The Sustainable Development Goals / SDGs are also known as the  Global Goals and build on the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that the world committed to achieving between 2000 and 2015. The enormous progress made globally on the MDGs showed the value of a unifying agenda with clear goals and targets but more is to be done to end the indignity of poverty for all. In 2015, 193 countries in the UN General Assembly adopted the SDGs and the broader 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The 17 Global Goals have 169 possible targets and go much further than the MDGs by seeking to address the root causes of poverty and the universal need for development that works for all people, that meets the aspirations for peace, prosperity, and wellbeing, and can also preserve our planet.  Achieving these goals will requires an integrated approach to supporting progress across the multiple goals and across many different partners, the most important being the Myanmar’s Government which will lead in defining the targets Myanmar will work toward achieving.

The Global Goals include

1. Poverty - End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. Food - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Health - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Education - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Women - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Water - Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Energy - Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Economy - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Infrastructure - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
10. Inequality - Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Habitation - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Consumption - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Climate - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
14. Marine-ecosystems - Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Ecosystems - Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Institutions - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Sustainability - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development