15 July 2019: The UN High-level Political Forum for Sustainable Development (HLPF) held its in-depth review of SDG 17 on means of implementation for the 2030 Agenda. The session marked the completion of the series of reviews of six SDGs selected for 2019: Goals 4 (quality education), 8 (decent work and economic growth), 10 (reduced inequalities), 13 (climate action), 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) and 17. SDG 17 is the only Goal reviewed every year.
SDG 17 calls to strengthen the means of implementation for realizing sustainable development, and to revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. It contains 19 targets – the most of any SDG – that are divided into five categories: finance; technologies; capacity building; trade; and systemic issues. “Systemic issues” is divided further into targets that address: policy and institutional coherence; multi-stakeholder partnerships; and data, monitoring and accountability.
The session to review progress against SDG 17 during the 2019 HLPF was titled, ‘Financing the SDGs: Moving from Words to Action (From the FfD Forum to the High-level Dialogue).’ The title refers to the 2019 session of the UN Economic and Social Council’s Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up (FfD Forum) that took place in April 2019, and the UN General Assembly’s upcoming high-level dialogue on FfD, which will convene in September 2019.
Yongyi Min, UN Statistics Division, provided a “statistical snapshot” of SDG 17 to inform participants’ discussion. According to the Earth Negotiations Bulletin, she said official development assistance (ODA) was down in 2018 by 2.7% in real terms from 2017, and humanitarian aid fell by 8%. She also noted a reduction in aid to the least developed countries (LDCs) and African countries, who need it most, saying donor countries are not living up to the pledge to scale up ODA.
Among other expert inputs to the meeting, Homi Kharas, Brookings Institution, said:
- Most investment in the SDGs has taken place in high- and middle-income countries;
- There is a gap of USD 840 billion per year to implement the SDGs; and
- The poor should not be overtaxed to implement the SDGs through domestic resource mobilization.
Mahmoud Mohieldin, World Bank Group, suggested reducing the cost of remittances, focusing on fragile and post-conflict states, and mobilizing women entrepreneurs.
In interventions from Member States, South Africa said SDG implementation should not result in increasing indebtedness. Ghana and Nigeria said multinational corporations working in developing countries should pay taxes. Kenya called for establishing an intergovernmental body to work on global norms for taxation.
Canada stressed the role of inclusive partnerships in implementing the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) on FfD. While Denmark said unlocking private sector funds requires turning development challenges into bankable projects, South Africa pointed to the importance of ODA for de-risking and improving bankability of projects.
The UNGA’s High-level Dialogue on FfD will take place on 26 September 2019, as part of the high-level week of the UNGA’s 74th session.
The other in-depth reviews during 2019 HLPF focused on SDG 4, SDG 8, SDG 10, SDG 13 and SDG 16. [IISD Meeting Coverage] [SDG Knowledge Hub Stories on HLPF 2019]