The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

1. THE 17 UN
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
GOALS

2. The UN (United Nations) was founded in 1945 and currently
boasts 193 member states – almost every country in the world.
It is an international organisation with the overarching goal of
‘maintaining international peace and security; developing
friendly relations among nations; promoting social progress,

4. NO POVERTY
This goal looks at completely getting rid of all extreme poverty with seven targets:
1) Eradication of extreme poverty
2) Reduction of all poverty by half
3) Implementation of social protection systems
4) Ensuring equal rights to ownership, basic services, technology & economic resources
5) Building of resilience to environmental, economic and social disasters
6) Mobilisation of resources to end poverty
7) Establishment of poverty eradication policy frameworks at all levels
The first 5 targets are ‘outcome targets’, with the remaining two being ‘means of
achieving targets’. You will see this with each of the SDGs in this blog post, with the
targets split into these two types.
Global poverty has increased rapidly in recent years due to both the Covid-19 pandemic
and the war in Ukraine, undoing a lot of the hard work from previous years. 10% of the
world’s population currently live in poverty, struggling to meet their basic needs – this
goal aims to get that number down to zero by 2030.

5. ZERO
HUNGER
1) Ending hunger and improving access to food
2) Ending all forms of malnutrition
3) Doubling agricultural productivity/income
4) Ensuring sustainable food production systems and resilient
agricultural practices
5) Maintaining the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants
and farmed & domesticated animals
6) Addressing trade restrictions and distortion
7) Increasing investment in infrastructure, technology and
research
8) Ensuring proper functioning of food commodity markets
Hunger has been increasing steadily since 2015, despite this
goal being in place; the pandemic and climate shocks are
responsible for a lot of this. This SDG is important as
hunger/malnutrition is a huge reason for mental and physical
development in children. The last three of the above goals are
the ways in which the UN plan to try and achieve this goal.

6. Good
Health and
Well-Being
1) Reduce maternal mortality rates
2) End preventable deaths of newborns/children up to 5
3) End various epidemics and communicable diseases
4) Reduce mortality rates from non-communicable diseases & promote
mental health
5) Strengthen the prevention/treatment of substance abuse
6) Halve the number of injuries/deaths from road traffic accidents
7) Ensure access to sexual health services
8) Achieve universal health coverage
9) Reduce deaths/illness from hazardous
chemicals/pollution/contamination
10) Strengthen the implementation of the WHO tobacco control framework
11) Support research into vaccines and medicines
12) Increase health financing/support health workforce
13) Strengthen global capacity for handling health risks
This goal has a lot to do with improving mortality rates and ensuring people
live a long, healthy and happy life!

7. QUALITY EDUCATION
1. Ensure all children complete free, equitable and quality primary & secondary
education
2. Ensure all children can access pre-school care/education
3. Equal access to technical, vocational and tertiary education
4. Increase the number of skilled people for jobs and entrepreneurship
5. Eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access for the vulnerable
6. Ensure literacy and numeracy for all children and large number of adults
7. Ensure all learners acquire the knowledge to promote sustainable development
8. Build safe and accessible educational facilities
9. Expand scholarships for developing countries
10.Increase supply of teachers
We can see that these targets focus on ensuring that education is accessible and equal,
which is so important and fits in well with the UN promise of ‘leave no one behind’.

8. GENDER EQUALITY
1) End discrimination against women and girls
2) Eliminate violence against women and girls
3) Eliminate ALL harmful practices towards women and girls
4) Recognise unpaid care/domestic work
5) Ensure women’s participation and equal opportunities in leadership roles
6) Universal access to sexual health care
7) Undertake equal rights reforms
8) Enhance technology for empowering women
9) Adopt policies which promote gender equality
The UN are aiming to level things up for women and girls so they have equal rights and
can live freely without the threat of gender-based discrimination or violence like FGM, cat-
calling and so on.

9. Clean Water and
Sanitation
As of May 2022, 2 billion people lacked access to clean drinkig
water at home – unsafe water is also linked to 1.2 million deaths
per year, so this particular SDG goes hand in hand with the Good
Health and Well-Being goal. In order to achieve Clean Water and
Sanitation, the UN have 8 targets:
1) Achieve universal access to safe/affordable drinking water
2) Achieve access to good sanitation and hygiene for all
3) Improve water quality
4) Increase water-use efficiency
5) Implement integrated water-resources management
6) Protect water-related ecosystems
7) Expand international cooperation in water/sanitation-related
activities
8) Strengthen participation of local communities in
water/sanitation management

10. Affordable and Clean Energy
1) Ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy
2) Increase the share of renewable energy in the global mix
3) Double the rate of improvement in energy efficiency
4) Enhance international research cooperation
5) Expand infrastructure and upgrade energy-based technology
As you can see, the UN Sustainable Development Goals are focused on
getting people to work together towards this goal, as well as improving the
types of energy we use. This is something which really springs to mind
when we see the word sustainability – clean, renewable energy which has
less of an impact on our climate.

11. Decent Work and Economic Growth
1) Sustainable economic growth
2) Diversify and upgrade to ensure economic productivity
3) Promote policies which support job creation
4) Improve global resource efficiency
5) Achieve full & productive employment for all with equal pay
6) Reduce the number of unemployed young people
7) Eradicate forced labour/modern slavery as well as child labour
8) Protect labour rights
9) Implement policies to promote sustainable tourism with job creation & promotion of local culture
10) Strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions
11) Increase aid for trade support
12) Develop a global strategy to combat youth unemployment
As you can see there is a focus on getting young people into employment, improving their well-being.

12. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
1) Develop quality and accessible infrastructure to support economic growth and human well-being
2) Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation
3) Increase global access to financial services and markets
4) Upgrade all industries to be more sustainable
5) Enhance research into industrial tech
6) Aid sustainable infrastructure development in developing countries
7) Support domestic tech development in developing countries
8) Increase access to information and the internet in least developed countries
As you can see, there is a big focus on the least developed countries as part of this particular goal.
This is to help them level up in terms of infrastructure that works well and safely, giving them the
opportunity to grow their economies. It also promotes access to the internet, which almost 3 billion
people are unable to use currently. By accessing the internet, people are able to learn more, research
more, support their mental health and much more.

13. Reduced Inequalities
1) Reduce income inequalities
2) Promote social, economic and political inclusion for all globally
3) Ensure equal opportunities and eliminate discriminatory laws
4) Adopt policies which steer towards achieving equality
5) Improve regulation of global financial markets
6) Enhance representation of developing countries in global economic decision-making
7) Facilitate safe mobility and migration of people through policies
8) Implement special treatment of developing countries
9) Encourage assistance and investment for least developed countries
10)Reduce transaction costs for migrant remittance
Again there is a definite focus on levelling up the least developed countries, bridging the gap
to ensure inequalities are reduced. That way, all countries will be on a more level playing

14. Sustainable Cities and Communities
1) Ensure access to safe/affordable housing and upgrade slums
2) Provide access to safe/affordable/sustainable public transport and improve road safety
3) Promote inclusive and sustainable urbanisation
4) Protect the world’s culture and natural heritage
5) Reduce the negative impact of natural disasters
6) Reduce the environmental impact of cities
7) Provide access to safe/inclusive green and public spaces
8) Strengthen national and regional development planning
9) Implement policies aimed at increasing inclusion, resource efficiency, disaster resilience and climate
control
10) Support least developed countries to create sustainable buildings using local materials
More than a billion people live in slums, and only roughly half of the global population have access to safe
public transport – in order to improve health and well-being, one of the earlier UN Sustainable Development
Goals, this is definitely something which needs to be addressed.

15. Responsible Production and Consumption
1) Reduce global food waste and loss at production, retail and consumer levels
2) Achieve environmentally sound chemical waste management
3) Reduce waste generation
4) Encourage sustainable practice
5) Promote sustainable public procurement practices
6) Ensure people have access to information about sustainable development
7) Support developing countries in strengthening their scientific and technological capacity
8) Develop and implement tools for monitoring sustainable development impacts
9) Remove market distortions that encourage wasteful consumption
Meeting this goal has a lot to do with the improvement of plastic circularity – e.g, ensuring
plastic can be used again and again by making better recycling practices and systems.
Eliminating single use plastics is a route that many businesses, particularly in the tourism

16. Climate Action
1) Strengthen global resilience to climate
hazards/natural disasters
2) Put climate change measures into national policies
and planning
3) Improve education and capacity surrounding climate
change
4) Send $100billion annually to developing countries
5) Promote mechanisms for climate-change planning
and management
This goal goes hand in hand with the 7th on the list,
related to clean energy, and is also closely linked to
goals 11 and 12. By making policy changes and
increasing education in this area, we can attempt to
reverse as much damage as possible when it comes to
climate change.

17. Life Below Water
The 14th goal on the list is to ‘conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for susta
inable development’. 71% of the planet is covered by water, and it is a vital resource for ensuring humanity
can survive. The UN has 10 targets in place to achieve this goal:
1) Reduce marine pollution
2) Protect and restore ecosystems
3) Reduce ocean acidification
4) Ensure sustainable fishing
5) Conserve our coastal and marine areas
6) End subsidies which contribute to overfishing
7) Increase economic benefits which come from using marine resources sustainably
8) Increase scientific knowledges, research and tech for ocean health
9) Support small scale fishers with resources and markets
10)Enhance conservation through use of sea law
Blue tourism is already looking at ways to ensure sustainability when it comes to marine life and ocean;
cruise ships are looking at how they can be more eco-friendly, and tourists are choosing green hotels more
often.

18. Life on Land
This goal looks at how we can undo the damage caused by climate change – but on land
– through 11 targets:
1) Conserve and restore terrestrial/freshwater ecosystems
2) Put an end to deforestation and restore currently degraded forests
3) Eradicate desertification and restored degraded land
4) Ensure the conservation of mountain ecosystems to protect biodiversity and natural
habitats
5) Protect current and future access to genetic resources and fair benefit sharing
6) Eliminate the poaching/trafficking of endangered and protected species
7) Prevent the invasion of alien species on land/in water
8) Integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values in governmental planning
9) Increase financial resources for conserving and sustainably using our ecosystem and
biodiversity
10) Finance and incentivise sustainable forest management
11) Combat global poaching and trafficking
The land gives us so many resources and it is so important that we protect them, so that
future generations can benefit from them in the ways that previous generations have –
from their beauty, from the way they can feed and heal us, and more.

19. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
This goal relates to ensuring people are safe, happy, and living in a fair society. It aims to do so through
11 targets:
1)Reduce all violence and related deaths
2)Protect children from harm including abuse, violence and trafficking
3)Promote the rule of law and ensure everyone can access justice
4)Combat organised crime as well as illicit financial/arms flows alongside corruption and bribery
5)Develop institutions that are effective, accountable and transparent
6)Ensure decision making is responsive, inclusive and representative
7)Strengthen participation of developing countries in global governance
8)Provide birth registration and legal identity for all
9)Ensure readily available public access to information and fundamental freedom
10)Strengthen national institutions to be able to prevent violence and to combat crime and terrorism
11)Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws/policies
As you can see, this goal has a lot to do with law and justice – getting rid of bribery, making sure people have
access to a fair judicial system, ensuring violence is minimised and children are protected. All of these things
are vitally important for public safety.

20. Partnerships for the Goals
1) Strengthen domestic resource mobilisation
2) Developed countries to implement a plan to assist lesser developed countries
3) Create additional financial resources for the least developed countries
4) Assist developing countries in reaching debt sustainability
5) Implement investment promotion regimes for the least developed countries
6) Enhance international cooperation in terms of science, tech and innovation
7) Promote the development/transfer of environmentally sound technologies to lesser developed countries
8) Operationalise the shared technology bank and capacity-building mechanisms for developing countries
9) Promote a universal trading system
10) Increase the exports of developing countries
11) Implement a duty-free and quota-free market access for the least developed countries
12) Enhance global macroeconomic stability
13) Enhance policy coherence for sustainable development
14) Respect individual countries’ policy spaces and leadership
15) Enhance the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development
16) Promote effective partnerships
17) Enhance capacity-building support for the least developed countries
18) Build on existing initiatives when it comes to measure sustainability progress

21. UN Sustainable Development Goals- FAQs
1. What are the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
2. Why were the UN Sustainable Development Goals created?
3. How are the UN Sustainable Development Goals different from the Millennium
Development Goals?
4. Who is responsible for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
5. How can individuals contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development
Goals?
6. How are the UN Sustainable Development Goals funded?
7. How are the UN Sustainable Development Goals being monitored and evaluated?
8. What are some challenges to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
9. What is the role of technology in achieving the UN Sustainable Development
Goals?