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The coming year marks the halfway point in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adopted by UN Member States in 2015, the 2030 Agenda set a target date of 2030 to achieve the 17 Goals to transform our world.
While the COVID-19 pandemic and other global crises have set us back, 2023 offers an opportunity to accelerate action to deliver progress for people and our planet.
Here are some key moments for sustainable development in 2023.
Getting back on track
The SDG Summit is a critical moment to watch in the coming year. During the United Nations General Assembly in September, the Summit will gather heads of state and government in New York to take stock and open a new phase of accelerated progress towards the SDGs.
In the lead-up to the Summit, the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in July will focus on hastening the pandemic recovery and getting back on track for the full implementation of the Goals.
Essential to delivering on the 2030 Agenda promise to leave no one behind, the 8th biennial High-level Meeting of the Development Cooperation Forum provides space for “reality-based, action-oriented and results-focused” dialogue on effective development cooperation. It will take place in New York in March.
Taking temperature
2023 is the starting point for implementing the new global biodiversity framework. Adopted at the UN Biodiversity Conference in December, the agreement sets a vision for all sectors of society working in concert to reshape our relationship with nature.
The first “global stocktake” of the Paris Agreement will be key to take the temperature of our planet. It may sound technical, but it's very simple: it will assess how effective countries' climate commitments, also called nationally determined contributions (NDCs), have been.
This first evaluation, which is an official process that will take place in June and then every five years, is what will inform the next round of NDCs in 2025. The conclusions will help draw the next steps, which will be discussed at the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) that will take place in November in the United Arab Emirates.
2023 will also be a year to take the temperature of other worlds. In May, the Global Space Conference on Climate Change will focus on "Fire and ice – planetary extremes in a changing climate”. The first conference of its kind, it will explore potential uses of space-based services to better understand and combat the climate crisis.
Breaking the cycle of crisis
Whether it’s violent conflicts, environmental disasters or political breakdown, more people are living in crisis settings than ever before. In the toughest of times, focusing on development helps countries break the cycle of fragility and invest in hope.
In 2023, we’re scaling up our work to prevent crises before they happen and working with other UN agencies and partners to achieve the UN Secretary-General’s vision for a New Agenda for Peace.
The FAO has declared 2023 the International Year of Millets, at a time when the war in Ukraine, one of the world's leading grain-producing countries, has caused disruptions in supply chains and contributed to a global cost-of-living and food insecurity crisis.
The International Year will spread the message about millet’s contribution to food security and nutrition and the need for further research to expand and improve sustainable production of one of the world’s oldest cultivated grains.
Today, one in four people around the world lacks safely managed drinking water, and 700 children die every day from diseases linked to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. In March, New York will host the UN 2023 Water Conference with the aim of advancing plans to achieve SDG 6.
Ensuring health care for all
For 2023 to be the year we end COVID-19, we must ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. But we can’t take our eyes off other health risks, such as cholera, a disease that is on the rise in countries like Haiti, Lebanon, Malawi and Syria.
To ensure that no one is left behind, in the upcoming year, we are championing efforts to achieve universal health coverage. Urgent progress on SDG 3 on health and well-being is essential to eradicate poverty and inequalities in all their forms and dimensions.
We must keep working to regain lost ground on HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases. The successful Replenishment of the Global Fund, the largest fundraising effort in global health ever, offers hope for progress against these deadly diseases and for better pandemic preparedness.
The UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage will be a key moment to scale policy and programmes to reach the health-related SDGs and deliver on the commitment to leaving no-one behind.
Changing norms, rebalancing power
Nearly every humanitarian and development challenge is worse for women and girls – just because they are women and girls.
In 2023, the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) will be a key moment to explore strategies to achieve gender equality. It will take place in March and will focus on how innovation and new technologies can boost women’s and girls’ empowerment. In this context, our new Digital Strategy 2022-2025 advocates for a gender-sensitive digital transformation.
Over the past two years, almost half of all women in the world reported that they, or a woman they know, experienced some form of gender-based violence.
In the year ahead, and for as many years as it takes, global actions to increase awareness, galvanize advocacy, and share knowledge and innovations will be essential to end this shadow pandemic. The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign in November is a good opportunity to do so.
"Believe you can and you're halfway there."— Theodore Roosevelt
Just seven years away from the end date of the 2030 Agenda, it’s tempting to see the SDG glass as half empty. Crises such as COVID-19 have posed new challenges to development cooperation and, at the same time, have exacerbated existing trends like growing inequalities.
But the SDGs remain our best chance to spread prosperity, security and human rights to all corners of the world. And 2023 brings the possibility to reset and recommit to this transformative agenda for humanity.
Source: Halfway there | 2023 | UNDP
Source: Halfway there | 2023 | UNDP
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