t was already an open secret, but still jarring to hear put in such stark terms. Not only are we not on track to reach the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, but we’re nowhere close. In July, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the world is “woefully off track” from where we need to be to achieve the Global Goals, and he laid out why. For years, said Guterres, the world has lacked ambition, has lacked a sense of urgency, and has failed to develop any sense of solidarity in terms of reaching the goals. Worse, post-pandemic economic woes are strangling many national economies, making it even tougher to envision progress when resources are suddenly, dramatically limited.
So where do we find hope?
First of all, governments aren’t the only stakeholders. We need a whole of society approach to overcome all the challenges, old and new, laid out by the Secretary-General. It might just be enough to also let us overcome another implicit challenge—time is not on our side. How do we adopt a whole of society approach? For us, the answer is simple but not necessarily easy. Uncommon collaborations.
These were the themes we asked contributors to this year’s UNGA Special Edition to explore, focusing specifically on SDGs 3, 4, 8, and 9. How do we get back on track (or getting on track in the first place) for achieving the SDGs with the heightened challenges of our post-pandemic world? Accounting for how our individual and organizational goals align with the SDGs, how can we create uncommon collaborations to bolster progress? We engaged on this with a great group of contributors this year, thought leaders from a broad spectrum of sectors, public and private. They responded with some compelling ideas which are intended to help inform further conversation at this year’s UNGA. These ideas will definitely inform dialogue at Diplomatic Courier’s events in New York this September, and hopefully beyond.
The urgency of forming uncommon collaborations is also why Diplomatic Courier partnered this year with a larger and more far-reaching group of stakeholders. These are organizations—EY, Gallup, LinkUp Global, Readocracy, and the Smithsonian Science Education Center—which have resolved to be active players in being part of the solution. We think it’s a great start, and the quality of this edition and our events at UNGA owe a lot to their partnership.
We hope you find this edition compelling, and that it helps you to think more constructively about how we can get back on track to hit our Global Goals. Everybody on our shared planet will live better lives if the world succeeds here, and we all can find ways to be an active part of the solution, so we hope you’ll come along.
You can access the full digital edition here.
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Getting Back on Track for the SDGs
September 18, 2023
The world is nowhere near where we need to be to achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Diplomatic Courier published its annual UN General Assembly special edition bookazine exploring what can be done to get back on track for success, writes DC Editor-in-Chief Shane Szarkowski.
I
t was already an open secret, but still jarring to hear put in such stark terms. Not only are we not on track to reach the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, but we’re nowhere close. In July, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the world is “woefully off track” from where we need to be to achieve the Global Goals, and he laid out why. For years, said Guterres, the world has lacked ambition, has lacked a sense of urgency, and has failed to develop any sense of solidarity in terms of reaching the goals. Worse, post-pandemic economic woes are strangling many national economies, making it even tougher to envision progress when resources are suddenly, dramatically limited.
So where do we find hope?
First of all, governments aren’t the only stakeholders. We need a whole of society approach to overcome all the challenges, old and new, laid out by the Secretary-General. It might just be enough to also let us overcome another implicit challenge—time is not on our side. How do we adopt a whole of society approach? For us, the answer is simple but not necessarily easy. Uncommon collaborations.
These were the themes we asked contributors to this year’s UNGA Special Edition to explore, focusing specifically on SDGs 3, 4, 8, and 9. How do we get back on track (or getting on track in the first place) for achieving the SDGs with the heightened challenges of our post-pandemic world? Accounting for how our individual and organizational goals align with the SDGs, how can we create uncommon collaborations to bolster progress? We engaged on this with a great group of contributors this year, thought leaders from a broad spectrum of sectors, public and private. They responded with some compelling ideas which are intended to help inform further conversation at this year’s UNGA. These ideas will definitely inform dialogue at Diplomatic Courier’s events in New York this September, and hopefully beyond.
The urgency of forming uncommon collaborations is also why Diplomatic Courier partnered this year with a larger and more far-reaching group of stakeholders. These are organizations—EY, Gallup, LinkUp Global, Readocracy, and the Smithsonian Science Education Center—which have resolved to be active players in being part of the solution. We think it’s a great start, and the quality of this edition and our events at UNGA owe a lot to their partnership.
We hope you find this edition compelling, and that it helps you to think more constructively about how we can get back on track to hit our Global Goals. Everybody on our shared planet will live better lives if the world succeeds here, and we all can find ways to be an active part of the solution, so we hope you’ll come along.
You can access the full digital edition here.
