UN readies historic plan for well-being of people, planet

Negotiators from 193 UN member states agreed Sunday on a draft blueprint for sustainable development that will last through 2030, and the agreement will redefine how the global community works together to tackle poverty and improve living standards while protecting the environment.

The plan, known as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, called on countries and their citizens to respect and safeguard the planet, and recognizes that sound management of natural resources is the foundation of economic and social development.

The draft document outlines 17 ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ranging from issues of poverty, gender equality and economic development to climate change and ocean resource protection.

The SDGs are universal goals that will commit all countries to take action both within their own borders and in support of wider international efforts. Individual national commitments must add up to a worldwide result that helps all people and ensures a healthy environment.

The Agenda will be adopted at the United Nations Summit in September at UN Headquarters in New York. The SDGs, part of the post-2015 global agenda, is to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight anti-poverty targets to be reached by the end of this year.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the agreement, saying "This is the People's Agenda, a plan of action for ending poverty in all its dimensions, irreversibly, everywhere, and leaving no one behind."

Building on the successful outcome of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, the upcoming summit will chart a new era of sustainable development in which poverty will be eradicated, prosperity shared and the core drivers of climate change tackled, Ban said.

"Critically, the summit will also contribute to achieve a meaningful agreement in the COP21 in Paris in December," the secretary-general said, referring to the UN climate change conference to be held in France in a bid to reach an ambitious universal agreement on fighting climate change.

"I look forward to joining heads of states and government, civil society, faith and business leaders, and peoples around the world for the adoption of this new agenda in the historic Summit in New York," Ban said.

"I wish to commend member states for their leadership and commitment," the secretary-general added. 
    Xinhua - china.org.cn
3/8/15
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