The Sustainable Development Goals are the 17 international objectives that make up the 2030Agenda, approved in September 2015 by all 193 member countries of the United Nations.
These goals mainly refer to the three pillars of sustainability: the environmental system, the social system and the economic system. The commitment required to achieve the goals by 2030 involves everyone, no one excluded. For the first time in the history of international agreements, there is no difference between developed and developing or underdeveloped countries; they are all called to respond with concrete actions, plans and programs for a future of sustainable development.
The 2030 Agenda can be declined on an international and national scale, on a territorial scale up to the community level. It can involve administrations, bodies, associations, companies, multinationals, schools and even individual citizens.
The 17 objectives are better specified and divided into targets for a total of 169. An important aspect of the Agenda concerns its monitoring with the development of indicators and a solid data collection. At international level there is a list of indicators proposed by the UN to monitor the nations of the world in the path of achievement of the 17 SDGs. Every year, starting in 2016, the Sustainable Development Solution Network (SDSN) publishes a report that deals precisely with data analysis and classification of nations based on sustainable development.
In the various situations, the indicators must be developed on the basis of the level of territorial expression and on the basis of the data collection capacity.
In addition to having made a contribution during the public consultation before the official publication, our research team has committed itself to declining the objectives in each research project and teaching, both internationally and nationally and locally, developing indicators suitable for various situations and graphical methods of data representation, providing operational tools for the development of policies of different scales, aimed at achieving the SDGs by 2030.
The Sustainable Development Goals are divided as follows:
Goal 1 – No poverty: End poverty in all its forms everywhere;
Goal 2 – No hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture;
Goal 3 – Good health and wellbeing: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages;
Goal 4 – Quality education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all;
Goal 5 – Gender equality: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls;
Goal 6 – Clean water and sanitation: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all;
Goal 7 – Affordable and clean energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all;
Goal 8 – Decent work and economic growth: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all;
Goal 9 – Industry, innovation and infrastructure: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation;
Goal 10 – Reduce inequalities: Reduce inequality within and among countries;
Goal 11 – Sustainable cities and communities: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable;
Goal 12 – Responsable consumption and production: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns;
Goal 13 – Climate action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts;
Goal 14 – Life below water: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development;
Goal 15 – Life on land: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss;
Goal 16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels;
Goal 17 – Partnership for the goals: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.
Official document of the approval of the 2030 Agenda by the UN
List of goals, targets and indicators proposed for international monitoring by the UN