Adopted in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity, it’s clear as we approach the halfway mark that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are in trouble. In the past few years, the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts, and climate-related disasters have wiped out advances on some SDGs. UNDP remains optimistic through its ongoing SDG Push initiative which has produced Integrated SDG Insights reports for over 90+ countries. These provide a landscape of SDG trends and national priorities – and chart pathways that maximize the interlinkages – helping to drive more effective policies to achieve the Goals.   

One important lesson from the pandemic is that countries can design policies that support gender equality; it is a matter of choice. Even in the midst of an unprecedented global crisis, we witnessed governments – from high-income to low-income countries – introducing measures focused on addressing women’s economic security and recovery. Building capacities to respond to the specific needs and priorities of women and girls in crisis has long been a priority for UNDP. UNDP, with support from the Government of Denmark, is supporting an all women construction initiative helping to rebuild war-damaged homes in Ukraine. The idea arose after the women found themselves being overlooked when volunteering in local construction groups. 

UNDP’s Integrated SDG Insights explore how to achieve the SDGs by 2030. So that no one is left behind.

Humans and AI complement each other, opening new opportunities for economic growth, production, health care, education, communication, and transportation. UNDP recognizes AI’s potential as well as its risks and are optimizing its use to advance the SDGs. Ethical and responsible artificial intelligence is an accelerator for sustainable development and already is affecting so many aspects of our lives. It is important to ensure fairness and transparency in the design and use of AI, clarify legal responsibility and liability in cases of harm caused by AI, as well as address the intellectual property implications.

Forests are one of the solutions to the climate crisis but are also under pressure from climate change itself. What are the strategies to face this complex reality?

In this episode of the UN Forest Podcast, 2023 Oscar-winning actress and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Michelle Yeoh is joined by Professor Almut Arneth, Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC Special Report on land and climate change, to explore the unique relationship between forests and climate change.

An episode by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

Image Credit: ©UNECE and UNDP

Hello Future - Season 2, Episode 1: Nexus. The overlapping crises we face today signal that our traditional responses are not enough. We must deliver humanitarian assistance with a keen eye towards preventing the next catastrophe. This episode features Achim Steiner, Iryna Haiduchyk, and Abdallah Al Dardari.

Hello Future is a UNDP video series exploring the trends shaping our world. From digitalization to inequality, to the climate emergency, to crisis response, the series examines critical issues facing humans and the place we call home, and what we must do if we’re to get out of this century alive.

Smallholder farming has become increasingly unpredictable. Extreme climate-induced disasters – from floods and droughts to more powerful storms – are on the rise, with corresponding devastation. With accurate, location-specific climate and weather data, farmers can make more informed decisions about which crops to plant, or livestock to rear, or which livelihood options to pursue for a better income. ‘Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture’ is part of UNDP’s strategy to bring actionable data and affordable digital technologies to those who need them.

Everyone stands to gain from ensuring freedom for women. Social norms that impair women’s rights are also detrimental to society more broadly, dampening the expansion of human development, UNDP reports.

According to a new global report launched by UN Women and UNDP, no country has achieved full gender parity and fewer than 1 percent of women and girls live in a country with high women’s empowerment and a small gender gap. Analysis of 114 countries has found that women’s power and freedom to make choices and seize opportunities remain largely restricted. Globally, women achieve, on average, 72 percent of what men achieve across key human development dimensions, as measured by the Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI), reflecting a 28 percent of gender gap.

According to the latest UNDP’s global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report, 1.1 billion out of 6.1 billion people (just over 18%) live in acute multidimensional poverty across 110 countries. However the report demonstrates that poverty reduction is achievable. Analysis of trends from 2000 to 2022, reveals that 25 countries successfully halved their global MPI values showing that rapid progress is attainable. The global MPI both monitors poverty reduction and informs policy, showing how people experience poverty in different aspects of their daily lives.

Digital technology has become a fundamental force for change in this century. It is reshaping economies, government, and the very fabric of our communities – touching nearly every facet of our lives. And since 2015, countries have harnessed digital technology to accelerate progress towards achieving of the SDGs by 2030. The 17 SDGs are all getting a boost from the latest in digital strategies. UNDP shows how in the last seven years, digitalization has emerged as a veritable keystone, showing enormous potential to unlock the many complex, interwoven challenges addressed in the SDGs.

Gender bias is alive and well in the 21st century, and it casts a shadow over our beliefs and how we act on them. No matter where women live, they are paid less, shoulder more unpaid housework and childcare, and are wildly under-represented in civic and business leadership. Men make the laws, lead the vast majority of governments, and run the biggest companies. UNDP undertakes regular assessment of the attitudes people have towards men’s and women’s societal roles. Its latest report on the Gender Social Norms Index, shows that biases remain persistent.

Moored off Yemen’s Red Sea coast, the FSO Safer is a supertanker in advanced state of decay that will soon break apart or explode if the world does not act, UNDP warns. A massive spill from the Safer would destroy pristine reefs, coastal mangroves and other sea life across the Red Sea, expose millions of people to highly polluted air, and cut off food, fuel and other life-saving supplies to Yemen, where 17 million people already need food aid.

We know that the world is facing a planetary emergency of nature loss and climate change. It is made worse by the impacts of inequality, conflict, insecurity and health crises. UNDP aims to put nature at the heart of a shared global understanding of sustainable development. Where nature is being protected and restored as a planetary safety net for humanity, safeguarding our food, our water and our livelihoods and jobs, our climate, our health, our security – and our economies. And where nature enables people to rise out of poverty and inequality to live in a more just and sustainable future.

The overlapping food, health, energy and economic shocks of the past few years have pushed many into poverty and developing countries to the verge of default on their crushing debt burdens. Halfway to the 2030 deadline, financial and industrial transformation to meet the SDGs and close the widening gaps between rich and poor is critical. For UNDP, a reformed financial system that delivers sustainable transformation must include domestic and international tax norms that meet the needs of developing countries. It also requires policies that link private sector profitability to sustainability.