The SDG Goals

Overcoming poverty is the greatest challenge of our time. Poverty comes in many forms. Absolute poverty, which is sometimes existentially threatening, is not comparable to the situation of low-income people in Europe or the United States. However, both forms of poverty must be fought.

What is to be achieved?

• By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty – currently defined as the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day – for all people everywhere.
• By 2030, reduce by at least half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to the respective national definition.
• Implement social protection systems and policies appropriate to national circumstances for all, including basic protection, and achieve broad coverage of the poor and vulnerable by 2030.
• By 2030, ensure that all men and women, especially the poor and vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources and access to basic services, land ownership and control, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technologies and financial services, including microfinance.
• By 2030, increase the resilience of the poor and people in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social, and environmental shocks and disasters.
• Establish sound policy frameworks at the national, regional, and international levels based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication activities.

How is the goal to be achieved?

• Ensure significant mobilisation of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, to provide developing countries, and least developed countries, with sufficient and predictable resources to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions.

Malnutrition affects nearly 800 million people worldwide, most of whom are women and children. The 2030 Agenda has set a goal to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition in the world in the next 15 years. Goal 2 includes a sub-goal on ending all forms of malnutrition in addition to ending hunger. The quality of food is as important as the quantity. The goal also integrates economic aspects, including doubling agricultural productivity and the incomes of smallholder farmers by 2030. To ensure that increasing food production does not come at the expense of the environment, Goal 2 also includes targets to ensure sustainable agriculture.

What is to be achieved?

• End hunger by 2030 and ensure that all people, especially the poor and those in vulnerable situations, including young children, have year-round access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food.
• End all forms of malnutrition by 2030, including by achieving the internationally agreed targets on growth restriction and emaciation among children under 5 by 2025, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older people.
• By 2030, double agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, especially women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists, and fishers, including through secure and equitable access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets, and opportunities for value addition and off-farm employment.
• By 2030, ensure the sustainability of food production systems and adopt resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and yield, contribute to ecosystem conservation, increase adaptive capacity to climate change, extreme weather events, droughts, floods, and other disasters, and progressively improve land and soil quality.
• By 2020, conserve the genetic diversity of seeds, crops and livestock and their wild relatives, including through well-managed and diversified seed and plant banks at national, regional, and international levels, and promote access to, and the fair and equitable sharing of, the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as agreed at international level.

How is the goal to be achieved?

• Increase investment in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development, and crop and livestock gene banks, including through enhanced international cooperation, to improve agricultural production capacity in developing countries, particularly least developed countries.
• Establish sound policy frameworks at national, regional, and international levels based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication measures Correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in global agricultural markets, including through the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in line with the mandate of the Doha Development Round.
• Take measures to ensure the smooth functioning of markets for food commodities and their derivatives and facilitate rapid access to market information, including on food reserves, to help limit extreme food price volatility.

Despite global improvements in health, for example in the fight against diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, the results in many other areas, such as the reduction of child and maternal mortality, have fallen short of expectations. Health problems should not be considered individually, but. Education and food security have been shown to influence the success of health programmes. Goal 3 includes efforts in child and maternal mortality and in the area of communicable diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. However, the goal also includes the fight against non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and the prevention of traffic accidents and substance abuse. All people should have access to high-quality health services and medicines and be protected against financial risks. By 2030, universal access to sexual and reproductive health care, including family planning, information, and education, should be ensured.

What is to be achieved?

• Reduce global maternal mortality to below 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030.
• By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with a target for all countries to reduce neonatal mortality to at least 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least 25 per 1,000 live births.
• By 2030, eliminate AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria epidemics and neglected tropical diseases, and combat hepatitis, waterborne diseases, and other communicable diseases.
• By 2030, reduce premature mortality from non-communicable diseases by one-third through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.
• Strengthen prevention and treatment of substance misuse, namely substance abuse and harmful use of alcohol.
• Halve the number of deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes globally by 2020.
• By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care, including family planning, information and education, and mainstream reproductive health into national policies and programmes.
• Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health services and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
• By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination.

How is the goal to be achieved?

• Strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries in an appropriate manner.
• Support research and development on vaccines and medicines for communicable and non-communicable diseases affecting mainly developing countries, ensure access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines, in line with the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, which reaffirms the right of developing countries to
• to take full advantage of the provisions in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights on flexibilities to protect public health, and to ensure access to medicines for all.
• Significantly increase health financing and the recruitment, education, training, and retention of health workers in developing countries and in particular in least developed countries and small island developing states.
• Strengthen the capacity of all countries, especially developing countries, in early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks.

The international community has recalled the importance of quality basic education and vocational training. Quality basic education and vocational training are central to improving the lives of individuals, communities, and society as a whole. Goal 4 calls for all, children, youth, adults and especially the poorest and most disadvantaged, to have access to quality basic education and vocational training. This should be geared to their individual needs and living environment. In this way, education should contribute to a safe, sustainable, and interdependent world.

What is to be achieved?

• Reduce global maternal mortality to below 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030.
• By 2030, end preventable deaths of new-borns and children under 5 years of age, with a target for all countries to reduce neonatal mortality to at least 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least 25 per 1,000 live births.
• By 2030, eliminate AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria epidemics and neglected tropical diseases, and combat hepatitis, waterborne diseases, and other communicable diseases.
• By 2030, reduce premature mortality from non-communicable diseases by one-third through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.
• Strengthen prevention and treatment of substance misuse, namely substance abuse and harmful use of alcohol.
• Halve the number of deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes globally by 2020.
• By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care, including family planning, information and education, and mainstream reproductive health into national policies and programmes.
• Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health services and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
• By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination.

How is the goal to be achieved?

• Strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries in an appropriate manner.
• Support research and development on vaccines and medicines for communicable and non-communicable diseases affecting mainly developing countries, ensure access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines, in line with the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, which reaffirms the right of developing countries to
• to take full advantage of the provisions in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights on flexibilities to protect public health, and to ensure access to medicines for all.
• Significantly increase health financing and the recruitment, education, training, and retention of health workers in developing countries and in particular in least developed countries and small island developing states.
• Strengthen the capacity of all countries, especially developing countries, in early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks.

Gender inequality is one of the greatest obstacles to sustainable development, economic growth, and poverty reduction. Goal 5 calls for equal opportunities between men and women in economic development, the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, including the elimination of early and forced marriage, and equal participation at all levels.

What is to be achieved?

• End all forms of discrimination against women and girls everywhere in the world.
• Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including human trafficking and sexual and other forms of exploitation.
• Eliminate all harmful practices such as child marriage, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
• Recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services and infrastructure, social protection measures and the promotion of shared responsibilities within the household and family in accordance with national circumstances.
• Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities to assume leadership roles at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life.
• Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Action, and the outcome documents of its review conferences.

How is the goal to be achieved?

• Implement reforms to provide women with equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance, and natural resources, in accordance with national legislation.
• Improve the use of enabling technologies, especially information and communication technologies, to promote women’s empowerment.
• Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation to promote gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.

Access to drinking water and sanitation is a human right and, together with water as a resource, a crucial factor for all aspects of social, economic, and environmental development. Goal 6 includes, in addition to access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, further sub-goals on the protection and restoration of water-related ecosystems. Water quality is to be improved and pollution of water by hazardous chemicals reduced. Transboundary cooperation is to be promoted for the integrated management of water resources at all levels.

What is to be achieved?

• Achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030.
• By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end outdoor defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and people in vulnerable situations.
• By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, ending the discharge, and minimising the release of hazardous chemicals and substances, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and significantly increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.
• By 2030, substantially increase water use efficiency in all sectors and ensure sustainable abstraction and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and significantly reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity.
• By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation where appropriate.
• By 2020, protect and restore water-connected ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers, and lakes.

How is the target to be achieved?

• By 2030, scale up international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries for water and sanitation activities and programmes, including water collection and storage, desalination, efficient water use, wastewater treatment, recycling, and reuse technologies.
• Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water management and sanitation.

Access to energy is an indispensable prerequisite for achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals. Today, 1.6 billion people worldwide do not have access to electricity, and 2.5 billion people depend on traditional biomass as a source of energy. Goal 7 therefore calls for universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services. Because sustainable development requires climate-friendly economic development, the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix should be significantly increased and the global rate of increase in energy efficiency doubled. Research in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency is to be promoted, as are investments in energy infrastructure and clean energy technologies.

What is to be achieved?

• Ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services by 2030.
• By 2030, significantly increase the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.
• Double the global rate of increase in energy efficiency by 2030.

How is the goal to be achieved?

• By 2030, strengthen international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, namely renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and clean fossil fuel technologies, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technologies.
• By 2030, expand infrastructure and modernise technology to provide modern and sustainable energy services for all in developing countries and in least developed countries, small island developing States and landlocked developing countries, in line with their respective support programmes.

According to current data, more than 200 million people worldwide are unemployed, especially young people. Work and economic growth play a key role in poverty reduction. Goal 8 includes sub-targets on economic growth, increasing productivity and creating decent jobs. Forced labour should be combated and modern slavery and human trafficking should be ended by 2030. Sustainable economic growth must not be achieved at the expense of the environment. Goal 8 therefore calls for the global improvement of resource efficiency in consumption and production and strives for the decoupling of economic growth and environmental degradation.

What is to be achieved?

• Maintain per capita economic growth in line with national conditions and annual GDP growth of at least 7 per cent in the least developed countries.
• Achieve higher economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading, and innovation, including by focusing on high value-added and labour-intensive sectors.
• Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services.
• By 2030, progressively improve global resource efficiency in consumption and production and aim to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, in line with the Ten-Year Programme Framework on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, with developed countries taking the lead.
• By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value.
• By 2020, significantly reduce the proportion of young people who are out of work and not in education or training.
• Take immediate and effective action to abolish forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking, and ensure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including the conscription and use of child soldiers, and end all forms of child labour by 2025.
• Protect labour rights and promote safe working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, especially women migrant workers, and those in precarious employment.
• By 2030, develop and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and local products.
• Strengthen the capacity of national financial institutions to favour and expand access to banking, insurance, and financial services for all.

How is the objective to be achieved?

• Increase the assistance provided under Aid for Trade to developing countries and to least developed countries, including through the Enhanced Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries.
• Develop and launch a Global Strategy for Youth Employment by 2020 and implement the International Labour Organization’s Global Jobs Pact.

Investments in sustainable infrastructure and in scientific and technological research increase economic growth, create jobs and promote prosperity. Over the next 15 years, billions of dollars in infrastructure projects are due to be implemented in developing and emerging countries. Goal 9 is about building resilient infrastructures and promoting sustainable industrialisation and innovation. To make infrastructures and industries sustainable, resources are to be used more efficiently and clean, environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes are to be promoted by 2030. Technology development, research and innovation are to be supported, especially in developing countries.

What is to be achieved?

• Build high-quality, reliable, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure, including regional and cross-border infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all.
• Promote broad-based and sustainable industrialisation and, by 2030, substantially increase the share of industry in employment and gross domestic product in line with national circumstances and double the share in least developed countries.
• Increase access of small industrial and other enterprises to financial services, including affordable credit, and their inclusion in value chains and markets, especially in developing countries.
• By 2030, modernise infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with more efficient use of resources and increased use of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes, with all countries acting according to their respective capacities.
• Improve scientific research and enhance the technological capacity of industrial sectors in all countries, and in developing countries, including by promoting innovation and substantially increasing the number of persons engaged in research and development per million people and public and private expenditure on research and development by 2030.

How is the goal to be achieved?

• Facilitate the development of sustainable and resilient infrastructure in developing countries through increased financial, technological, and technical support to African countries, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states.
• Support indigenous technology development, research, and innovation in developing countries, including by ensuring an enabling policy environment, inter alia, for industrial diversification and value addition in the extractive sector.
• Significantly expand access to information and communication technology and aim to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020.

Global inequalities are very large and one of the biggest obstacles to sustainable development and poverty reduction. In recent years, inequalities within many countries have increased. Therefore, Goal 10 focuses on reducing inequalities within and between countries. Goal 10 calls for a sustainable increase in income growth for the poorest 40 per cent of the population. By 2030, all people should be empowered, and their social, economic, and political inclusion promoted. Equal opportunities shall be ensured through the elimination of discriminatory laws, policies, and practices. Orderly and safe migration and mobility of people shall be facilitated. Developing countries should be better represented in international economic and financial institutions and have a greater say in decision-making.

What is to be achieved?

• By 2030, progressively achieve and sustain income growth above the national average for the poorest 40 per cent of the population.
• By 2030, empower all people regardless of age, gender, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status and promote their social, economic, and political inclusion.
• Ensure equality of opportunity and reduce inequality of outcomes, namely by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislative, policy, and other measures in this regard.
• Adopt policies, in particular fiscal, wage, and social protection policies, and progressively achieve greater equality.
• Improve the regulation and supervision of global financial markets and institutions and strengthen the application of relevant rules.
• Ensure better representation and increased voice of developing countries in decision-making in global international economic and financial institutions to enhance the effectiveness, credibility, accountability, and legitimacy of these institutions.
• Facilitate orderly, safe, regular, and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the application of planned and well-managed migration policies.

How is the objective to be achieved?

• Apply the principle of special and differential treatment to developing countries, the least developed countries, in accordance with World Trade Organisation agreements.
• Promote Official Development Assistance (ODA) and financial flows, including foreign direct investment (FDI), to those countries where the need is greatest, the least developed countries, African countries, small island developing States and landlocked developing countries, in accordance with their respective national plans and programmes.
• By 2030, reduce migrants’ remittance transaction costs to less than 3 per cent and eliminate remittance corridors with costs above 5 per cent.

Cities occupy only three per cent of the world’s surface but consume three quarters of global resources and are responsible for 75 per cent of global emissions. More than half of the world’s population lives in cities, with an expected increase to up to 70% by 2050. Cities are key drivers of local and national economies and hubs of prosperity. Goal 11 aims to reduce the per capita environmental impact of cities. Make urban development more inclusive and sustainable, including through participatory, integrated and sustainable settlement planning. It also aims to ensure universal access to safe and inclusive green spaces and public spaces, especially for women and children, older people and people with disabilities. Likewise, access to safe and affordable housing and transport systems should be ensured.

What is to be achieved?

• By 2030, ensure access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing and basic services for all and sanitise slums.
• By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport systems for all and improve road safety, in particular by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of people in vulnerable situations, women, children, people with disabilities and older people.
• By 2030, make urbanisation more inclusive and sustainable and strengthen capacities for participatory, integrated, and sustainable settlement planning and management in all countries.
• Strengthen efforts to protect and preserve the world’s cultural and natural heritage.
• By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and people affected by disasters, including water-related disasters, and substantially reduce the direct economic losses they cause in relation to global gross domestic product, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations.
• By 2030, reduce the per capita environmental impact of cities, including with special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste treatment.
• By 2030, ensure universal access to safe, inclusive, and accessible green spaces and public spaces, especially for women and children, older people and people with disabilities.

What is to be achieved?

• Support positive economic, social, and environmental linkages between urban, peri-urban and rural areas through enhanced national and regional development planning.
• By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans to promote inclusion, resource efficiency, climate change mitigation, climate adaptation and disaster resilience, and develop and implement holistic disaster risk management at all levels in accordance with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.
• Support least developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in the construction of sustainable and resilient buildings using indigenous materials.

The world’s population currently consumes more resources than ecosystems can provide. For social and economic development to take place within the carrying capacity of ecosystems, the way our society produces and consumes goods must be fundamentally changed. Goal 12 calls for the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes. Waste generation should be significantly reduced through measures such as recycling. Food waste is to be halved and companies are to be encouraged to adopt sustainable business practices. Another focus is on promoting sustainability criteria in public procurement.

What is to be achieved?

• Implement the ten-year programme framework for sustainable consumption and production patterns, with all countries, led by developed countries, acting, taking into account the level of development and capacity of developing countries.
• Achieve sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources by 2030.
• Halve global food waste per capita at retail and consumer levels by 2030 and reduce food losses along the production and supply chain, including post-harvest losses.
• By 2020, achieve environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release into air, water and soil to minimise their adverse impacts on human health and the environment.
• By 2030, significantly reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse.
• Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and include sustainability information in their reporting.
• Promote sustainable practices in public procurement, in line with national policies and priorities.
• By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have relevant information and awareness about sustainable development and living in harmony with nature.

How is the goal to be achieved?

• Support developing countries in strengthening their scientific and technological capacity to transition to more sustainable consumption and production patterns.
• Develop and apply tools to monitor the impact of sustainable tourism, which creates jobs and promotes local culture and products, on sustainable development.
• Rationalise inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions in line with national circumstances, including by restructuring taxation and phasing out these harmful subsidies to take account of their environmental impact, taking full account of the specific needs and circumstances of developing countries and minimising the potential adverse impacts on their development in a manner that is protective of the poor and affected communities.

Climate change is a key challenge for sustainable development. The warming of the earth’s atmosphere endangers the livelihoods of large sections of the population in less developed regions of the world, while in developed areas it is primarily infrastructure and individual sectors of the economy that are exposed to the risks of climate change. Goal 13 calls on states to integrate climate protection measures into their national policies and to support each other in meeting the challenges. It is also about strengthening resilience to climate-related natural disasters. The pledge of developed countries to collectively raise $100 billion annually from all sources by 2020 to help developing countries adapt to climate change is reaffirmed.

What is to be achieved?

• Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
• Mainstream climate action into national policies, strategies, and planning.
• Improve education and awareness, human and institutional capacity in climate change mitigation, adaptation, mitigation, and early warning.

How is the target to be achieved?

• Fulfil the commitment made by developed country Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to collectively raise $100 billion annually from all sources by 2020 to meet the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful climate action and transparent implementation, and fully operationalise the Green
• fully operationalise the Green Climate Fund by providing it with the necessary financial resources as soon as possible.
• Promote mechanisms to build effective climate change planning and management capacity in least developed countries and small island developing states, including by targeting women, young people and local and marginalised communities.

Pollution and overexploitation of the oceans are increasingly causing problems, such as the acute threat to biodiversity, ocean acidification and increasing plastic waste. A growing world population will be even more dependent on resources from the oceans in the future. Goal 14 calls for all forms of marine pollution to be significantly reduced and ocean acidification to be minimised by 2025. Already by 2020, marine and coastal ecosystems should be sustainably managed and protected. Likewise, fishing activities are to be effectively regulated by 2020. To stop overfishing of the oceans, illegal and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices are to be ended by 2020. Similarly, certain forms of fisheries subsidies are to be banned.

What is to be achieved?

• By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce all forms of marine pollution, from land-based activities and notably marine litter and nutrient pollution.
• By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take measures to restore them so that the oceans become healthy and productive again.
• Minimise ocean acidification and address its impacts, including through enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels.
• By 2020, effectively regulate fishing activities and end overfishing, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and destructive fishing practices, and implement science-based management plans to restore fish stocks in the shortest possible time to at least levels that ensure maximum sustainable yield, considering their biological characteristics.
• By 2020, conserve at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas in accordance with national and international law and based on the best available scientific information.
• By 2020, prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and introduce no new such subsidies, recognising that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should form an inseparable part of fisheries subsidy negotiations conducted within the World Trade Organisation.
• By 2030, increase the economic benefits for small island developing States and least developed countries resulting from the sustainable use of marine resources, namely through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture, and tourism.

How will the goal be achieved?

• Deepen scientific knowledge, enhance research capacity, and transfer marine technologies, considering the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission’s criteria and guidelines for marine technology transfer, in order to improve ocean health and enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity to the development of developing countries, especially small island developing States and least developed countries.
• Ensure small-scale artisanal fishers’ access to marine resources and markets.
• Enhance the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and their resources and, to this end, implement international law as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are crucial for social and economic development as well as for human survival. The loss of forest cover threatens human well-being, with the rural poor being particularly affected. Biodiversity is the basis for ecological development. Goal 15 calls for the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of ecosystems. Deforestation should be stopped, and degraded forests restored. Reforestation is to be significantly increased worldwide. Likewise, desertification is to be combated by 2030 and areas affected by desertification, drought and floods are to be rehabilitated. To protect biodiversity, Goal 15 calls for urgent action to end poaching and trafficking of protected plant and animal species.

What is to be achieved?

• By 2020, in line with commitments under international agreements, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands.
• By 2020, promote sustainable management of all forest types, end deforestation, restore degraded forests and significantly increase afforestation and reforestation globally.
• By 2030, combat desertification, rehabilitate degraded lands and soils, including those affected by desertification, drought, and floods, and aim for a world where land degradation is neutralised.
• By 2030, ensure the conservation of mountain ecosystems, including their biodiversity, to strengthen their capacity to deliver essential benefits for sustainable development.
• Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt biodiversity loss and protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species by 2020.
• Promote the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources and appropriate access to them, as agreed at international level.
• Take urgent action to end poaching and trafficking of protected plant and animal species and address the problem of supply of and demand for illegal wildlife products.
• By 2020, introduce measures to prevent the introduction of invasive alien species, significantly reduce their impact on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and control or eliminate priority species.
• By 2020, integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and overall accounting systems.

How is the goal to be achieved?

• Raise and significantly increase financial resources from all sources for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems.
• Raise substantial resources from all sources and at all levels to finance sustainable forest management and provide appropriate incentives to developing countries to increase the use of this form of management, namely for the purpose of forest conservation and reforestation.
• Increase global support for measures to combat poaching and trafficking of protected species, including by strengthening the capacity of local communities to take advantage of sustainable livelihood opportunities.

Without peaceful and inclusive societies and good governance, development is demonstrably not sustainable. The restoration of peace and accountable institutions contributes significantly to development. Goal 16 therefore aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies. It also aims to significantly reduce corruption and bribery as well as illicit arms and financial flows. The rule of law and participatory institutions should be promoted and equal access to justice guaranteed so that peaceful and inclusive societies can emerge.

What is to be achieved?

• Significantly reduce all forms of violence and violence-related mortality everywhere.
• End the abuse and exploitation of children, child trafficking, torture and all forms of violence against children.
• Promote the rule of law at national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all.
• By 2030, significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen recovery and restitution of stolen assets and combat all forms of organised crime.
• Significantly reduce corruption and bribery in all its forms.
• Build effective, accountable, and transparent institutions at all levels.
• Ensure that decision-making at all levels is needs-based, inclusive, participatory, and representative.
• Expand and strengthen the participation of developing countries in global governance institutions.
• By 2030, ensure that all people have a legal identity, through birth registration.
• Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements.

How is the goal to be achieved?

• Support relevant national institutions, notably through international cooperation, in capacity building at all levels to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime, especially in developing countries.
• Promote and enforce non-discriminatory legislation and policies in favour of sustainable development.

To successfully implement the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a comprehensive financing base is needed that goes beyond official development assistance. In addition to public and private funds, politics should also make a greater contribution to achieving the goals. In Goal 17, the developed countries renew their commitment to spend 0.7 percent of their gross national income on official development assistance. In order to reduce dependence on foreign support, the mobilisation of domestic resources is to be strengthened. International cooperation in the field of science, technology and innovation is to be strengthened and an equitable multilateral trading system promoted.

What is to be achieved?

In the area of financing:

• Strengthen domestic resource mobilisation, including through international support to developing countries to improve national capacity to collect taxes and other levies.
• Ensure that developed countries fully meet their ODA commitments, including the commitment made by many developed countries to reach the target of 0.7 per cent of their gross national income for ODA to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent to least developed countries; ODA donors are encouraged to consider providing at least 0.20 per cent of their gross national income to least developed countries as a target.
• Mobilise additional financial resources from various sources for developing countries.
• Help developing countries achieve long-term debt sustainability through coordinated policies to promote debt financing, debt relief and debt restructuring, respectively, and address the problem of external indebtedness of heavily indebted poor countries to reduce over-indebtedness.
• Adopt and implement investment promotion schemes, for the least developed countries.

In the field of technology:

• Enhance regional and international North-South and South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation in the field of science, technology and innovation and access to them, and strengthen the exchange of knowledge on mutually agreed terms, including through better coordination between existing mechanisms, particularly at the United Nations level, and through a global mechanism for technology promotion.
• Promote the development, transfer, diffusion, and dissemination of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries on mutually agreed favourable terms, including concessional and preferential terms.
• Fully operationalise the Technology Bank and the Science, Technology, and Innovation Capacity Building Mechanism for Least Developed Countries by 2017 and enhance the use of enabling technologies, in particular information and communication technologies.

On capacity building:

• Strengthen international support for the implementation of effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the Sustainable Development Goals, namely through North-South and South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation.
• In the area of trade:
• Promote a universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory, and equitable multilateral trading system under the umbrella of the World Trade Organisation, notably by concluding negotiations under its Doha Development Agenda.
• Significantly increase developing countries’ exports, with a view to doubling the share of least developed countries in global exports by 2020.
• Achieve the rapid implementation of duty-free and quota-free market access on a permanent basis for all least developed countries in line with World Trade Organisation decisions, including by ensuring that preferential rules of origin applicable to imports from least developed countries are transparent, simple and help facilitate market access.

On systemic issues | Policy and institutional coherence:

• Improve global macroeconomic stability, namely through policy coordination and policy coherence.
• Improve policy coherence in favour of sustainable development.
• Respect each country’s policy space and leadership in defining and implementing policies for poverty eradication and sustainable development.
• Strengthen the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, complemented by multi-actor partnerships to mobilise and share knowledge, expertise, technology, and financial resources to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in all countries, particularly developing countries.
• Support and promote the formation of effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and fundraising strategies of existing partnerships.
• By 2020, increase capacity-building support to developing countries, namely least developed countries and small island developing States, with the aim of having significantly more high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migration status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in the national context.
• By 2030, build on existing initiatives to develop measures of progress for sustainable development that complement gross domestic product and support statistical capacity building of developing countries.