Will even one of the U.N.'s 17 'sustainable development goals' be met by 2030?
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one → meet → 2030
By any standards, it was an eye-popping to-do list.
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it → pop → standards
In September 2015, these were just some of the 17 goals that global leaders set for themselves to accomplish in the next fifteen years.
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leaders → set → years
The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, broken down into 169 targets, were meant to transform the world by 2030.
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Goals → break → 2030
A decade later, that deadline is closing in, but the world is nowhere near achieving much of what it promised.
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it → close → what
According to the U.N.'slatest assessment report"
- Just 15% of the targets for which sufficient data are available are on track.
- 21% are making moderate progress
- 32% are making marginal progress
- 17% are stagnant.
- And 15% have alarmingly slipped far below where they stood in 2015.
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they → accord → 2015
These numbers raise big questions.
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numbers → raise → questions
Can the world expect to tick some of those boxes before the deadline?
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world → expect → deadline
And if none of the goals are met, is the enterprise a failure?
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enterprise → meet → goals
While none of the SDGs goals are literally impossible to achieve, many require rates of progress that would be "historically unprecedented" — far beyond what even the fastest-improving countries have previously achieved, says Charles Kenny, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, a think-tank in Washington, D.C.
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Kenny → achieve → Washington
"In order to meet them, we'd have to see incredibly dramatic global policy change," he says.
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he → meet → change
Zero poverty, for instance, is a great goal to have, he says.
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he → have → instance
On the other hand, given the global system and political realities, the idea that we were going to get to zero by 2030 was really optimistic.
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we → give → 2030
"
There's no point in blaming the goal, experts say, when the actions of the global community don't match up.
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actions → be → community
"I don't want to let governments off the hook," Kenny says.
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Kenny → want → hook
But he points out: "the heads of countries that signed these goals then went back home and didn't do any of the things that might have helped speed it up."
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that → point → it
Wealthier countries could have accelerated progress by increasing development aid, expanding trade opportunities, increasing private investment in poorer countries, and allowing greater migration, Kenny says.
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Kenny → accelerate → migration
Instead, several of these trends have either stalled or moved in the opposite direction.
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several → stall → direction
But Kenny cautions that judging progress solely by whether countries are on track to meet those ambitious targets can obscure how much has actually changed.
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much → caution → targets
"One of the problems with setting really ambitious goals is you can be off track and yet making big progress," he says.
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he → set → progress
What's working?
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What → work → ?
This is especially true with some of the health goals, says Thoai Ngo, Professor and Chair of Population and Family Health at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, New York.
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Ngo → say → Health
"We do continue to see child mortality fall year after year, and life expectancy increase.
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expectancy → continue → year
We see more and more kids going to school.
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kids → see → school
There is a lot of progress," he says.
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he → be → progress
Some goals, such as gender equality, have had a domino effect, says Ngo.
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Ngo → have → effect
"We've managed to keep more girls in school, which has helped prevent child marriage and has improved the health of women in general.
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which → manage → general
"
"In my view, the goals worked where money, technology and political will lined up," says Paul Spiegel, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health.
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Spiegel → work → Health
Since 2015, he notes, roughly a billion people have gained access to safe drinking water, and 1.2 billion have decent sanitation.
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billion → note → sanitation
Electricity now reaches 92% of the world and 74% are connected to the internet.
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% → reach → internet
New HIV infections have fallen by 30%, and AIDS-related deaths by 35%.
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infections → fall → %
The proportion of births attended by a trained health professional is on track to reach 90%.
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proportion → attend → %
"For the first time, more than half of humanity has some form of social protection [such as a pension, cash assistance, maternity or disability benefits, unemployment support or health coverage]," he says.
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he → have → pension
The goals have provided a universal direction of where we want to get, they have inspired new partnerships and collaborations among different sectors, they have facilitated data collection and measurement, says Shirin Malekpour, associate professor of sustainability governance at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
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Malekpour → provide → Melbourne
"I see all of the above as facilitators of change," she says.
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she → see → change
Measuring the SDGs solely by how many targets have been met may miss what the goals were intended to achieve, says Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, professor emerita of international affairs at The New School, New York.
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Parr → measure → School
"It means that our actions have been inadequate to actually live up to our aspirations," she says.
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she → mean → aspirations
"But that doesn't mean we shouldn't have goals at all.
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we → mean → goals
It helps to think about these and to make an effort to take action."
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It → help → action
On a visit to Okayama in Japan this month, she was struck by how universities and the wider community had embraced the goals as a framework for sustainable development.
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universities → strike → development
…and 43 more, not listed.
The Aporia
