On 25 September 2015, the 193 Member States of the United Nations adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, global objectives expected to guide the actions of the international community over the next 15 years (2016-2030).
The 2030 Agenda offers a vision of a fairer, more peaceful world in which no one is left behind.
The new Agenda includes:17 goals, 169 targets and 230 indicators, means of implementation and the global partnership, review and follow-up.
Two other major outcomes in 2015 are integral to the 2030 Agenda: Addis Ababa Action Agenda, a framework for financial and non-financial means of implementation and Paris Climate Agreement, a global treaty to limit climate change.
The SDGs build on the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but they also represent a shift in the world’s vision and approach to development. They are:
Universal – the 2030 Agenda is as relevant to developed as it is to developing nations
Indivisible – no one goal is separate from the others, and all call for comprehensive and participatory approaches.
Sustainable, integrating the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental
Ambitious, aiming at ending poverty and hunger while sustainably managing natural resources.
Defined, devised and fully owned by countries after the broadest and most intensive global multistakeholder consultation in history, the SDGs are the main reference for development policies and programmes at national level.
The 2030 Agenda offers a vision for food and agriculture as key to sustainable development. FAO possesses experience and expertise in supporting policymaking, partnership-building, and projects and programmes built on 3-dimensional sustainability. Both the SDGs and FAO's strategic framework are geared towards tackling the root causes of poverty and hunger, building a fairer society and leaving no one behind.