193 UN members reach agreement on New Sustainable Development Agenda

United Nations 193 member states have reached an agreement on the outcome document New Sustainable Development Agenda for the next 15 years i.e. till 2030. The new agenda draft document called “Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” was built on the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The draft agreement outlines 17 non-binding goals with 169 specific targets that comprise different socio-economic issues. These goals will succeed 8 MDGs which was adopted in 2000. It has broader sustainability agenda dealing with ‘five Ps’ people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership. It seeks to address the universal need for development that works for all people and root causes of poverty. It calls for eradicating hunger and poverty, improving living standards, ensuring quality education, affordable and reliable energy, achieving gender equality and taking urgent action to combat climate change etc. This new global agenda will be formally adopted by UN member states at coming Sustainable Development Summit to be held at the UN headquarters in New York from 25 to 27 September 2015. Success of Millennium Development Goals: Global effort under this initiative has helped to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty in past 15 years. It also has helped to reduce gender disparity by enabling more girls to go to school than ever before. It has brought unprecedented results in fighting diseases such as HIV/AIDS.