The 2030 Agenda platform, a network of around 50 associations (including terre des hommes schweiz, ed.), federations, NGOs and trade unions from Switzerland, launched an appeal to the Federal Council at this year’s general meeting. Five years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, it is calling on the Federal Council to finally adopt a clear strategy to make consumption and production sustainable, protect ecosystems, take effective measures to combat climate change and ensure equal opportunities. In particular, it is important to eliminate contradictions between individual policy areas and thereby promote coherence for sustainable development.
It is high time for the Federal Council to submit a project for consultation and thus pave the way for the adoption of a new Sustainable Development Strategy that meets the ambitions of the 2030 Agenda. The persistent lack of a national strategy prevents coherent decisions and favors contradictory interest-based policies that run counter to sustainable development, such as arms exports to countries at war, subsidies that harm biodiversity, uncoordinated free trade agreements and arbitrary migration policies.
With the 2030 Agenda, on September 25, 2015, the international community agreed on a vision of a peaceful world in which no one goes hungry, ecosystems on land and in water are protected and consumption and production do not exceed planetary boundaries. Switzerland has also committed to implementing the 2030 Agenda. 1.5 years ago, the Federal Council announced a new Sustainable Development Strategy that aims to drive forward implementation by 2030. But this is still missing. An indictment of the Federal Council.
This year’s UN Sustainable Development Forum clearly showed that a major global effort is needed to actually achieve the SDGs by 2030. The coronavirus crisis has wiped out the progress already made. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN, makes it clear: the implementation of the 17 SDGs requires great political will and ambitious action from everyone involved. Five years have already passed. There are still 10 years left to implement the 2030 Agenda. Let’s finally get started!
Media release from the Agenda 2030 platform dated 24.9.2020.
For further information:
Eva Schmassmann, Managing Director Platform Agenda 2030, 079 105 83 97
