Scottish Government publishes UN Sustainable Development Goal report:

04 August 2020

At the end of July 2020, the Scottish Government, with the Sustainable Development Goals Network, published a key report outlining the government’s (pre-COVID-19) ambition on driving progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Scotland. It brings together evidence, actions and stories about how the Scottish Government is making progress to meet the Goals.

READ THE REPORT HERE

We very much welcome the report and continue to encourage the Scottish Government, as well as Scottish business and civic society, to do all it can to advance the Goals.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. As part of this, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal call to action.

Scotland signed up to the SDGs in 2015 and this review brings together evidence, actions and stories of how Scotland is making progress to meet the Goals. It contains inspirational examples of how people across Scotland are taking action to make us a more successful country and to ensure we are at the forefront of this international agenda. It also highlights some of the challenges we face.

The SMP helped feed into the global discussion pre-2015 about what form these goals should take, and has been consistent in encouraging our members, government, parliament and wider civil society to do their bit to advance the goals.

Earlier in this Parliament, we were delighted to host a special exhibition in the Scottish Parliament detailing how our members are working across all 17 Goals, recording videos with over 100 of Scotland’s 129 MSPs, including the First Minister and then Party Leaders, in which they outlined their support for the SDGs and the SMP. Watch their videos here.

Our 17 banner pop-up exhibition with examples of how our members are working across each SDG is available for our members to hire, for free, for their own SDGs events.

The new report includes 44 references to Malawi, seeing the bilateral relationship as a key component of Scotland’s delivery of the Goals.

The Scotland Malawi Partnership is cited as a key example of a civil society group which works to: “advocate on behalf of global issues and encourage decision makers to foreground these considerations in their work”.

The report continues: “Many such organisations are driven by a commitment to equality, social justice and empowerment, and as such align their interests with those contained in the NPF and the SDGs. The role of civil society is essential to the realisation of both of these policy frameworks. Cooperation between civil society, public and private sectors and the Scottish Government continues to progress actions around promoting and protecting human rights, enhancing sustainable development and maximising resources to fund this work (target 17.17).”

We strongly support this sentiment.

The SMP was a key part in the development of the SDGs Network and are absolutely delighted to see this latest report published. We congratulate all those involved: in the Network, in the Scottish Government, and across the sector.

We recognise that Covid-19 presents a great many new challenges but we encourage the Scottish Government to redouble its efforts in the last ten years of SDGs delivery. This is a key component of who Scotland is, as a good global citizen, and we are keen Scotland continues to play a leading role.

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