The Global Goals for Sustainable Development are running with the success brought by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The MDGs radically reduced child mortality rates from 12.7 million in 1990 to 6.3 million in 2013. The same age group felt a drop in underweight children from 28% in 1990 to 17% in 2013. HIV breaks fell by 38% from 2001 to 2013, and tuberculosis and HIV-negative tuberculosis cases declined. The MDGs achieved its safe drinking water goal early on in 2010, but did not hit its sanitation target.

The United Nations Member States agreed to accomplish the eight MDGs in a 15-year period. By 2015, they found success in most categories, but came short in others.

The MDGs signal a huge accomplishment in developmental and humanitarian progress, and the Global Goals are looking to continue its legacy.

The Global Goals (GGs) are going to make this generation “the first generation to end extreme poverty, the most determined generation to fight inequality and injustice, and the last generation to be threatened by climate change.”

With 17 goals, the GGs will tackle what no other generation thought possible.

On September 25, 2015, 193 world leaders are signing onto another 15 years of global development. The GGs are no poverty, no hunger, good health, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, clean energy, good jobs and economic growth, innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption, to protect the planet, life below water, life on land,  peace and justice, and partnerships for the goals.

According to Amina Mohammed, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development Planning, the 17 GGs will “encompass the unfinished business of the MDGs” like ending poverty, hunger, gender discrimination, water and sanitation. Seven of the GGs address a “social agenda.” The economic goals include boosting infrastructure, energy options and pushing for equality. The “environmental agenda” includes improving urban conditions, “life on earth, above earth and underwater.”

Further, the GGs look at “the whole picture.” They deal with the economic, social and environmental sectors.

The major difference between the MDGS and GGs is that now, “we are talking about the universal agenda, so it is about everybody,” shared Amina. It is also an “integrated agenda” because “we are looking at countries that are looking to transform their economies, but not do so at the expense of people delivering services in health and education, and not to the expense of the planet.”

The environmental attention also differs from the MDGs and GGs. The GGs are giving a “deeper look at the root causes.”

This year, the United Nations is responding to the greatest call to action the world has ever seen.

– Lin Sabones

Sources: YouTube, Global Goals, UN, WHO
Photo: Photo: Global Citizen