When you think of the United Nations, what comes to mind? How about, maintaining international peace and security? Good answer! That’s the very first purpose listed in the UN Charter. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-1
Okay, what about promoting “sustainable housing” in Bird City, Kansas, population 450? Or providing the framework for a prestigious American university to judge its course offerings? Or helping to pressure a major American city to hire a “Chief Equity Officer”?
If this all sounds like the UN needs to “stay in its lane,” then you haven’t met the 2030 Agenda.
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They have big plans in Turtle Bay.
According to the UN, we are on a “collective journey” to “[t]ransform[] our [w]orld.” This project goes by the name of “the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda (Article 1, ¶ 3 of the UN Charter opens the door to this.)
The 2030 Agenda was adopted in September 2015, on the occasion of the UN’s 70th anniversary and with the enthusiastic support of the Obama Administration. (“As a former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, I had the privilege to help usher in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. . . . The United States strongly supports the 2030 Agenda, and we are committed to its implementation.” — Former Obama UN Ambassador/current Biden USAID Administrator Samantha Power. https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-by-administrator-samantha-power-at-the-high-level-political-forum-on-sustainable-development/ )
Let’s peek under the hood.
The Agenda consists of “17 Sustainable Development Goals [the “SDGs”] with 169 associated targets which are integrated and indivisible.” (¶18) It went into effect on January 1, 2016, and all UN member countries pledged to implement the Agenda. (¶21)
Here are the SDGs:
- Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
- Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
- Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
- Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
- Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
- Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
- Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
- Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
- Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
- Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
- Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
- Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
- Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts* [*Acknowledging that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change.]
- Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
- Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
- Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
- Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
Holy cow! That’s a lot of “sustainability”! (14 uses of the word and its variants in 17 bullet points.) What does “sustainability” mean? (We will come back to that.)
These SDGs aren’t just intended for others − as a signatory to the Agenda, the United States is supposed to implement them, too. So, who is taking us on this “collective journey” to “[t]ransform[] our [w]orld”?
As always, follow the money − and learn the backstory. In Part Two, we will meet the NGOs devoted to implementing the SDGs in the United States.