- Assessment at the 78th UN General Assembly reveals that only 15% of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been achieved.
- UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reports the loss of 100 million hectares of healthy land since 2015, raising environmental concerns.
Political and economic leaders and civil society representatives have gathered in the United States for the 78th United Nations General Assembly session. Prior to the customary General Debate of Heads of State and Government, which commenced on September 19, 2023, there was a conference the day before to assess progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The assessment revealed that only 15% of the SDGs have been accomplished so far, serving as a wake-up call, especially for countries that have struggled to implement the program adopted in 2015. In Africa, Ethiopia and Sudan, for instance, deal with armed conflicts like the Tigray and general wars.
Furthermore, UN teams have also highlighted natural disasters in the lead-up to 2030. East and West Africa have faced prolonged droughts (Somalia, Kenya) and a series of floods (Ivory Coast, Guinea, Benin), causing damage to schools, power infrastructure, and the habitats of various animals, undermining progress in education (SDG4), electrification (SDG7), and biodiversity conservation (SDG15) achieved in recent years.
A recent report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), released during the New York discussions, states that the planet has lost 100 million hectares of healthy and productive land since 2015. This decline is a cause for concern among environmentalists. It is likely to reignite discussions about preserving the Congo Basin, regarded as the second-largest green lung on Earth after the Amazon. President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who is participating in the event, is expected to address this issue in his speech at the UN.
Although leaders from Russia, China, France, and the UK, who are permanent members of the Security Council, were notably absent from the Assembly, the idea of reforming the global financial system remains on the agenda, as it has in previous international meetings such as the African Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, the BRICS Summit in Cape Town, South Africa, and the G20 Summit in India. This vision, supported by American diplomacy, aims to make progress in addressing socioeconomic disparities among continents, especially considering the challenges in accessing capital faced by Southern countries. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has consistently emphasized his proposal to “mobilize $500 billion to support developing nations in obtaining the resources required to achieve the MDGs.” Nonetheless, significant efforts are still needed to advance gender equality (SDG5) and ensure universal access to water and sanitation (SDG6) in several African countries. Rural areas in Madagascar, for example, continue to struggle with a high open defecation rate of 42%, according to World Bank data.