Unlike the Millennium Development Goals, which focus primarily on social development priorities in low-income countries, the Sustainable Development Goals are intended to apply to developing and developed countries alike.
In her Green House essay What do the Sustainable Development Goals mean for the UK?, Ann Pfeiffer argues that underestimating the SDGs “would be to underestimate their ability to provide a means of holding up our own government’s domestic policies on renewable energy, austerity and economic growth to scrutiny on a global stage”. In her view the “current limited approach by the UK government risks giving a superficial interpretation of what the SDGs are designed to achieve.” “If groups that stand to benefit from the Goals do not understand how they can be used in campaigning and fail to take ownership of them from the start, there is a risk that the implementation of the Goals will become diluted and toothless.” Applying the right vision and strategy is key to ensure that they will be a useful lever and powerful indicators of real progress going forward.
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