2030 Agenda Overview

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its core was adopted by member States of the United Nations in September 2015.

Through ESCAP Resolution (E/ESCAP/RES/72/6) on “Committing to the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific ” member States have requested ESCAP’s support in:

  • promoting the balanced integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development and provide annual updates and recommendations to member States;
  • supporting the process to define a regional road map for implementing the 2030 Agenda and to address challenges to its achievement in Asia and the Pacific,
  • strengthening support to member States in their efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda in an integrated approach; and
  • continuing to provide capacity-building opportunities to member States, leveraging existing expertise and its intergovernmental forum to contribute to the strengthening of their capacity.

This support is being provided across the following modalities — Regional and Subregional Dialogue and Processes Regional and subregional dialogue and processes provide opportunities for peer learning and for cooperation among countries, and for follow up and review of the 2030 Agenda. The Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) is the preeminent platform for follow up and review of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals in the Asia-Pacific region. Regional process and dialogues strengthen the delivery of the means of implementation while subregional dialogue brings governments together to plan for cooperation and prioritizing action at the subregional level. The Sustainable Development Goals – Tracking Progress and Engaging Stakeholders in Review The Sustainable Development Goals is a complex and ambitious framework for transformative change. ESCAP is also supporting monitoring, review and follow up on the Sustainable Development Goals, through its work on statistical capacity building, knowledge products such as the SDG Progress Report , dedicated data portal on the SDGs (Asia-Pacific SDG Gateway), close engagement of the Asia-Pacific Regional Coordination Mechanism as an inter-agency coordination mechanism for the United Nations system at the regional level, and a partnership with ADB and with UNDP (Asia-Pacific SDG Partnership) that produces high-quality knowledge products to support follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. Means of Implementation The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development paid close attention to ensuring that the appropriate means of implementation were given attention in the formulation of each Sustainable Development Goal. The means of implementation are as follows:

In addition, Goal 17 is dedicated to ensuring that the means of implementation are delivered to support member States’ efforts. ESCAP’s long-standing programmes in each of these areas are being strengthened to ensure that member States are well-supported as they go forward, and that the actions across means of implementation are mutually supportive.

Sustainable Development Goals HELPDESK

ESCAP has established the SDG Help Desk in response to requests for capacity development support from member States. As its main function, the SDG Help Desk works as a gateway to resources and services, by linking users to other sectoral online platforms, focusing in areas related to the implementation of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda. The SDG Help Desk serves as the primary modality for coordinating ESCAP’s support to member States in specific priority areas such as integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development, stakeholder engagement, and effective follow-up and review.

Learn more about the SDG Help Desk |

SDG Acceleration ACTIONS

SDG Acceleration Actions are initiatives voluntarily undertaken to accelerate the SDG implementation by national governments and any other non-state actors - individually or in partnership. Any new action or action that builds on existing efforts (scaling up, new phase, etc.) could be considered as an SDG Acceleration Action. Examples include: announcement of a new or enhanced policy, programme, or project—or financing of a project—related to the achievement of one or more of the 17 SDGs or addressing the interlinked nature of the 2030 Agenda.

Learn more about SDG Acceleration Actions |