SDG Blog
Every month, UN DESA’s signature SDG Blog brings you a fresh perspective on one of the 17 most pressing challenges faced by the world today. From grassroots activists to presidents and from top UN officials to international sport stars, the SDG Blog brings together the insightful, surprising and inspiring ideas on how we can achieve humanity’s shared objective – prosperity for all on a healthy planet. Immerse yourself in the big ideas of our time.
2024
A sustainable future must respect Indigenous Peoples' worldviews, ways of life and rights
By Dario José Mejía Montalvo, Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
The recent sessions of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) have addressed crucial issues and persistent and emerging challenges for the realization of Indigenous Peoples' rights. For example, during the 2022 session, amidst the pandemic, the main theme was "Indigenous Peoples, business, autonomy and the human rights principles of due diligence including free, prior and informed consent".
Marginalized communities are not voiceless; it is time for us to listen
By Jean Quinn, Executive Director, UNANIMA International; Chair, NGO Committee for Social Development
The CSocD is certainly one of the busiest and most engaging times for our committee and as Civil Society representatives here at the UN. Ahead of the CSocD, we meet with Member States to discuss advocacy priorities and share about our work.
Development Prospects for Africa in the Context of the Global South
By Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, Chief Executive of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Member of the United Nations High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs
Africa’s development journey has a long way to go still. The institutional capacity of many states to effectively deliver on the economic, social and environmental challenges that face them, often in the face of political instability, is limited.
Empowering Youth Voices: A Journey from COP28 to Local Action and Global Impact
By Asma Rouabhia, Global Focal Point SDG 7 Youth Constituency Major Group for Children and Youth
Empowering youth advocacy is transformative. For me, the opportunity to participate in COP 28 helped me understand the interconnectedness of global issues. It was not just impressive but profoundly impactful for me.
2023
Centering disability justice in the fight for climate action
By Edward Ndopu, UN Secretary-General’s SDG Advocate and award winning, internationally acclaimed activist and humanitarian
In my exploration of the critical intersection between disability and climate change, I’ve had a profound realization: disability issues are not peripheral but central, crucial for innovative approaches in our collective fight against climate change. At this pivotal moment, the urgency for action is palpable, yet a significant piece is often missing from our climate dialogue.
The Urgent Case for Information Integrity
By Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary-General of the UN Department of Global Communications
The case for information integrity has rarely been more compelling, or more urgent. In all my years in communications, I can’t say I ever worked in such a troubled environment – an information ecosystem so polluted that voices for positive change are struggling to make themselves heard.
Using the GSDR to guide a credible and effective second half of the 2030 Agenda
By Åsa Persson, Research Director and Deputy Director of Stockholm Environment Institute and member of the Independent Group of Scientists that prepared the 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report
Transformation is possible, and inevitable. This was the key message of the 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) that we in the Independent Group of Scientists presented to Member States.
Small Island Nations are at the forefront of our global crises: It’s time we follow their lead in shaping the solutions
By Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.
Over the past six weeks, the United Nations has facilitated an intensive round of consultations and meetings in the three regions of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the world.
Recommitting to finance the Sustainable Development Goals
By the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
The recently released ‘Report of the Secretary-General on Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals’ reminds us that it will take exceptional efforts and commitments to deliver a “rescue plan for people and planet.”
If we can rescue banks, we can rescue the hopes of developing countries
By António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations
The meltdown of several major banks in recent months made headlines around the world. More than $250 billion was mobilized during the course of just one weekend to protect banks in the United States and Switzerland.
How science, technology and innovation can be leveraged to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve the 2030 Agenda
By Ambassador Mathu Joyini and Ambassador Tom Woodroffe, Co-Chairs of the 8th Annual Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation for the SDGs
The STI Forum will explore concrete and pragmatic science-based solutions to some of the greatest global challenges. It will take us a step closer to the SDG Summit later this year and achieving the 2030 Agenda.
We must secure financing to prevent a sustainable development divide
By Navid Hanif, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, UN DESA
Financing for sustainable development has never been as important and urgent as it is now. To ensure that more humans around the world live a decent life, it is necessary to scale-up SDG investment.
We need actions and solutions that drive the change we need
By Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, Kingdom of the Netherlands and Sulton Rahimzoda, Special Envoy of the President of Tajikistan for Water
This month’s UN Water Conference comes not a day too early. We need actions and solutions that drive the change we need, that we can scale and replicate across the world. Water as a source of our life deserves to be highly respected, valued, and praised. Let’s be united for water action in New York in March and beyond!
Amid crisis there is reason to hope – if we come together to pursue social justice
By Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director-General, International Labour Organization
When we think of social justice, we think of fairness, of equality, of having the means – and the right – to a dignified life. Decent work is key to social justice, opening up a world of possibilities on food, health, education and a safe and clean environment.
Action, agility and accountability will help us deliver on the global goals
By Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General of UN DESA
Let us all come together, in the spirit of cooperation, collaboration and camaraderie, and work towards a world that is sustainable, inclusive and resilient, for current and future generations.
2022
The Sustainable Development Goals and a Longevity Agenda
By Andrew Scott, Professor, London Business School and Research Fellow, Center for Economic and Policy Research
An ageing society means mourning fewer infant deaths, fewer parents snatched away in midlife, and more grandparents meeting their grandchildren.
8 billion people, 8 billion opportunities
By Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Let’s plan for a future in which all 8 billion of us can fulfil our potential. By prioritizing the issues that impact the most vulnerable, we can support those bearing the brunt of the world’s most pressing challenges.
From the Internet Governance Forum to Our Common Agenda
By Krzysztof Szubert, High Representative of the Prime Minister for European Digital Policy, Republic of Poland
A positive vision for the future of digital services and the Internet itself must combine fundamental values such as human rights, access and openness, as well as economic considerations. Ensuring that all people have meaningful access to the Internet is a global priority.
Crisis in education for SDGs: The long-term impact of COVID-19 and the digital transformation
By Eun Mee Kim, President of Ewha Womans University
The promise of the Agenda 2030 to “leave no one behind” has never been so critical as it is now. The COVID-19 pandemic has left such a serious gap in education and gender inequality that reaching the SDGs by 2030 may be just a dream, unless we act now.
Population trends are both a key driver and a consequence of development
By Anastasia J. Gage, Professor, Department of International Health and Sustainable Development, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University
To achieve sustainable development, the world will have to lessen its impact on the environment. Environmental impact is driven not just by the number of people in the world but also by the way humans produce and consume goods and resources.
Now is the time to save our ocean and protect our future
By Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General of UN DESA and Secretary-General of the 2022 UN Ocean Conference
It is time to turn the tide. Now is the time to save our ocean, if we want to protect our future. For the sake of life on our planet – above and below water, and for current and future generations, let’s make this an event that will go down in history books for the way it changed our course.
An inclusive vision of computing will help us accelerate progress on the SDGs
By Josiah Hester, Assistant Professor, Northwestern University, and Director of the Ka Moamoa Ubiquitous and Mobile Computing Lab
Computing is all around us — health trackers on wrists, flow sensors on water mains, smart meters on power lines, pedestrian counting cameras in cities – sensors and smart devices are everywhere. This computational fabric is only growing and is crucial for sustainable development.
Financing for the way forward for sustainable development
By Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
As we call for closing vaccine and fiscal gaps in our economic stimulus packages, and for increasing support to countries’ suffering the brunt of the impacts of the war in Ukraine, our focus must be on directing investments to foster inclusive, sustainable, and resilient growth.
Healthy forests offer a path to a better climate and greener future for all
By Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, Director, United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat, UN DESA
Sustainably managing the forests we have, and restoring the health of forests that are degraded, is critical to closing the emissions gap and regaining balance within our natural ecosystems.
Partner with us for Partnership Forum 2022
By Collen Vixen Kelapile, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Partnerships mean different things to different people. To some, partnerships can mean sharing the financial burdens and profits of joint ventures. To others, partnerships may entail a deeper commitment to common objectives and working with others to find solutions to shared problems.
Ride the Rising Wave to the 2022 UN Ocean Conference
By Ambassador Peter Thomson, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean
For the future security of our species on this planet, it is vital, in the true sense of the word, that we stop the decline and work to restore a healthy Ocean.
2021
Building an open, free and secure digital future for all
By Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Officer in Charge of the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology
If you are reading this online, you are fortunate to have access to Internet. 2.9 billion people, particularly in Least Developed Countries, are not as lucky.
Impacting climate as a young innovator
By Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao, Founder of C2X and MIT Climate & Sustainability Consortium Impact Fellow
From a kid in a small village in China to Forbes 30 under 30.
Moving the world in the right direction
By Jean Todt, UN Special Envoy for Road Safety and Michelle Yeoh, UNDP Goodwill Ambassador
Join us on a journey across six areas of transport that are essential to move the world in the right direction.
Together, we can change the way we power the world
By Alok Sharma, President of COP 26
Together, we can revolutionise the way we power the world, leaving no one behind. Spurring growth and development, while protecting our planet for future generations.
Achieving SDG7 will put us on a pathway to net-zero
By Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO, Sustainable Energy for All
The energy transition story is a story of energy access. I’ve often said this, and it’s worth repeating. The climate crisis and the energy access crisis are intrinsically linked.
Ready to keep the promise of the SDGs
By Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General
How can this generation—coming of age in the middle of a pandemic, in a world facing gross inequalities, a climate crisis and an economic depression not seen in decades—be ready? How can any of us prepare for what comes next?
A recovery that works for everyone
By Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, World Bank
As the world continues to grapple with what it means to ensure an inclusive recovery, we must remember that persons with disabilities remain disproportionately excluded from accessing adequate health, education, transportation, and other basic services.
We need a green revolution for technology
By Daron Acemoglu, MIT Economics
Automation and AI (artificial intelligence) are fundamentally reshaping our labour markets, yet they are often seen as problems of developed economies of the West. That is a mistake.
The cool solutions to Africa’s burning problems
By Adekoyejo Kuye, Manamuz Electric, Nigeria
One third of the food produced globally for human consumption never gets to the final consumer. In Africa, the numbers are even more alarming. This is mainly due to the huge energy gap and the inefficient supply chain infrastructure.
Generation Equality Forum: A space for reflection, dialogue and commitment
By Nadine Gasman Zylbermann, Inmujeres, Mexico
The world has changed dramatically since 1995. Yet not one country has reached substantive equality between women and men. We live in a world where there has been important progress, but the Beijing Platform for Action is more current than ever.
The pandemic has revealed the true cost of inequality
by Agnes Kalibata, Special Envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit
In 2020, the entire world knew what it was to be hungry. Millions went without enough to eat, the many victims of COVID-19 were starved of air, and the lonely and remote were deprived of human contact.
New Year resolution: working together to achieve the goals
by Volkan Bozkır, President of the UN General Assembly
2020 was set to be a celebratory year for the United Nations as it turned 75 years old. Yet the globe was turned upside down by a virus which no one was prepared for. The year also marked a ten year countdown to 2030: the deadline to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.
2020
Covid-19 and the Green New Deal
by Mariana Mazzucato, University College London
The 21st century is increasingly being defined by the need to respond to major social, environmental and economic challenges. Sometimes referred to as ‘grand challenges’, these include the climate crisis, demographic challenges and promotion of health and well-being.
A wake-up call for a more united world
by Liu Zhenmin, UN DESA
The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world, but it has not broken us. Over a million people have died worldwide, and the death toll continues to rise. We must confront the onslaught of the pandemic with fortitude, resolve and unity, not with fear, division and despondence.
A healthy and green recovery: the future we want
by Poorvaprabha Patil, Medical Students Association of India and Sophie Gepp, Health for Future
The COVID-19 pandemic has been the worst health crisis since the Spanish Flu of 1918. With over 844,000 deaths, as of 30th August 2020, and slowing economies due to strict quarantine measures, human lives have been disrupted in more ways than one.
We need to kick our resource habit before it ruins us
by Izabella Teixeira, International Resource Panel
It’s the year 2060. In classrooms around the world, children learn about the apocalyptic climate catastrophe that had been threatening their planet just decades earlier and whose worst effects had been averted. Impossible? Not according to the latest science.
Responding to the crisis and building a better future
by Li Yong, UNIDO
Just as we entered the Decade of Action, determined to accelerate progress towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, the COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread loss of life and human suffering in all parts of the world.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the SDGs will help us build back better
by SDG Advocates Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway, and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana
Our world today is grappling with a crisis of monumental proportions. The novel coronavirus is wreaking havoc across the globe, upending lives and livelihoods.
We must act together to beat COVID-19 in Africa
by Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS
The COVID-19 outbreak has been placing unprecedented strains on sophisticated health systems in Europe and Asia, with overstretched medical staff struggling to treat their patients and intensive care facilities overwhelmed in rich countries.
COVID-19: We won’t improve global health one disease at a time
by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO
We are now confronting the defining health crisis of our time. We are at war with a virus that threatens to tear the world apart—if we let it.
Just keep fighting, you are not alone
by Marta Vieira da Silva, Brazil and UN Women
In 1995, I was a 9-year-old girl living in the village of Dois Riachos, in the Northeast of Brazil. At that early age, I was already fighting to have the same opportunities as boys. I wanted to be out there on the playing field and scoring goals...
The future of our planet depends on getting our cities right
by Maimunah Mohd Sharif
Every week, three million people move to our cities and towns across the planet. Over half the global population currently live in cities and towns – and this will rise to two thirds by 2050.
What gives me hope for the next decade
by Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, UN DESA
Reading the news these days can be a nerve-racking experience. The headlines tell stories of an unprecedented wave of protests and of wildfires, stoked up by climate change, that are engulfing the green lungs of our planet from the Amazonian rainforest to Australia. And yet, I remain hopeful for our common future. Here is why.
2019
Women need to be front and center in the energy transition
by Sheila Oparaocha, ENERGIA
Close to 1 billion people in the world lack access to electricity, and another 3 billion lack access to clean cooking. This energy poverty disproportionately affects women and girls.
Water and sanitation for all: letting data lead the way
by Gilbert F. Houngbo, IFAD, Chair of UN-Water
The sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6) aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030. So, four years into the SDGs, how are we doing?
First end hunger to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
by Máximo Torero, FAO
An astonishing number of people worldwide — about 820 million or 11 per cent of those alive today — don’t have enough food to eat.
How new data challenges perceptions of ‘rich’ and ‘poor’
by Achim Steiner, UNDP
Development is working. There has been a massive drop in global extreme poverty rates — from 36 per cent in 1990 to 8.6 per cent in 2018 — vastly increasing the economic and social opportunities for so many across the world.
Everything has to change for our planet to stay the same
by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations
The Italian author, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa once wrote that “if we want everything to stay the same, everything must change.” If we want our planet to remain the same – healthy and able to support prosperity and opportunity for all — we will have to completely transform our world.
From local to global: Sub-Saharan infrastructure saving Caribbean lives
by Natalie Draisin, FIA Foundation
Road crashes are the leading cause of death for children over the age of five. The majority of deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries despite the lower rates of motorization.
How accelerating action today can create a ripple effect for the future
by Liu Zhenmin, UN DESA
If we sow the right seeds of change and work hard over the next 10 years to help them flourish, then by 2030, everyone will reap the rewards.
It is time to “circle back” and transform the planet
by Joyce Msuya, UNEP
Someone very wise once said, “the best way to predict the future is to create it.” So, what does this mean practically for us?
What makes effective governance?
by Louis Meuleman, CEPA
How does one know when countries have implemented good governance? Although a cornerstone of all developmental efforts and the sine qua non of sustainability, governance is often nebulous.
Today’s youth are the cornerstone of tomorrow’s society
by Elliott Harris, UN DESA
Today’s youth are the cornerstone of tomorrow’s society. How well-equipped they are with education, skills and professional experience will determine their success and our future.
Empowering women to achieve the global goals
by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women
If you wonder why gender equality is so important, just try to think of any part of the world, or even any business, where it’s possible to say that we’ve already achieved it.