Giving Compass' Take:

· The United Nations Foundation provides seven reasons why countries need to take bigger steps of action toward the Sustainable Development Goals.

·  What role can philanthropy play in advancing public, private, and social sector work around the SDGs? How do the SDGs align with your philanthropy goals? 

· Read more about the Sustainable Development Goals.

World leaders have promised to end poverty, reduce inequalities, and tackle climate change by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Now that we’re three years into the SDGs, how are we doing?

The new Sustainable Development Goals Report from the UN provides reasons for concern, but also hope. Most of all, it provides reasons for all of us to step up our efforts to achieve the SDGs.

In short, we are making progress in areas where there is strong international action, but to meet the SDGs by 2030, we must raise our ambitions.

Here are seven reasons we need to step up action on the SDGs:

    1. While extreme poverty has been reduced considerably in the past decades, there are pockets in the world where it still stubbornly persists.
    2. Worldwide, child mortality decreased substantially over the past several decades.
    3. Child marriage has continued to decline around the world.
    4. Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy for all is one step closer.
    5. Despite efforts to reduce the risks from disasters, economic losses in 2017 attributed to disasters were estimated at over $300 billion.
    6. Global hunger is on the rise after a period of prolonged decline.
    7. Urgent action on climate change is imperative, as 2017 was one of the three warmest years on record.

These seven reasons are far from a comprehensive overview of SDG progress, but give a snapshot of the urgent challenges in front of us and make a strong case for why we need to address our connected social, economic, and environmental challenges – at the same time.

Read the full article about the Sustainable Development Goals by Chandler Green at the United Nations Foundation.