Goals to fight hunger, poverty, climate change in peril, world leaders warn
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The UN said this month that there are 745 million more moderately to severely hungry people in the world today than in 2015.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW YORK - World leaders meeting at the United Nations on Monday warned of the peril the world faces unless it acts with urgency to rescue a set of 2030 development goals to wipe out hunger and extreme poverty and to battle climate change.
Their declaration, adopted by consensus at a summit before the annual UN General Assembly, embraces a 2015 “to-do” list of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that include reducing inequality and achieving gender equality.
“The achievement of the SDGs is in peril,” the declaration reads. “We are alarmed that the progress on most of the SDGs is either moving much too slowly or has regressed below the 2015 baseline.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the summit of leaders that only 15 per cent of the targets are on track and that many are going in reverse.
Earlier this month, Mr Guterres called on Group of 20 leaders to ensure a stimulus of at least US$500 billion (S$680 billion) per year
The leaders are meeting in the shadow of geopolitical tensions – largely fuelled by the war in Ukraine – as Russia and China vie with the United States and Europe to win over developing countries, where achieving the SDGs is key.
“Instead of leaving no one behind, we risk leaving the SDGs behind... the SDGs need a global rescue plan,” Mr Guterres told the summit.
The UN said this month that there are 745 million more moderately to severely hungry people in the world today than in 2015, and the world is far off track in its efforts to meet the ambitious UN goal to end hunger by 2030.
The cost of meeting global targets rose 25 per cent to US$176 trillion during the year that ended in September 2022, with performance on several measures reversing, according to a report last year. REUTERS
