The NGO Major Group recommends the following regarding the SDGs under review in 2017:
– Goal 1: Addressing the causes and manifestations of structural poverty requires holistic,
context-specific solutions interlinked with all other goals. Governments should report on
their efforts to increase opportunities, wellbeing, and resilience among all sectors of
society.
– Goal 2: To end hunger and all forms of malnutrition, we must change our agricultural
production from high-input, industrial exploitation towards systems that support
smallholders’ livelihoods and preserve cultures and biodiversity.
– Goal 3: Efforts to achieve health-related targets should prioritize the full spectrum of
services from promotion, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliation.
Governments, through a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder approach, must
endeavour to remove social, cultural, and economic barriers to ensure full access to
affordable, quality physical and mental health services for all.
– Goal 5: Obstacles to the actualization of gender equality and the fundamental rights of
women and girls should be overcome through implementing laws and policies that
prohibit discrimination, redistribute unpaid care work, promote equality in access to
resources, education, and decision-making, in alignment with internationally agreed
conventions and standards.
– Goal 9: All governments, including regional and local authorities, should promote
inclusive, ecologically-sound industrialization and the provision of basic infrastructure
that incorporates the protection of nature and participatory decision-making.
– Goal 14: SDG14 must be a keystone in protecting the oceans as a substantial part of the
biosphere, a unique ecosystem, an integral part of human civilization and major food
provider, and a common good with equal and fair access rights.