Now is the time to act

In September 2015, all 193 UN member states gathered at the General Assembly in New York and adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

This momentous agenda will serve as the launch pad for action by the international community and by national governments to promote shared prosperity and wellbeing for all over the next 13 years.

But what does Agenda 2030 mean in practical terms?

While ensuring that no one is left behind, countries will mobilise efforts to combat poverty, fight inequalities, ensure quality education to all, good health and wellbeing, decent work and economic growth, and tackle climate change and environmental protection, among other priorities. 

All 17 goals are universal: they apply to all; indivisible: they are not independent from each other and need to be implemented in an integrated manner; transformative: aiming to transform the world into a better one in 2030. 

All countries and stakeholders are expected to act in collaborative partnership to implement this plan by framing their agendas and political policies over the next 13 years. 

What are the elements underpinning the Sustainable Development Goals? 

The goals and targets will stimulate action over the next 15 years in areas of critical importance: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership. 

People: to end poverty and hunger, in all their forms and dimensions, and to ensure that all human beings can fulfil their potential in dignity and equality and in a healthy environment.

Planet: to protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations.

Prosperity: to ensure that all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives and that economic, social and technological progress occurs in harmony with nature.

Peace: to foster peaceful, just and inclusive societies free from fear and violence. There can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development.

Partnership: to mobilise the means required to implement this agenda through a revitalised global partnership for sustainable development, based on a spirit of strengthened global solidarity, focused in particular on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable and with the participation of all countries, all stakeholders and all people. So, now it is about implementation.

For the goals to be reached, all need to do their part: governments, the private sector, civil society and the people.

Change starts with the people. We can all be part of the solution by changing some daily habits and making an impact.

The writer is the national information officer of the UN Information Centre in Beirut. She contributed this article to The Jordan Times.