UN political organ debates concerns on SDGs targets
By Alberto Leny, July 21, 2025Only one-third of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are currently on track to be met, prompting the United Nations to declare a global development emergency.
Progress has either stagnated or reversed in several key areas, including poverty, hunger, inequality, and the climate crisis, with nearly three-quarters of the world’s population of 8.2 billion, most vulnerable, living in developing countries.
Progress in poverty and hunger reduction is lagging, and many hard-won gains are being reversed.
The world is off-track in addressing the triple climate crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, and the impacts are becoming increasingly severe.
SDGs such as Zero Hunger, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Life Below Water, Life on Land, and Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions show little or no progress.
While some health metrics, such as under-5 mortality, have shown improvements, others, like immunisation coverage, have declined, and access to healthcare remains unevenly distributed.
Factors hindering progress on the SDGs include conflicts and structural vulnerabilities, which continue to impede development, particularly in emerging and developing economies.
Limited financing and investments are another factor; insufficient funding for sustainable development initiatives is a major obstacle.
There have been reversals in progress – some areas, like obesity rates and press freedom, have seen negative trends.
Despite the challenges, there is still hope for achieving the SDGs if significant and urgent action is taken.
UN Secretary General António Guterres believes the goals are still within reach with united and decisive efforts.
That’s why the UN’s apex political organ, the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) convened last week in New York under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
The forum, whose theme is ‘Advancing sustainable, inclusive, science- and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Goals of Development for leaving no one behind’, concludes on Wednesday.
National reviews
The 2025 HLPF programme, which fully appreciates the integrated, indivisible and interlinked nature of the SDGs, is conducting in-depth reviews of SDGs 3 and 5.
Goal 3 seeks to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, while SDG 5 aims at achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.
Delegates to the UN’s top political organ are also debating SDG 8, which seeks to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
Last week, they also discussed SDG 14 to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development; and SDG 17 of strengthening the means of implementation and revitalising the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.
Many delegates described SDG 14 (Life below water), as the most underfunded SDG, despite the importance of the Ocean for human wellbeing.
During the forum, 37 countries will present their Voluntary National Reviews, showcasing actions taken to advance the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs.
Major groups and other stakeholders explored how multilateralism can be renewed and strengthened to deliver on the promises of the 2030 Agenda, and how local action can drive transformative change.
Ahead of the conference, the UN chief highlighted sustainable development as a core pillar of multilateral cooperation, as reaffirmed by the Political Declaration of the 2023 SDG Summit and the 2024 Pact for the Future.
The Secretary-General’s annual report on SDG progress ten years into the implementation of the goals highlighted areas requiring decisive action to reach the 2030 goalpost, affirming that sustained multilateral engagement is essential to keep the SDGs within reach.
The report identified the recent Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the Second UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake, the Second World Summit for Social Development, the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC 3), the G20 Summit, and the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP30 in Belém, Brazil as “timely and strategic platforms to advance our collective efforts on the 2030 Agenda”.
During the debate on SDG 14 and interlinkages with other SDGs (Life below water), panellists reflected on obstacles and new opportunities.
Elizabeth McLeod, global ocean director, The Nature Conservancy, highlighted the finance gap, fragmented governance, and failure to empower coastal communities, noting that Ocean funding should reflect the size of the Blue Economy.
African Women Fish Processors and Traders Network Secretary-General Editrudith Lukanga called for empowerment of small-scale fishing communities by embedding the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in Ocean policies and action, noting they address tenure, safety, fair market access, and women’s roles from a human rights perspective.
Charles Tellier, deputy to the special envoy of France for UNOC 3, outlined the need for a science-policy-society interface that can connect Ocean action to the latest data, information, and knowledge.
Aquatic Life Institute Managing Director Sophika Kostyniuk underscored safeguarding aquatic animal welfare to avoid unnecessary suffering from wasteful and destructive fishing practices, such as bottom trawling, and the reduction of Ocean pollution.
National efforts, expanding marine protected areas, banning single-use plastics, marine spatial planning, protecting mangrove ecosystems, and science-based tools for Ocean protection were extensively discussed.
Marginalised demographics
Children and youth representatives want the target for Ocean protection increased to 60 per cent, and a mechanism for coastal communities’ loss and damage.
It was noted that women and youth are on the front lines of Ocean-based livelihoods but are often ignored in marine policy and governance. Women called for a feminist water-based ecological governance model to replace the current extractionist one.
Interlinkages between SDG 14 and other SDGs demand a broader integrated approach. Many stressed the need for inclusive approaches involving youth and communities to drive sustainable development.
Pointing to the impacts of Ocean collapse on food security and health, they called for investment in human capacity, emphasising the importance of traditional knowledge.
They stressed the role of traditional communities and Indigenous Peoples in protecting the Ocean, and the importance of integrated Ocean governance and research.
Indigenous Peoples representatives called for a human rights-based approach, including structural transformation, legal reforms, and financing, and not just a reference to Indigenous knowledge.
The Alliance of Small Island States noted that funds are being taken from sustainable development to put into conflict. Finland called the next replenishment of the Global Environment Facility “an opportunity to give more.”
Delegates also supported the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement), the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, and the ongoing negotiation process towards an international agreement on plastics.
The International Atomic Energy Agency highlighted nuclear and isotope techniques to study human impacts on the marine environment, including tracking micro-plastic pollution and Ocean acidification.
Norway welcomed the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s new Recommendation of the Council on Eliminating Government Support to Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing.
Interpol reaffirmed its support for states seeking law enforcement and criminal justice, as many delegates supported a precautionary moratorium on deep-sea mining.
The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction outlined the links between Ocean ecosystems and disaster exposure, calling for risk-informed development planning.