Remarks by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN, on the SDG Moment 2022.
Opening the Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) Moment in New York, UN Secretary-General said the meeting happens “at a critical point" in the world and urged countries to take more action.
Listing several crises, António Guterres said that “each peril is pushing the Sustainable Development Goals further out of reach.”
According to the UN chief, in the face of such perils, “it is tempting to put our long-term development priorities to one side. To leave them for a sunny day. But development cannot wait.”
“The education of our children cannot wait. Dignified jobs cannot wait. Full equality for women and girls cannot wait. Comprehensive health care, meaningful climate action, biodiversity protection — these cannot be left for tomorrow,” said the Secretary-General.
Guterres said everyone must “do more to lift up women and girls in every walk of life” and to “save our planet — which is quite literally on fire.”
For the UN chief, this means “addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss and pollution” and moving away from a “suicidal dependence” on fossil fuels and jump-starting the renewable energy transition in every country.
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The SDG Moment serves to place an annual spotlight on the Sustainable Development Goals. It takes place as the world faces a deepening cost-of-living crisis that carries huge implications for the advancement of the SDGs, especially in developing countries.
This event sets the scene and leads into the Transforming Education Summit, featuring the SDG “To-Do List” for the world presented by the Secretary-General’s SDG Advocates Co-Chairs, a stocktaking moment and SDG Dialogues focused on solutions for inequalities and climate and environmental challenges.
Convened by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the Moment provides world leaders with a platform to showcase the bold actions and solutions that are needed to set the world on course towards achieving the SDGs. The SDG Moment event is expected to build the momentum as we head towards the SDG Summit in 2023.
What: The annual SDG Moment kicks off UN High-Level Week (20-23 September) as world leaders gather at the UN Headquarters in New York to highlight transformative solutions for tackling the multiple crises that have unleashed vicious cycles of poverty, hunger and inequalities worldwide. In these challenging times, the SDG Moment will seek to urgently scale up ambition and solidarity to advance the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals – the World’s To Do List as the best pathway for a safer, healthier and more inclusive future.
Why: The combined crises—the war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, rising food insecurity and a debilitating economy—could lead to an additional 75 to 95 million people living in extreme poverty in 2022. As called for in the UN Secretary-General’s Our Common Agenda, a renewed commitment to international cooperation and global solidarity is needed to set the SDGs back on track. With time running out as we approach the midpoint in 2023 of SDG implementation, this year’s SDG Moment is a major turning point for accelerating meaningful SDG action.
About the SDG Moment
General Assembly resolution 74/4 calls on the Secretary-General to organize an annual moment in the context of the General Debate of the General Assembly to highlight inspiring SDG action. The SDG Moment, convened for the first time in 2020, serves as a check-in on the status of the SDGs.
More information is available: www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sdg-moment
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