UN kicks off New Year with 2030 Sustainable Development goals

Marking the beginning of 2016,  the UN on January 1 kicked off the ambitious 2030 Sustainable Development Goals that aim to end poverty, hunger and assure gender equally while building a life of dignity for all over the next 15 years.  The 15-year cycle of the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) came to an end on December 31 2015, which made way for the SDGs. These goals aim to banish a host of social ills by 2030.  “The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are our shared vision of humanity and a social contract between the world’s leaders and the people,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had said of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted unanimously by 193 Heads of State and other top leaders at the beginning of the 70^th session of the UNGA  held in September.  “They are a to-do list for people and planet, and a blueprint for success,” he had said.  There are 17 goals and 169 targets to wipe out poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change over the next 15 years.  The official ushering in of the new 15-year cycle took place over a 24-hour period, which came into effect in each region of the planet at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2016.