Promote Universal and Holistic Sustainable Development Goals

Momentum was created in September 2015 when UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This new agenda, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets, is universal. It applies to countries both in the Global North and South. Twelve of the proposed SDGs relate to the sustainable use of natural resources and several depend on the use of land resources. At the Global Soil Forum, our focus is the role of soils and land governance in the global efforts to implement the SDGs. Soils and land are key components for the fight against poverty, malnutrition and climate change, as they are at the centre of the provision of key ecosystem services. The sustainable provision of these functions and services, however, depends on managing tradeoffs between the different demands placed on them. Addressing these tradeoffs between different goals when implementing the SDGs will require an integrated, participatory and inclusive approach to ensure the consideration of crosscutting issues and different perspectives. At national level, we support the establishment and development of multi-stakeholder and rights holder platforms for the follow-up and review of the SDGs. By supporting this approach, we aim to translate the spirit of integration, inclusiveness and participation, which characterized the design of the 2030 Agenda, into the implementation phase.

It is crucial to ensure that the implementation of the SDGs takes a people-centered perspective that empowers and supports countries and stakeholders to address trade-offs between different goals and ensures that their implementation and follow-up and review is participatory and inclusive.