SDGs: A real turning point or just impressive words on paper?

For 15 years we had a yardstick for global progress: the eight Millennium Development Goals. We were going to halve hunger and extreme poverty and significantly reduce the percentage of people suffering from infant mortality, maternal mortality and other afflictions.

It has to be said, a great deal has been achieved, especially in China, India and Brazil. But the MDGs have not been met.

What’s more, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, not a single MDG has been met in fragile regions or conflict-affected states. Yet these are precisely the places, from Syria to South Sudan, where poverty is most pervasive as a result of conflict, poor governance and environmental degradation. And the outlook is grim: OECD is predicting that by 2030, two-thirds of the world’s most poor will be living in fragile states.