UN Member States are reviewing a revised draft of the Ministerial Declaration to be adopted at the close of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in July 2022. The draft includes a new section outlining “other priority issues,” which highlights, among others, poverty eradication and climate change.

The co-facilitators for negotiations – the permanent representatives of Italy and Nauru – issued the finalized outline for the Declaration on 18 March and a zero draft on 14 April. The draft included sections on:

• The impact of COVID-19 on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and actions to recover better while accelerating progress towards the SDGs;
• The Goals under in-depth review and Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs), including sub-sections on SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 14 (life below water), SDG 15 (life on land), and SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals); and
• Our roadmap for the way forward.

Following consultations, the co-facilitators produced a revised draft on 6 May, which includes an additional section on “other priority issues.” In this section, ministers and high representatives emphasize the “need for concerted action to implement and enhance synergies between the outcomes” of UN conferences and summits in the economic, social, and environmental areas. They call for “increased global partnership, solidarity and commitment” to accelerate implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Ministers reaffirm poverty eradication and climate change as the “greatest challenge[s] of our time,” and recommit to accelerate actions towards a more ambitious UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2022. The revised draft contains a paragraph on the “need to mobilize climate finance from all sources” and an alternative paragraph, which “recall[s] the climate finance commitments” under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Universal access to affordable, reliable, and renewable energy for all, equitable access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and investing in youth as agents for sustainable development are among the other priority issues identified in the section. Ministers and high representatives also support “emerging avenues” to accelerate the 2030 Agenda, including the ‘Space2030 Agenda: space as a driver of sustainable development’ and its implementation plan.

The section on the impact of COVID-19 includes a paragraph where ministers and high representatives call for “further strengthening international solidarity and cooperation for combatting and recovering from the pandemic,” and list actions to recover better through, inter alia:

• Ensuring timely, equitable, and affordable global access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines;
• Increased support for relevant multilateral mechanisms to address the impacts of the pandemic;
• The rapid scaling up and expansion of all vaccine production, including in developing countries, through the voluntary licensing and transfer of technology and know-how, in accordance with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules;
• Facilitating access to financial resources for an inclusive, sustainable, and resilient recovery;
• Providing support and protection measures, starting with the most affected people and people in vulnerable situations;
• Strengthening health systems to save lives and livelihoods, and increasing support to people in vulnerable situations, including through the achievement of universal health coverage (UHC); and
• Strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.

This paragraph remains largely the same as in the zero draft. [First Revision Draft] [HLPF 2022 Documents]