At a two-day summit that begins on Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be trying to kick-start action to achieve the 17 goals adopted by world leaders in 2015, which developing countries in particular consider crucial to closing the widening inequality gap between the world's rich and poor countries.
The commitments were far-reaching and ambitious. Among them: End extreme poverty and hunger. Ensure every child on Earth gets a quality secondary education. Achieve gender equality. Make significant inroads in tackling climate change. Create 바카라universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all." And achieve all of this by 2030.
Halfway to that goal, progress is lagging badly 바카라 and in some cases going backward.
At a two-day summit that begins on Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be trying to kick-start action to achieve the 17 goals adopted by world leaders in 2015, which developing countries in particular consider crucial to closing the widening inequality gap between the world's rich and poor countries.
The goals, Guterres said, are 바카라about righting historic wrongs, healing divisions and putting our world on a path to lasting peace바카라.
A 10-page political declaration to be adopted by leaders at the start of the summit recognises that the goals are 바카라in peril바카라 and expresses alarm that progress is either moving too slowly or regressing to pre-2015 levels.
It reaffirms more than a dozen times, in different ways, leaders' commitment to achieve the SDGs, or sustainable development goals, reiterating their individual importance.
How can this be done in the next seven years?
A DECLARATION SHORT ON SPECIFICS
The leaders have committed to accelerating action. But the declaration they're working with is short on specifics.
At Saturday's start of an 바카라SDG Action Weekend", Guterres reviewed for activists the grim findings in a UN report in July: Only 15 per cent of some 140 specific targets to achieve the 17 goals are on track. Many are going in the wrong direction.
At the current rate, the report said, 575 million people will still be living in extreme poverty and 84 million children won't even be going to elementary school in 2030 바카라 and it will take 286 years to reach equality between men and women.
바카라The SDGs need a global rescue plan,바카라 the UN chief said. He called the summit "the moment for governments to come to the table with concrete plans and proposals to accelerate progress바카라.
It isn't just governments that need to step up, Guterres said. He urged activists as well as the business community, scientists, academics, innovators, women and young people to join in working to achieve the goals.
US First Lady Jill Biden echoed the secretary-general at a reception Sunday evening organised by the UN children's agency, UNICEF, for global champions of education. she said progress on achieving the SDGs 바카라looks steep바카라. But she said the United States 바카라will continue to be a partner will you every step of the way".
As an educator for 39 years, she urged every country's leader to invest in children, saying they will 바카라help us build a more peaceful, stable world바카라.
A PLAN TO CLEAR OBSTACLES FROM THE PATH
Guterres said the most important initiative to rescue the overall plan is the proposal of an 바카라SDG stimulus,바카라 which aims to offset challenging market conditions faced by developing countries.
It calls for immediate action in three areas:
바카라tackling the high cost of debt and rising risks of debt distress;
바카라massively scaling up affordable long-term financing for development, especially by public and multilateral banks;
바카라expanding contingency financing to countries in need.
A February UN report on the SDG Stimulus said debt is battering the economies of many developing countries. It said that as of last November, 37 of the world's 69 poorest countries were either at high risk or already in debt distress, while one in four middle-income countries, which contain the majority of the extreme poor, were at "high risk of fiscal crisis".
There are narrow rays of hope. Guterres said he was encouraged that at the recent meeting of the G20, the world's 20 leading economies welcomed the SDG Stimulus. And he said he's hopeful that the political declaration to be adopted by leaders on Monday will lead to major action.
The declaration says leaders will push forward the stimulus plan "to tackle the high cost of debt and rising risks of debt distress, to enhance support to developing countries and to massively scale up affordable long-term financing for development and expand contingency financing to countries in need바카라.
Whether those administrative promises and the momentum of a big week at the United Nations will translate into actual progress, though, remains 바카라 as before 바카라 deeply uncertain.