Sheikha Lubna to speak on sustainable development at UN

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull won’t be there, but Foreign Minster Julie Bishop will sign Australia up to an ambitious set of goals and targets that will apply to all countries from January 1 next year until 2030.

There are 17 goals and 169 targets that range from ending poverty, ensuring healthy lives, combating climate change, achieving gender equality and even conserving the oceans.

Speaking at the presentation of the final Ghana Millennium Development Goals report, Director General of the NDPC Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, however, disclosed the country has more to do in order to solidify the gains made so far.

“Good governance serves as a powerful inspiration for promoting reforms in policies and programmes for sustainable development”, PwC said.

Over 170 State and government leaders from around the world will gather, making it the largest United Nations conference since the UN Summit to approve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000. Replacing firewood with a more sustainable fuel source, for instance, would boost air quality and therefore improve human health (goal 3), while reducing the impact on local ecosystems (goal 15).

“As we enter the SDGs period, we are confronted with the unfinished business of some MDGs”. However he does not expect it to be a radical departure from the way the government has handled aid and development under Ms Bishop. The extreme poverty rate in developing countries has plummeted from 47% in 1990 to 14% in 2015. But some experts fear that the goals are too numerous and vague to have practical value.

“The world has not seen a global humanitarian crisis of this magnitude since the Second World War, and with winter approaching in the northern hemisphere it is only going to get worse”, newly elected president of the UN General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft said on Monday.

Despite the great advances in poverty alleviation and development, there are still around 800 million people living in extreme poverty or suffering from hunger.

Yet despite some impressive areas of progress along the way, almost a quarter of humanity continues to live on less than $2 per day, inequalities have worsened dramatically and unsustainable resource use, environmental degradation and climate change march steadily on. His Highness the Amir will will highlight in a speech, set for September 26, Kuwait’s conviction in the importance of collective global action, and how sustainable development was closely linked to security and human rights.

Taken together, these landmark agreements create breakthrough opportunities to transform economies and chart a new course for people and the planet – a future that’s more inclusive, more equitable and more sustainable. Although the new goals will come into effect in January 2016, governments should seize the political momentum generated by the summit to introduce clear plans and timelines for the participatory implementation of the new agenda at national and subnational levels.