• New Joint Goals
• Millennium Development Goals: Palpable Development Successes
  • Goal 1: Combatting Severe Poverty and Famine
  • Goal 2: School Education for All
  • Goal 3: Equality
  • Goal 4: Reducing Child Mortality
  • Goal 5: Improving Maternal Health Care
  • Goal 6: Combatting HIV/AIDS--Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Malaria and Other Serious Diseases
  • Goal 7: Ecological Sustainability
  • Goal 8: Development of a Global Partnership for Development
• 2030: An Agenda in Progress
• Securing Financing for Development
• The Charter for the Future and Future Tour
• Climate Conference in Paris
• National Sustainability Strategy

The aims of the 2030 Agenda are meant to lend impetus to global change for more sustainability. Included are measures against famine and poverty and for peaceful co-existence. A novelty is that all national economies--and not just developing countries--are called on to change course.

The Millennium Development Goals have shown that it is feasible to improve the living conditions of millions of people in nearly all the world's developing countries in a tangible way. For example, in the past 15 years poverty rates have been halved across the globe and access expanded to safe drinking water and education. It was also possible to lower child and maternal mortality rates by roughly half respectively.

Nevertheless, much remains to be achieved: nearly 1.3 billion people live on less than USD 1.25 daily, the United Nations' official poverty line. And many other problems, such as waste of resources, climate change, environmental destruction, unemployment and social inequalities pose additional challenges to humanity.

New Joint Goals

The new 2030 Agenda aims at combining the approach of the Millennium Development Goals with the approach of Agenda 21. Agenda 21 was adopted at the so-called "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It addresses all the world's countries and has the objective of satisfying the needs of the present generation by changing economic, environmental and development policies without, however, adversely affecting opportunities for future generations.

In 2012, 20 years after the Earth Summit, the community of states again met in Rio de Janeiro ("Rio+20" or "Rio 2012"). In Rio, the states reaffirmed their commitment to sustainable economies, in particular to the "Green Economy" model. They also resolved to work out objectives for sustainable development: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

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Millennium Development Goals: Palpable Development Successes

In September 2000, heads of state and government from 189 countries met in New York to adopt a "Millennium Declaration" and establish eight "Millennium Development Goals."

Results achieved since then by industrialised and developing countries prove that when they work together systematically real and extensive progress is possible.

Since 2000, the living conditions of millions of people have been enhanced significantly. These improvements are a great encouragement to all and spur even further effort.

Some of the achieved successes are described in the following.

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Goal 1: Combatting Severe Poverty and Famine

Severe poverty declined significantly in the past two decades. While in 1990 almost half of the population in developing countries had to make do with less than USD 1.25 a day, the figure for 2015 is expected to be 14 percent.

The number of people living in severe poverty around the world fell by more than half from 1.9 billion people to 0.8 billion people in 2015. The greatest progress here was made from 2000 on.

Significant progress has been made in alleviating malnutrition. The percentage of malnourished people in the total population has fallen from 23.3 to 12.9 percent, or nearly one half, since 1990.

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Goal 2: School Education for All

Of all children in developing countries, 91 percent are enrolled in primary schools. This is a substantial gain over 1990, when it was 83 percent. Moreover, literacy rates have risen significantly.

The strongest increase was seen in sub-Saharan Africa, where the percentage of children attending primary schools rose from 52 to 80 percent in the period from 1990 to 2015, with highest growth after 2000.

The number of children not attending a higher secondary school after completing their primary education is expected to be reduced to about 57 million, nearly half, by the end of the year. In contrast, the number was 100 million children in 2000.

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Goal 3: Equality

Since 1995, the proportion of women has doubled in the parliaments of the 174 countries surveyed. But more progress is needed, since women still make up only about 20 percent of the membership of parliaments.

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Goal 4: Reducing Child Mortality

Worldwide child mortality has declined by more than half. Despite high population growth, particularly in developing countries, the number of deaths of children aged under five fell globally from 12.7 million in 1990 to 6 million in 2015.

Still more children can be saved in the future if success is achieved in stepping up preventive measures, such as vaccinations.

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Goal 5: Improving Maternal Health Care

Since 1990, maternal mortality rates have declined worldwide by 45 percent, with the greatest progress achieved in the years following 2000. In Southeast Asia, the rates even fell by 64 percent from 1990 to 2013. The key factor in this success was attendance of skilled medical personnel at delivery. Globally, about 71 percent of births were attended in 2014; in contrast, only 59 percent in 1990 were.

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Goal 6: Combatting HIV/AIDS--Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Malaria and Other Serious Diseases

The number of persons newly infected with HIV-AIDS--Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome--plummeted from 2000 to 2013 by approximately 40 percent. The incidence of other diseases as well, such as malaria or tuberculosis, was reduced effectively.

In June 2014, 13.6 million HIV sufferers received drug therapy, an immense increase, considering that the number was only 800,000 in 2003. Treatment prevented the deaths of 7.6 million people between 1995 and 2013.

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Goal 7: Ecological Sustainability

Compared to 76 percent in 1990, 91 percent of the global population have access to safe drinking water in 2015. Since 1990, 2.6 billion people have been able to drink clean water, and of these, 1.9 billion had piped water in their own dwellings.

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Goal 8: Development of a Global Partnership for Development

Official development cooperation of industrialised states with developing countries has surged. From 2000 to 2014, assistance rose by 66 percent (after adjustment for inflation) from USD 81 billion to USD 135 billion.

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2030: An Agenda in Progress

In December 2014, a report on development finance, the so-called Synthesis Report, was submitted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The report set the framework for further negotiations. Previously in July 2014, a working group had submitted the proposal. The foundation of the Synthesis Report was laid by a "group of eminent persons" convened by Ban Ki-moon. Germany's former Federal President, Horst Köhler, was a contributor.

The 2030 Agenda has the aim of achieving broad progress in resolving five key future issues by 2030. The current draft envisages 17 goals for sustainable development. Together, they form a central point of reference:

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere;

2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture;

3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages;

4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all;

5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls;

6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all;

7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all;

8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all;

9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation;

10. Reduce inequality within and among countries;

11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable;

12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns;

13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts;

14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development;

15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss;

16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels;

17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

Good governance, matters relating to financing and impact assessment, a multi-actor approach and an effective review mechanism constitute essential aspects of sustainable development.

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Securing Financing for Development

The goals of the new development agenda, in order to be realized, require sufficient financial resources. To this end, the Third International Conference on Financing for Development took place in Addis Abeba (Ethiopia) in July 2015. Among others, participants agreed on an action plan designed to secure financing for sustainable development goals. Emerging economies and developing countries were called on to step up efforts to establish functioning tax systems and to take a firm stance against corruption. The donor countries affirmed a voluntary obligation to furnish 0.7 percent of their gross national income in order to finance development assistance.

In addition, the G7 summit in Bavarian Elmau was instrumental in making preparations for adoption of the new development goals by the UN General Assembly. Participating heads of government made clear that they would support the planned new global Pact for the Future in order to advance sustainable development. Their commitment to provide 0.7 percent of gross national income for development cooperation was expressly enshrined in the final declaration. This was an important signal for developing and emerging countries.

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The Charter for the Future and Future Tour

The success of the 2030 Agenda depends not least on the participation of all players in Germany: enterprises, civil society groups, scientists and citizens. For this reason, the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development conducted a broad discussion process. Many groups of society, relief agencies, non-governmental organisations, as well as business and political representatives, participated. The result is the Charter for the Future.

The nearly 60-page Charter, entitled "ONE WORLD - Our Responsibility" puts forward recommendations for sustainable action in all the various walks of life, whether in politics, business or in the everyday lives of every individual. At present, the Charter for the Future is on tour in Germany: events and interactive formats bring to life the subject matter of the Charter. Citizens can join the discussion and contribute their own ideas.

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Climate Conference in Paris

From the end of November through December 2015, the United Nations Climate Conference will take place in Paris. Climate protection is of key importance for sustainable development. The G7 summit participants made it clear that global warming must be limited, and they agreed on obligatory emission reduction targets to be adopted at the Paris Climate Conference. Willingness exists to relinquish the use of oil, coal and gas in coming years of the 21st century.

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National Sustainability Strategy

How to implement these international goals in Germany? The German federal government intends to do so on the basis of a national sustainability strategy. It resolved this in December 2014.

The German sustainability strategy has been in existence since 2002. It is reviewed and updated every four years, and it is the central guideline for sustainability policy at the federal level. It includes goals and indicators that allow assessment of the progress or lack of progress of development. The next progress report will be published in autumn 2016.

What accents should the sustainability strategy set? How should indicators be developed? These are issues that the German government needs to discuss with citizens. Conferences in Berlin, Dresden, Stuttgart, Bonn and Hamburg will offer opportunities for such discussions. Results will be incorporated into further development of the sustainability strategy and will be published in a progress report. German federal states and associations will also participate.