The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations in 2015. “Global Goals for Sustainable Development” is another name used. The goals are broad and somewhat interdependent, yet each has a separate list of targets to achieve.
Achieving all 169 targets would signal accomplishing all 17 goals.
The SDGs cover social and economic development issues including poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender equality, water, sanitation, energy, urbanization, environment and social justice.
The formal name for the SDGs is: “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
That has been shortened to “2030 Agenda.”
The goals were developed to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which ended in 2015.
Unlike the MDGs, the SDG framework does not distinguish between “developed” and “developing” nations. Instead, the goals apply to all countries.
Implementation as of 2016 is described as “Localizing the SDGs” to highlight the role of local institutions and local actors.
Regional efforts included agreements like the Baltic 2030 Action Plan and another similar agreement called NITI Aayog was developed for India.
