“Yes, they are ambitious,” said Donoghue, but he added: “There is a much greater sense of a collective purpose this time around.”
The agenda revolves around the five Ps – people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership – and encompasses such hard-to-measure objectives as promoting peaceful and inclusive societies.
Contrary to the MDGs, the new global goals apply to both developing and developed countries and negotiations were opened up to governments and civil society, not only to UN experts.
Negotiations ran into hurdles over references to climate change that is part of separate UN-led talks leading to the Paris conference in December, but the document does call for urgent action to combat global warming.
There was also resistance to language on women’s reproductive rights, good governance and on ensuring accountability to meet the global goals.
The United Nations is planning to roll out some 300 indicators to measure progress by countries towards achieving the new goals and provide data on how governments are working to improve the lives of their citizens.
The UN General Assembly is due to formally adopt the document in the coming weeks and Pope Francis will deliver an address to the United Nations on September 25 as world leaders prepare to endorse the anti-poverty agenda.
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