their efforts, to eliminate all kind of inequalities, to end poverty, and address the climate change, by ensuring that on one in the world is left behind.