THE RAINBOW OF U.N. SUSTAINABLE GOALS LENDS COLOR TO SPANISH SOCIAL MEDIA FOR “THE FUTURE WE WANT”

“A world without poverty, through the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, is the future that we want”

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A GUIDEPOST report

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, together with his Cabinet ministers, have painted their social media profiles with the colors of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the U.N. 2030 Agenda. This action seeks to involve citizens by using the hash tag #Soy2030 (Iam2030) and changing their image of the different media and applications for instant messaging for the 2030 logo.

​Sanchez wrote on Facebook:

Today we have our social media profiles with the colors of the 17 sustainable development goals (Sdgs) of the Agenda 2030 ♻️.
The Sdgs seek to eradicate poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all people as part of a new sustainable development agenda that does not leave anyone behind.
We must all contribute to achieving a better planet: Governments, the private sector, civil society and citizenship in general. And the countdown has already started ⏱️. #Soy2030, and you?
https://www.agenda2030.gob.es/

The portal of the  Spanish government La Moncloa says: The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice. The Goals interconnect and in order to leave no one behind, it ís important that we achieve each Goal and target by 2030.

It is, in the words of the United Nations, “the future we want, a better future, and a more sustainable world through the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Too many goals. A commentary in The Economist in 2015 argued that 169 targets for the SDGs is too many. They are “sprawling, misconceived” and “a mess”. Moreover, they ignore local context.

High cost of achieving the SDGs. Calling it “pure fantasy”, The Economist estimated that alleviating poverty and achieving the other sustainable development goals will require about US$2–3 trillion per year for the next 15 years . Estimates for providing clean water and sanitation for the whole population of all continents are as high as US$200 billion.

The World Bank cautions that estimates need to be made country by country, and reevaluated frequently over time.

Response to criticism. Nearly all the stakeholders who were engaged in negotiations to develop the SDGs agreed that the high number of 17 goals were justified because the agenda they address is all encompassing.

The SDGs were an outcome of a UN conference that was not criticized by any major non-governmental organization (NGO). In fact they received broad support from many NGOs.

The Rockefeller Foundation asserts that “the key to financing and achieving the SDGs lies in mobilizing a greater share of the $200+ trillion in annual private capital investment flows toward development efforts, and philanthropy has a critical role to play in catalyzing this shift.” Large-scale funders participating in a Rockefeller Foundation-hosted design thinking workshop (June 2017: Scaling Solutions) were realistic. They concluded that while there is a moral imperative to achieve the SDGs, failure is inevitable if there aren’t drastic changes to how we go about financing large scale change.

Public engagement. UN agencies which are part of the United Nations Development Group decided to support an independent campaign to communicate the new SDGs to a wider audience. This campaign, “Project Everyone,” had the support of corporate institutions and other international organizations. The Spanish government’s recent initiative falls within this framework.

Sources:
The United Nations
La Moncloa Government of Spain
Wikipedia