The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the eight international development goals established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. All 189 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations, committed to help achieve the following Millennium Development Goals by 2015
The Declaration was translated into a roadmap setting out eight time-bound and measurable goals to be reached by 2015, known as the Millennium Development Goals. Targets for addressing extreme poverty in its many dimensions-including poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion-while promoting gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability. They are also basic human rights, the rights of each person on the planet to health, education, shelter, and security.
As of 2013, progress towards the goals was uneven. Some countries achieved many goals, while others were not on track to realize any.
A UN conference in September 2010 reviewed progress to date and concluded with the adoption of a global plan to achieve the eight goals by their target date. New commitments targeted women and children health, and new initiatives in the worldwide battle against poverty, hunger and disease.
However, determined to lift more nations & people out of poverty, illiteracy, ill-health and reduce inequality, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012. One of the outcomes was agreement by Member States to launch a process to develop a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Although Rio+20 did not elaborate specific goal, it stated that the SDGs should be limited in number, aspirational and easy to communicate. Conferees agreed that the goals should address all three dimensions of sustainable development in a balanced way; be coherent with, and integrated into the UN development agenda beyond 2015.
In recognition of this, a menu of indicators for the candidate goals to inform the future process of selecting the post-2015 successors to the MDGs was therefore listed with 17 suggested topics to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Here is a highlight of the 17 proposed goals:
Ending Poverty
Ending poverty included a target on integrating biodiversity conservation measures into national and local development strategies, planning processes and poverty reduction strategies. The draft also notes the need to focus on vulnerable groups, particularly women, in goals on ending poverty, ending hunger, securing water and sanitation for all, among others.
Ending Hunger
‘End hunger, achieve food security, adequate nutrition for all, and promote sustainable agriculture,’ calls for ensuring all people have access to adequate, safe, affordable and nutritious food all year round and to substantially increase the incomes and productivity of small family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, among its 11 targets.
Healthy Living
‘Attain healthy life for all at all ages,’ includes nine targets, including: reducing maternal deaths; ending preventable newborn, infant and under-five deaths; ending HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases; reducing deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including halving road traffic deaths; and achieving universal health coverage (UHC).
Equitable and Quality Education
This focuses on providing ‘equitable and inclusive quality education and life-long learning opportunities for all,’ and has nine targets, including on ensuring equal access for all to affordable tertiary education, education for sustainable development and enhancing teaching quality.
Gender Equality,
‘Attain gender equality, empower women and girls everywhere,’ aims to end all forms of discrimination against women and girls and engage men and boys in efforts to promote and achieve gender equality among its 11 targets.
WATSAN
‘Secure water and sanitation for all for a sustainable world,’ addresses safe and affordable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), water quality, wastewater management, water-use efficiency and integrated water resources management (IWRM) among its eight targets.
Energy for all
Goal seven is to ‘Ensure access to affordable, sustainable, and reliable modern energy services for all,’ and includes six targets, including to double primary energy supply per capita per LDCs.
Inclusive growth
The eight proposed goal aims to ‘Promote strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and decent work for all,’ and includes 16 targets.
Sustainable industrialization
This aims to ‘Promote sustainable industrialization and, it has 12 targets.
Reducing inequality among nations
‘Reduce inequality within and among nations,’ has seven targets on reducing inequality among social groups within countries and five targets on international actions to reduce inequalities among nations.
Building resilient cities
The goal to ‘Build inclusive, safe and sustainable cities and human settlements,’ includes nine targets, such as ensuring universal access to adequate and affordable housing and eliminating slum-like conditions.
Promoting Sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal twelve aiming to ‘Promote sustainable consumption and production patterns,’ includes 11 targets, such as decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation and sound management of chemicals and hazardous waste.
Addressing climate change
‘Promote actions at all levels to address climate change,’ has five targets. Climate change, natural disasters and resilience are also addressed in goals on ending poverty, ending hunger and promoting sustainable agriculture and building sustainable cities, among others.
Sustainable use of marine resources
‘Attain conservation and sustainable use of marine resources, oceans and seas,’ has 11 targets. It includes two targets on least developed countries (LDCs) and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), which focus on: eliminating subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing; and increasing the economic returns to SIDS and LDCs from the sustainable development of coastal and marine resources from within their jurisdictions.
Protect and restore terrestrial ecosystems and halt all biodiversity loss
The goal to ‘Protect and restore terrestrial ecosystems and halt all biodiversity loss,’ has 11 targets that address threatened species, conservation and sustainable use, restoration, forests and mountain ecosystems, land degradation, poaching and trafficking of endangered species, invasive alien species, fair and equitable sharing of benefits and free prior and informed consent (FPIC), among other issues.
Achieving inclusive society
‘Achieve peaceful and inclusive societies, rule of law, effective and capable institutions,’ has ten targets on fostering peaceful and inclusive societies and seven targets on the rule of law, effective and capable institutions.
‘Strengthen and enhance the means of implementation and global partnership for sustainable development,’
This includes specific targets for each of the 16 previous goals. For example, climate change targets related to means of implementation include building a climate change goal based on the outcome of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UNFCCC and operationalizing the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as soon as possible.
Observers say that the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have, overall, been remarkably successful in focusing attention and mobilizing resources to address the major gaps in human development. Some of the MDGs’ key targets, such as halving the poverty rate, they said, will be met by 2015, however, achieving the health goals looks difficult and Africa lags behind, despite the substantial progress it has made since 2000.
Beyond 2015, as MDG issue is addressed, there has to be better integration of the poverty reduction and the MDG strategies. MDGs are a prime subset of a larger poverty reduction agenda and as such MDG strategies are to be part of the larger picture.
