In 2015, all United Nations (UN) Member States have adopted the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. The Agenda is comprised by 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are interconnected since actions in one area inevitably affect outcomes in others. SDGs are Global Goals aiming to meet important universal challenges in the areas of social, political, economic and environmental sustainability. According to the mission’s statement, the SDGs are constituting "A blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030". However, to reach peace and prosperity for people by 2030, all UN Member States need to act and also create a strong global partnership to meet the targets of each goal.
Learn more about the 1st SDG: facts, targets and progress...
The 1st Sustainable Development Goal
NO POVERTY The first goal is about “ending poverty in all its forms everywhere”. Poverty can be both defined by lack of money as well as lack of vital resources, which prevent people from living a self-reliant life with dignity. Living with dignity is a human right, a right that people living in poverty are not familiar with. Especially, in Sub-Saharan and South Asian countries the majority of people live under the poverty line and still struggling for the most basic human needs.
Poverty is usually caused by a combination of interrelated factors such as unemployment, social exclusion, lack of sufficient education, and high vulnerability due to climate change, conflicts and food insecurity. Ending poverty consists a 'humane obligation' towards the less fortunate people and populations who live in extreme poverty as a result of being born in specific regions, under specific circumstances, with specific pre-defined social and financial status. Moreover, our world is an interconnected one, hence by eliminating poverty globally can result in social cohesion and prosperity for all.
Targets
The main target of SDG-1 is to end all forms of poverty for all by the year 2030. Its specific targets – as defined in the official UN SDGs website – are to:
1.1 Eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day.
1.2 Reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.
1.3 Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable.
1.4 Ensure that all men and women, especially the poor and vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services.
1.5 Build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters.
1.A Ensure significant mobilisation of resources from a variety of sources to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, especially the least developed countries, so as to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions.
1.B Create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions.
Progress
The world has seen significant progress in the area of global poverty; since 1990 the rate of extreme poverty has been constantly declining, falling from 26.9% in 2000 to 9.2% in 2017. However, since 2015 the reduction of poverty started to slow down each year, thus making unlikely to meet the global target of ending poverty by 2030. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation and for the first time in more than 20 years an increase in global poverty has been observed. Particularly, in 2020 more than 71 million people worldwide have been pushed into extreme poverty.
There is still a long way to go to eliminate all forms of global poverty for all!
CODECA aspires to contribute in the achievement of SDG-1, through its participation in relevant regional, national and European projects and its collaboration with likeminded entities and organisations worldwide.
Stay tuned to learn about the 2nd Sustainable Development Goal in our upcoming blog entries!