What is the High-level Political Forum?
The United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) 2024 was held from July 8 to July 17, under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). This annual event features a three-day ministerial segment and serves as the platform for reviewing global progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 2024 theme, "Reinforcing the 2030 Agenda and eradicating poverty in times of multiple crises: the effective delivery of sustainable, resilient, and innovative solutions," underscored the urgent need for action amidst global challenges.
Each year, the HLPF reviews a number of SDGs. This year, it focused on ending poverty (Goal 1), achieving food security (Goal 2), combating climate change (Goal 13), promoting peaceful societies (Goal 16), and revitalizing the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development (Goal 17). This HLPF also supported the implementation of outcomes from the 2023 SDG Summit,
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We are now over halfway to 2030. Some SDGs are within reach. Others will only be achieved with unprecedented energy and will.
But the goals can be achieved. I have no doubt about that. I have chosen to have no doubt about that.
In this time of conflict and crisis, people are losing hope. Poverty, hunger, and climate change are issues of life and death, and when other emergencies fill our newsfeed, the steps we know we must take are halted and sometimes not even attempted.
I chose to have hope. Not only because I am a young person who will have to live in whatever world we make, but because I know that the moment we lose the belief that things are possible; is the moment when they become impossible.
The world must lead with youth. Not because it is fashionable, not because it is morally the right thing to do, but because a world where we are to archive the SDGs, is simply not possible without the leaders, teachers, and idealists of tomorrow.
I will gladly bring my optimism into every decision-making room you invite me into. I only ask that you bring your will, energy and appetite for change too. Let us achieve the SDGs. Let us achieve them now – together.
Thank you
