MDGs and SDGs

 

MDGs (millennium development goals) 

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the eight goals set by the 189 UN member states in September 2000 and agreed to be achieved by the year 2015. 

HISTORY OF MDGs:

The 20th century’s grand finale was fastest approaching, and the world was in disarray. global inequality, financial crises, HIV AIDS cancer epidemics all running rampart. how did the world get here and did the un have a solution? In 1983, the created the Brundtland commission as response to the global outcry on environmental economic and social challenges this commission produced the iconic report, our common future, where they popularized the term sustainable development. the un the further elaborated Brundtland report in an action plan called agenda 21. It was presented bat the UNs first earth summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 agenda 21 was a non-binding action plan for countries to execute sustainable development at the local national and international level. Despite agenda 21s good reception it failed. Large organizations did not embrace sustainable development and many developing countries thought they were predominantly drafted and represented by policymakers for rich developed countries. adding on to these global problems were starting to pile up all of this led to mistrust towards the un because how they handle the economic situation in the 80s and 90s. despite the un Mix track record in the twentieth century its core premise of “one country one vote” still gives them enough legitimacy to continue to reframe global debates. finally, the year 2000 had arrived a momentous calendar events what better time than this thought the UN to revise the term of global cooperation. The UN used his renewed spirit to make a global promise to reduce poverty and human deprivation at historically unpresented rates using different nations collaborative action the world would come to know this global commitment of the millennium development goals 191 united nations member states and 22 international organizations came together on the 8th of September 2000 in New York pledging to achieve the eight MDGs by 2015 the MDGs received a mixed reception people either viewed them as an optimistic blueprint for global equality or believed that they did not have any meaningful target, policies and actions. The MDGs were even seen as a new rationale for rich developing countries to promote the ideology of capitalism and globalization disguised as aid for developing countries.  despite this mixed reaction, the MDGs have still become the world central refence point for development cooperation.it packaged global critical issues on poverty hunger disease inequality and environmental degradation into easily understandable goals which in turns promote a global awareness despite the MDGs achievement they were widely criticized civil society groups were livid to see no mention of women’s reproductive health issues ,political conflicts ,employment or economic growth in any of the MDG target .even the UN high commissioner for human right criticized the MDGs for not aligning with global human rights standards and principles .but the worst was yet to come .the MDG agenda’s biggest criticism was how extraordinary narrow they were. they reflected a top-down process of a north south aid agenda sometimes referred to as the minimum development goals. Eight out of six MDGs were predominantly relevant to developing countries. This meant the UN and the rich developed countries only needed to invest in developing countries and did not have to change the status quo in their own nations this resulted in the MDGs not being connected to the world’s development priorities, as 2015 was approaching it was clear that the MDGs desperately needed a successor that were going to overcome the challenges that plagued them.

FAILURE OF MDGs: 

One of the major MDG failures is the fact that the success of the goals was not experienced equally across the globe; this in itself is a major defeat. Consider a few of these statistics from different countries concerning the same MDGs.

Extreme Poverty 50 Percent Reduction Rate:

1.       Southeastern Asia exceeded the goal for extreme poverty reduction by 16 percent

2.       Southern Asia exceeded the goal by 12.5 percent

3.       Northern Africa scraped by at about 1.2 percent

4.       Sub-Saharan Africa was by far the most behind. It did not even meet the goal for extreme poverty reduction and was 12.5 percent away from doing so.

The extreme poverty reduction goal of at least a 50 percent reduction in those living on $1.25 a day arguably had the best statistics for each country; from there it goes steadily downhill. This trend can be seen throughout the different Millennium Development Goals. Sub-Saharan Africa was far from reaching its goals, and not one country achieved the goal set for maternal mortality rate reduction.

 SDGs (sustainable development goal)

HISTORY OF SDGs: 

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

The SDGs build on decades of work by countries and the UN, including the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs

•  In June 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, more than 178 countries adopted Agenda 21, a comprehensive plan of action to build a global partnership for sustainable development to improve human lives and protect the environment.

• Member States unanimously adopted the Millennium Declaration at the Millennium Summit in September 2000 at UN Headquarters in New York. The Summit led to the elaboration of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce extreme poverty by 2015.

• The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development and the Plan of Implementation, adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa in 2002, reaffirmed the global community's commitments to poverty eradication and the environment, and built on Agenda 21 and the Millennium Declaration by including more emphasis on multilateral partnerships.

• At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012, Member States adopted the outcome document "The Future We Want" in which they decided, inter alia, to launch a process to develop a set of SDGs to build upon the MDGs and to establish the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. The Rio +20 outcome also contained other measures for implementing sustainable development, including mandates for future programmes of work in development financing, small island developing states and more.

• In 2013, the General Assembly set up a 30-member Open Working Group to develop a proposal on the SDGs.

• In January 2015, the General Assembly began the negotiation process on the post-2015 development agenda. The process culminated in the subsequent adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with 17 SDGs at its core, at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015.

• 2015 was a landmark year for multilateralism and international policy shaping, with the adoption of several major agreements:

• Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (March 2015)

• Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development (July 2015)

• Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 SDGs was adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York in September 2015.

• Paris Agreement on Climate Change (December 2015)

• Now, the annual High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development serves as the central UN platform for the follow-up and review of the SDGs.

Countries failing to achieve SDGs:

• World leaders are meeting on September 24 and 25, 2019, to discuss the progress and challenges for the SDGs at the UN headquarters during the 74th UN General Assembly. This is the first meeting to evaluate the SDGs after a four-year cycle of implementation and annual review at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
• The 2019 Social Progress Index, compiled by the US non-profit Social Progress Imperative, ranks 149 countries’ social performance over the past five years. The index uses indicators such as nutrition, shelter, safety, education, health, personal rights and inclusiveness.
• The index offers a comprehensive snapshot of a country’s overall progress towards the achievement of the SDGs. It forecasts that at current trends the world will not meet the SDGs 2030 targets even until 2073, more than four decades past their target date
• The data shows the biggest areas of underperformance are on measures related to water and sanitation, nutrition and basic medical care, and shelter.
• Personal rights have particularly declined, with 91 of the 149 ranked countries recording a fall in rights, with freedoms of religion and expression deteriorating the most.