24 September – 25 September • Trusteeship Council Chamber
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
● The SDG Summit is the first UN Summit on the Sustainable Development Goals since the adoption of the landmark 2030 Agenda in 2015. The Summit is a critical opportunity to accelerate progress on the 17 Goals and their targets.
● The Sustainable Development Goals provide a blueprint for the transition to a healthier planet and a more just world — for present and future generations. With concrete targets, the Goals aim to end poverty and hunger, expand access to health, education, justice and jobs, promote inclusive and sustained economic growth, while protecting our planet from environmental degradation.
● Action over the last four years is producing results, and buy-in across governments and other stakeholders for the 2030 Agenda remains strong. But far more needs to be done to achieve the Goals and leave no one behind.
● Conflict, climate change, lack of access to essential health services, growing inequalities and significant financing gaps have limited the impact of global efforts. The people left behind continue to suffer the most, including those in small island developing states, least developed countries and landlocked developing countries.
● The 2030 Agenda and its transformative Goals can still be achieved, but a much more urgent and ambitious response is needed.
● The SDG Summit will allow leaders from government, business and other sectors to demonstrate their continued strong commitment and identify specific acceleration actions that can help get the SDG response on track as we gear up for a decade of action and delivery, leading up-to the 2030 deadline.
WHAT IS THE FORMAT?
The Summit is structured along six Leaders Dialogues. Each of the Leaders Dialogues is to be chaired by two co- moderators at the level of Head of State and Government, one from a developed country and one from a developing country, to be selected by the President of the General Assembly.Themes of the Leaders Dialogues:
● Megatrends impacting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals
● Accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals: critical entry points
● Measures to leverage progress across the Sustainable Development Goals
● Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals
● Partnerships for Sustainable Development
● The 2020-2030 Vision
WHAT OUTCOMES ARE EXPECTED?
Expected outcomes include a Political Declaration (“Gearing up for a Decade of Action and Delivery for Sustainable Development”) as well as a series of SDG acceleration actions.
WHAT ARE THE LATEST FACTS AND FIGURES?
Globally, the number of people living in extreme poverty declined from 36% in 1990 to 10% in 2015. But the pace of change is decelerating. Projections suggest that 6% of the world’s population will still be living in extreme poverty in 2030 if current trends continue.
Despite earlier extended progress, the number of people suffering from hunger has been onthe rise for the third consecutive year. An estimated 821 million people were undernourished in 2017, up from 784 million in 2015. The proportion of stunted children has been declining since 2000, but 22% of children under 5 years of age were still chronically undernourished in 2018.
Maternal and child mortality rates have been reduced, life expectancy continues to increase globally, and the fight against some infectious diseases has made steady progress. Progress has slowed or stalled, however, on global efforts to eradicate other diseases, including malaria and tuberculosis.
Despite considerable progress in educational access and participation, 262 million childrenand adolescents (6 to 17 years old) were still out of school in 2017 — nearly one fifth of the global population in that age group. And more than half of all children and adolescents worldwide don’t meet minimum proficiency standards in reading and mathematics.
Fewer girls are forced into early marriage; more women are serving in parliament andpositions of leadership; and laws are being reformed to advance gender equality. Despite these gains, discriminatory laws and social norms remain pervasive, along with harmful practices and other forms of violence against women and girls.
While substantial progress has been made in increasing access to clean drinking water andsanitation, billions of people—mostly in rural areas—still lack these basic services. Two out of five people worldwide do not have a basic hand-washing facility with soap and water, and 9% of the global population still practiced open defecation in 2017.
More people are using electricity than ever before. Nearly 9 out of 10 people now have access to electricity. Energy efficiency continues to improve, and renewable energy is making impressive gains in the electricity sector. But three billion people still lack clean cooking fuels and technologies, putting at risk their health and the environment.
Economic growth in least developed countries is again on the upswing, with real GDP growth expected to climb to 5.7% in 2020, but still falling short of the 7% target. Unemployment is back to pre-financial crisis levels and labor productivity has been increasing worldwide, with consistently positive annual growth rates since 2010, but wide disparities can be found among regions.
Ever-increasing amounts of natural resources are used to support economic activity. The total amount of raw materials extracted to meet final consumption demands increased by 113% since 1990 – faster than both population and economic output. About one third of the food produced each year is lost or wasted, most of it in developed countries.
The share of manufacturing in least developed countries’ total GDP increased by 2.5% annually between 2015 and 2018, still too slow to achieve a doubling of the share in GDP by 2030. And while 90% of the world’s population lived within reach of the internet in 2018, only just over 50%, and only about 20% in LDCs, could afford to use the internet.
Income inequality continues to rise in many parts of the world, even though the poorest 40% of the population in most countries experienced income growth faster than the national average. The bottom 40% still received less than 25% of overall income. In many countries, an increasing share of income goes to the top 1%.
Since 2007, more than half the world’s population has been living in cities, and that share is projected to rise to 60% by 2030. Cities and metropolitan areas contribute about 60% of global GDP, but also account for about 70% of global carbon emissions and over 60% of resource use.
As greenhouse gas levels continue to climb, climate change is occurring much faster than anticipated, and its effects are evident worldwide. The global mean temperature for 2018 was approximately 1°C above the pre-industrial baseline, and the last four years have been the warmest on record. Sea levels continue to rise at an accelerating rate.
The extent of marine protected areas has doubled since 2010, but the rate at which key biodiversity areas are being protected has slowed. Ocean acidity is 26% higher than in pre- industrial times and projected to increase by 100% to 150% by 2100 at the current rate of CO2 emissions.
Human activity continues to erode the health of ecosystems on which all species depend. The loss of forests is slowing but continues at an alarming rate; one million plant and animal species are at risk of extinction, and an estimated 20% of the Earth’s land area was degraded between 2000 and 2015, directly impacting the lives of over one billion people.
The number of people fleeing war, persecution and conflict exceeded 70 million in 2018, the highest seen in almost 70 years. Murders of human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists are rising. And less than three quarters of children under 5 years of age worldwide have had their births registered, jeopardizing their individual rights.
Despite pledges to boost development financing, aid levels are falling. Net Official Development Assistance totaled $149 billion in 2018, down by 2.7% in real terms from 2017. Personal remittances from migrant workers abroad are becoming the largest source of external financing in developing countries. Effective mobilization of domestic resources, including through taxation, is critical to achieving the SDGs.