How the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Aim to Address Emerging Water Challenges

By Doug Hatler

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 goals for global development to the year 2030 (Figure 1). They are a non-binding framework that provides countries, organizations and communities with aspirational goals to work toward. The SDGs are not mutually exclusive. They rely on each other and are all dependent on a public-private partnerships that support people, planet, prosperity and peace.

The SDGs were globally negotiated and adopted as part of the 2030 Agenda at the United Nations in New York in September 2015. The 2030 Agenda was adopted by 193 United Nations Member States in 2015 and established a common blueprint to achieve peace and prosperity for all people living on Earth. It is the product of the combination of two international agendas, the momentum initiated by the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) and various sustainable development processes.