22 September 2023 - ¡°We need to accelerate the implementation [of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)] with a sense of urgency,¡± said UN DESA¡¯s Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua as he took the stage in the SDG Media Zone on 18 September 2023, on the heels of the 2023 SDG Summit opening. ¡°Business as usual is no longer a viable option,¡± he said, stressing the need ¡°to re-galvanize our political commitment with more bold, ambitious actions.¡±
Together with the Director of UN DESA¡¯s Statistics Division, Stefan Schweinfest, Mr. Li joined the session on ¡°A Promise in Peril: SDG Progress at Midpoint¡±, moderated by Devex, to discuss some of the latest trends and data presented in and , as well as .
Just before the session, world leaders at the SDG Summit adopted a decisive, action-oriented political declaration, re-committing to achieve the goals by 2030. Mr. Li highlighted that the adoption of this declaration, ¡°sends a very powerful, strong political signal to all the Member States and all stakeholders¡± to take urgent action.
Accelerating transformation with the help of science
Another session in the SDG Media Zone on 18 September put a spotlight on science-based solutions for the goals, based on the most recent launched on 12 September. UN DESA¡¯s Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, Navid Hanif, discussed practical ways to accelerate whole-of-society transformations together with two of the co-authors of the GSDR, ?sa Persson, Research Director and Deputy Director, Stockholm Environment Institute, and Nyovani Madise, Director of Development Policy and Head of the Malawi office, African Institute for Development Policy, in this session moderated by Scientific American.
While Ms. Persson stressed the need to accelerate transformations at scale, Ms. Madise pointed to the importance of considering how the goals are inter-linked. Mr. Hanif highlighted the events during the SDG Action Weekend and the role of youth in bringing about change. ¡°The youth are giving me great hope,¡± he said. ¡°They are determined to make a difference and they will not settle for less.¡±
New tool makes SDG data easily available
During the announcement session on 19 September, UN DESA's Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, joined the zone together with James Manyika, Senior Vice President at Google, to present the , the result of a partnership between UN DESA and Google.
"We need data to make good decisions... and to achieve the SDGs sooner rather than later,¡± Ms. Spatolisano emphasized, as she and Mr. Manyika shared the features of this new tool, which allows users to delve into SDG data and insights with AI-powered search functionality and a modern, interactive, and user-friendly interface.
Commitments to financing our future
Later during the week, on 20 September, visitors to the SDG Media Zone also got the chance to catch up on the latest commitments made when it comes to financing for development.
Shari Spiegel, Director of UN DESA¡¯s Financing for Sustainable Development Office, joined the announcement session in the SDG Media Zone to share updates from the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development which opened that morning.
¡°The UN is the place that brings all countries of the world together. These decisions that are being made affect everybody, they will affect all countries of the world,¡± Ms. Spiegel said, while stressing the role of both public and private financing to spur funding for the goals, including for the US $500 billion annual SDG Stimulus called for by countries at the SDG Summit.
Watch the sessions here:
[18 September 2023]
[18 September 2023]
[19 September 2023]
[20 September 2023]