The Sustainable Development Agenda: From Inspiration to Action
POLICY BRIEF by Katja Hujo & Gabriele Köhler
The SDGs stand a chance of hitting the ground running. Even before they are put before the UN General Assembly, politicians, policy makers, civil society, business and the media have been reacting positively to the new sustainable development agenda.
The agenda is indeed to be welcomed. It responds to the exploding social, economic, political and ecological inequities and the destructive forces of climate change that we face today. It acknowledges the urgent need to invest far more holistically, strategically and comprehensively in the social sector to overcome immense poverty, hunger and social exclusion challenges. It could usher in eco-social policies—bringing together socioeconomic and environmental policies—to deliver genuinely transformative results in terms of human well-being and rights-based, inclusive development.
The authors dicuss what needs to happen next to enable this agenda to deliver on its "transformative" promise: Which policies would lead to social, economic and ecological justice? How can all human rights— promised since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—be realized rapidly and for all?
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