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To achieve the goals of Rio +20 in an ambitious, time-bound and accountable manner, civil society organizations (CSOs) from around the world called upon governments in accordance with human rights, the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and respective capabilities to adopt these 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs):
SDG1 Sustainable Consumption and Production
SDG2 Sustainable livelihoods, youth & education
SDG3 Climate sustainability
SDG4 Clean energy
SDG5 Biodiversity
SDG6 Water
SDG7 Healthy seas and oceans
SDG8 Healthy forests
SDG9 Sustainable agriculture
SDG10 Green cities
SDG11 Subsidies and investment
SDG12 New Indicators of progress
SDG13 Access to information
SDG14 Public participation
SDG15 Access to redress and remedy
SDG16 Environmental justice for the poor and marginalized
SDG17 Basic health
›› For details of each goal, click here.
Benefits of SDGs
Rio+20 could serve as a platform for the international community to identify broad sustainable development goals (SDGs) and to begin a process of defining concrete goals. SDGs could assist in focusing the broad international sustainable development agenda at a practical level. They could serve as a tool for countries to measure their progress as well as further cooperation between countries. Moreover, the SDGs approach would generate a series of additional benefits:
- Objectives agreed to internationally could eventually be underpinned by targets – as is the case with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - that reflect the realities and priorities at national levels. They would thus be fully aligned with national contexts and could therefore be a useful tool for guiding public policies.
- The SDGs would play an important role in aiding the structured implementation of the principles and goals that were agreed in Rio in 1992 and in the identification of gaps and needs in countries, for example in terms of means of implementation, institutional strengthening, and capacity building to increase absorptive capacity for new technologies. Defined internationally, like the MDGs, these would serve both for comparing results, furthering opportunities for cooperation, including South-South cooperation.
The definition of the SDGs would contribute to focusing the preparatory process towards Rio+20, thus achieving more substantive and concrete results.
- A process framed along these lines would build upon the Johannesburg WSSD Plan of Implementation as well as Agenda 21.
- The SDGs would contribute to positioning the three pillars as cross-cutting building blocks for development throughout the UN system.
References: RIO +20: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A Proposal from the Governments of Colombia and Guatemala , Current Ideas on Sustainable Development Goals and Indicators