New York City, Climate Protests, September 17, 2023; photo by Bill McKibben
Today the United Nations convened the first day of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit in advance of the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres opened the summit reminding the international assembly that the UN had adopted the Sustainable Development Goals eight years ago.
“You made a solemn promise,” he said, “a promise to people.”
“People crushed under the grinding wheels of poverty.
“People starving in a world of plenty.
“Children denied a seat in a classroom.
“Families fleeing conflicts, seeking a better life.
“Parents watching helplessly as their children die of preventable disease.
“People losing hope because they can’t find a job — or a safety net when they need it.
“Entire communities literally on devastation’s doorstep because of changing climate.”
Today, Secretary General Guterres reminded the world that the SDGs “carry the hopes, dreams, rights and expectations of people everywhere. And they provide the surest path to living up to our obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, now in its 75th year.”
But the hopes, dreams, rights and expectations of the world’s most vulnerable people are being denied, and the obligations assumed by the international community remain largely unfulfilled.
Secretary General Guterres told the SDG summit today that ” only 15 per cent of the targets are on track and many are going in reverse.”
He called the leaders of the world to implement a “global rescue plan” for the commitments they had made.
He called for “an SDG Stimulus of at least $500 billion a year, as well as an effective debt-relief mechanism that supports payment suspensions, longer lending terms, and lower rates.” He called for action on hunger and climate justice. “The transition to renewable energy isn’t happening fast enough… too many children and young people are victims of poor quality education, or no education at all… people need decent work and social protection…”
All of this must rapidly change.
In conclusion Secretary General Guterres said that “the war on nature must stop.” “We must end the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss,” he said, and “cutting across all of these transitions is the need to ensure full gender equality.”
The Secretary General’s plea coincides with mass nonviolent protests mobilizing hundreds of thousands of climate activists worldwide — in the streets of Addis Ababa, Berlin, Bogota, Delhi, the Hague, Jakarta, Lahore, London, Madrid, Nairobi, Quezon City, Stockholm, Vienna, Zagreb, and throughout the United States, with the largest demonstration in New York City — cities on every continent in perhaps the largest coordinated climate action ever conducted.
Here are some photos from the New York protests:
Mark Abramson for The New York Times
Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate in New York, 9/17/23, photo by Bill McKibben
New York City, New York, Sept. 17, 2023. Photo by Eduardo Munoz/REUTERS
New York City, 9/17/2023, x
And here is a video and photographs of climate protests all over the world (with appreciation to the photographers and news agencies acknowledged below):
Credit…Antonio Bronic/Reuters
Credit…Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters
At the conclusion of his remarks today opening the (SDG) Summit, UN Secretary General Guterres welcomed the protestors, and called on world leaders to heed their call to protect our beloved earth and sustain civilization and all life on our fragile planet.
“Over the course of the weekend, young people and civil society groups came to the UN — or marched in communities around the world — demanding urgent action.
“Now is the time to prove you are listening.
“We can prevail.
“If we act now.
“If we act together.
“If we keep our promise to the billions of people whose hopes, dreams and futures you hold in your hands.
“Now is the time.”
New York City, New York, Sept. 17, 2023. Photo by Eduardo Munoz/REUTERS
Jonathan D. Greenberg, September 18, 2023
