More and more countries are putting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the heart of their own national development plans, according to a new report that was issued at the United Nations on November 7.
To date, 64 countries have voluntarily reported on their implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, with 43 of them sharing their national experiences at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York earlier this year. Australia has so far not submitted a written report.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Liu Zhenmin, briefed the media on the Voluntary National Reviews Synthesis Report 2017, which provides a snapshot of the efforts undertaken by these 43 countries to place SDGs at the centre of their development planning, and assesses the challenges, opportunities and lessons to be learnt in the implementation of the Goals. Countries are increasingly using the 17 Sustainable Development Goals—adopted in 2015—in their own development planning to end poverty, address inequalities and tackle climate change by 2030.
This new report draws directly upon the written reports submitted by 43 countries, which contain a wealth of information full of country-specific qualitative details. Examples of actions taken by individual countries include the creation of a new cabinet body for SDGs, new communication and awareness-raising initiatives around the 2030 Agenda such as its integration into educational curricula, and the establishment of a National Pact for the SDGs that brings together all state institutions, including parliament, the judiciary, and the executive, as well as civil society and the private sector. These and many more concrete institutional and strategic responses to the implementation of the global agenda are outlined in the report.
Here is the link to the report:
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/17109Synthesis_Report_VNRs_2017.pdf
