The Sustainable Development Goals 2015-2030 (SDGs) are an ambitious initiative promoted by the United Nations (UN) that frame a joint commitment, at a global level, to achieve the eradication of poverty, the protection of the planet, guarantee universal peace, and a future sustainable development, and ultimately the transformation of our world.
They were set up on 25 September 2015 in the United Nations General Assembly celebrated in New York, where 193 countries sign a document entitled Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which stablishes an agreed blueprint -the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development- with 17 Sustainable Development Goals with 169 associated targets, it is intended to be achieved by 2030.
The main background of the SDGs can be found, on one hand, in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) held in 2012, where the idea of of the need to stablish certain sustainable development goals was already beginning to take shape. This idea was along the lines already highlighted in 1987 in the Report of the Chair of the Commission on Environment and Development of the UN by the former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. On the other hand, it is also based on the previous experience of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) stablished in 2000, although they were not achieved to the extent initially envisaged and were unevenly implemented, especially in the most disadvantaged countries, undoubtedly represented a substantial progress. Therefore, the new Agenda is based in the MDGs experience, aspiring to complete those goals that have not been achieved, but also innovatively incorporates new objectives in the economic, social and environmental spheres.
The Goals and targets of Sustainable Development are integrated and indivisible, and bring together three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. They are closely interrelated, which implies that those possible improvements and advances to achieve one goal will most likely positively affect aspects directly on indirectly related to another objective. In this sense, for example, the environmental improvements, such as reducing deforestation, are likely to have a positive impact on nearby populations, with improved air quality and an increased availability of natural resources.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals can be divided in five broad groups according to five different principles named in the 2030 Agenda, namely: people (SDGs 1 to 5), planet (SDGs 6 to 15), prosperity (SDGs 7 to 11), peace (SDG 16), and partnerships (SDG 17).
