The co-facilitators for the outcome of the 2022 UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) have released a draft outline for consideration. The zero draft of the Ministerial Declaration is expected in mid-April.

The permanent representatives of Italy and Nauru are serving as co-facilitators of consultations on the Ministerial Declaration of the High-level Segment of the 2022 Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) session and the HLPF convened under the auspices of ECOSOC.

The co-facilitators issued the proposed structure of the Ministerial Declaration on 18 March 2022. By this proposal, an introduction to the Declaration would reaffirm the 2030 Agenda as a blueprint for sustainable development, and urge global commitment to accelerate towards its full implementation.

The second section would be titled ‘Impact of COVID-19 on the 2030 Agenda and actions to recover better while accelerating progress towards the SDGs.’ It would emphasize the pandemic’s effects on poverty, hunger, inequalities, climate, and health systems among other issues. The section would also include a “short diagnosis” on the effectiveness of current policies to overcome the pandemic and realize a sustainable, inclusive, and equitable recovery, based on acceleration towards SDG achievement. It would offer policy guidance to various sectors to indicate “promising policies” to accelerate SDG achievement.

The third section, ‘Goals under in-depth review and VNRs,’ would assess the status of each SDGs under review in 2022:

• Goal 4 (quality education);
• Goal 5 (gender equality);
• Goal 14 (life below water);
• Goal 15 (life on land); and
• Goal 17 (partnership for the Goals).

The assessment would be based on the 2022 SDG report, and it would reflect the impacts of COVID-19 on each Goal. Solutions would be highlighted for each Goal and interlinked issues among Goals. This section could also highlight best practices that emerge from the 45 voluntary national reviews (VNRs) that will be presented during the 2022 HLPF.

Finally, on the way forward, the closing section would, inter alia:

• Call for action-oriented commitments towards achieving the SDGs by the 2023 SDG Summit – which will mark the mid-point of the 2030 Agenda’s implementation period;
• Highlight the need for resilience of SDG implementation efforts;
• Highlight the connections between the 2030 Agenda and ‘Our Common Agenda’;
• Encourage countries to present VNRs and to consider developing schedule for presenting VNRs between 2023 and 2030;
• Recognize the role of voluntary local reviews (VLRs);
• Encourage action-oriented outcomes for the major events in 2022-2023, including the Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 27), the 2022 Transforming Education Summit, the mid-term review of the Sendai Framework programme of action in 2023, the UN-Water conference in 2023, the SDG Summit in 2023,  and the 2023 Summit of the Future; and
• Provide guidance for preparing the 2023 SDG summit.

The co-facilitators will hold an in-person meeting on 30 March 2022 in the ECOSOC Chamber at UN headquarters for discussion of the proposed outline and potential content of the declaration. The zero draft of the declaration is expected to be released by 14 April. [Letter to delegations] [Draft outline of 2022 HLPF Ministerial Declaration] [SDG Knowledge Hub story on negotiation process]