Emissions from a chemical factory fill the skyline on a cloudy day in Mumbai, India, July 5, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)
UNITED NATIONS – Speakers at a UN forum on sustainable development said on Monday that high-level political action and strengthened national plans must be implemented to achieve the 2030 Agenda.
"The world is crying out for high-level political action — action to make the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) a reality — for everyone, everywhere," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the opening of the ministerial segment of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) at the UN headquarters in New York, urging every government to come to the upcoming SDG summit with clear plans and pledges to strengthen action in their countries.
Noting that almost 600 million people will remain mired in extreme poverty by 2030, greenhouse-gas emissions continue to rise, hunger is back to 2005 levels and gender equality is 300 years away, the UN chief underscored the need for accelerated action, including through increased investments in sustainable development and climate action.
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Csaba Korosi, president of the UN General Assembly, pointed out that the timely implementation of the global goals is being hindered because "the international community inherited accumulated risks as well as old-fashioned policies, market regulations and institutions."
Further warming will increase the likelihood of irreversible changes in the climate system, Hoesung Lee warned, stressing that "the deep, rapid and sustained cuts to global greenhouse gas emissions are the best option" for sustainable development
Spotlighting a funding shortfall that has increased to $4.2 trillion a year now from $2.5 trillion before the COVID-19 pandemic, he stressed that the transition from these legacies requires "a huge amount of money."
However, the benefits of such changes would exceed investments.
"Let me invite our financing experts to calculate and quantify the benefits of sustainability transformation," he said.
Also addressing the opening segment, UN Economic and Social Council President Lachezera Stoeva highlighted the importance of local action.
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Aligning national priorities with global goals is paramount to ensuring a coherent approach to sustainable development. "We still have seven years and victories are within our reach," she said, encouraging local governments and communities to take ownership.
Hoesung Lee, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said that the global warming of 1.1 degrees Celsius has already brought about hazards to human life and the environment.
Further warming will increase the likelihood of irreversible changes in the climate system, he warned, stressing that "the deep, rapid and sustained cuts to global greenhouse gas emissions are the best option" for sustainable development.
At the outset, two youth representatives also addressed the forum, with Asma Rouabhia, global focal point of SDG 7 Youth Constituency, underscoring that youth want to contribute and lead, but need to be given the space to make an impact.
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Jevanic Henry, a member of the UN secretary-general's Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, said youth should not be "merely a sprinkled topping" in the development agenda, but rather part of the core group of governments, the private sector and development partners.
People try to cool down with chilled water outside the Justa Center, a day center for homeless people, on July 14, 2023, in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, United States. (PHOTO / AP)
In the ensuing "fireside chat" featuring scientists who author the Global Sustainable Development Report 2023, Imme Scholz said that renewable energies cannot exist in parallel to fossil fuel-based energy systems; they have to remove them.
The task now is to accelerate implementation in the right direction. Jaime Miranda, co-chair of the Independent Group of Scientists writing the Global Sustainable Development Report and head of the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney, Australia, pointed out that the seven years left until 2030 is "not seven years to despair" but can strategically shape the needed transformations.
"Science unites us and can help us find the path that brings us together, so we can work together for the common good," he said, calling on all to work and take informed decisions together.
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The HLPF, held from July 10 to 19 under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council, includes the three-day ministerial segment from July 17 to 19. The theme is "Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels."
The HLPF in 2023, without prejudice to the integrated, indivisible and interlinked nature of the SDGs, also reviews in-depth SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation, SDG 7 on affordable and clean energy, SDG 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure, SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities, and SDG 17 on partnerships for the goals.
