As global leaders converge in New York to launch the new sustainable development goals this week, we should be proud that extreme poverty has halved or that two billion more people now have clean water since the Millennium Development Goals were adopted in 2000. With results like these, the power of goal setting is difficult to dispute.
But now is not the time for resting on laurels. With 1.4 billion people still living on less than $1.25 a day, we still have a very long way to go.
When the ink dries on the global goals for sustainable development next week, policymakers will face a huge implementation challenge and an urgent need for practical policy mechanisms that can deliver meaningful results. The new targets will be challenging to achieve not least because improvements over the past 15 years came off a much lower baseline of living standards among the world’s poorest people.
About the author
Tidhar Wald
Tidhar Wald is a government and corporation relations specialist at the U.N.-housed Better Than Cash Alliance, working with governments, companies, and organizations to transition from cash to digital payments. For more information, visit: http://betterthancash.org/
