Clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in. There is sufficient fresh water on the planet to achieve this. But due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, every year millions of people, most of them children, die from diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene.

Water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities for poor families across the world. Drought afflicts some of the world’s poorest countries, worsening hunger and malnutrition.

By 2050, at least one in four people is likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of fresh water.

Facts and Figures

• 2.6 billion people have gained access to improved drinking water sources since 1990, but 663 million people are still without

• At least 1.8 billion people globally use a source of drinking water that is fecally contaminated

• Between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of the global population using an improved drinking water source has increased from 76 per cent to 91 per cent

• But water scarcity affects more than 40 per cent of the global population and is projected to rise. Over 1.7 billion people are currently living in river basins where water use exceeds recharge

• 2.4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services, such as toilets or latrines

• More than 80 per cent of wastewater resulting from human activities is discharged into rivers or sea without any pollution removal

• Each day,nearly 1,000 children die due to preventable water and sanitation-related  diarrhoeal diseases

• Hydropower is the most important and widely-used renewable source of energy and as of 2011, represented 16 per cent of total electricity production worldwide

• Approximately 70 per cent of all water abstracted from rivers, lakes and aquifers is used for irrigation

• Floods and other water-related disasters account for 70 per cent of all deaths related to natural disasters

Related Resources

UN-Water

World Water Assessment Programme

UNESCO Water

UNDP Water and Ocean Governance

UN Water for Life Decade

End Open Defecation

UN-HABITAT Water and Sanitation

A Post-2015 Global Goal for Water: Recommendations from UN-Water

Water and Sustainable Development Goals

Information Briefs on Water and Sustainable Development

UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication

UN Water and Sanitation Best Practices Platform

Ensure Access to Affordable, Reliable, Sustainable and Modern Energy for All

Energy is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity the world faces today. Be it for jobs, security, climate change, food production or increasing incomes, access to energy for all is essential.

Sustainable energy is opportunity – it transforms lives, economies and the planet.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is leading a Sustainable Energy for All initiative to ensure universal access to modern energy services, improve efficiency and increase use of renewable sources.

Facts and Figures

• One in five people still lacks access to modern electricity

• 3 billion people rely on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste for cooking and heating

• Energy is the dominant contributor to climate change, accounting for around 60 per cent of total global greenhouse gas emissions

• Reducing the carbon intensity of energy is a key objective in long-term climate goals.

Goal 7 Targets

• By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services

• By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix

• By 2030, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency

• By 2030, enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology

• By 2030, expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for supplying modern and sustainable energy services for all in developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States, and land-locked developing countries, in accordance with their respective programmes of support

Related References

Sustainable Energy for All initiative

UNDP Environment and Energy

UNIDO Energy and Climate Change

Take Urgent Action to Combat Climate Change and its Impacts

Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives, costing people, communities and countries dearly today and even more tomorrow.

People are experiencing the significant impacts of climate change, which include changing weather patterns, rising sea level, and more extreme weather events. The greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are driving climate change and continue to rise. They are now at their highest levels in history. Without action, the world’s average surface temperature is projected to rise over the 21st century and is likely to surpass 3 degrees Celsius this century—with some areas of the world expected to warm even more. The poorest and most vulnerable people are being affected the most.

Affordable, scalable solutions are now available to enable countries to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient economies. The pace of change is quickening as more people are turning to renewable energy and a range of other measures that will reduce emissions and increase adaptation efforts.

But climate change is a global challenge that does not respect national borders. Emissions anywhere affect people everywhere. It is an issue that requires solutions that need to be coordinated at the international level and it requires international cooperation to help developing countries move toward a low-carbon economy.

To address climate change, countries adopted the Paris Agreement at the COP21 in Paris on 12 December 2015. The Agreement entered into force shortly thereafter, on 4 November 2016. In the agreement, all countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and given the grave risks, to strive for 1.5 degrees Celsius. You can learn more about the agreement here.

Implementation of the Paris Agreement is essential for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and provides a roadmap for climate actions that will reduce emissions and build climate resilience.

See which countries have signed it and which ones have deposited their ratification instruments.

Facts and Figures

• From 1880 to 2012, average global temperature increased by 0.85°C. To put this into perspective, for each 1 degree of temperature increase, grain yields decline by about 5 per cent. Maize, wheat and other major crops have experienced significant yield reductions at the global level of 40 megatonnes per year between 1981 and 2002 due to a warmer climate.

• Oceans have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished and sea level has risen. From 1901 to 2010, the global average sea level rose by 19 cm as oceans expanded due to warming and ice melted. The Arctic’s sea ice extent has shrunk in every successive decade since 1979, with 1.07 million km² of ice loss every decade

• Given current concentrations and on-going emissions of greenhouse gases, it is likely that by the end of this century, the increase in global temperature will exceed 1.5°C compared to 1850 to 1900 for all but one scenario. The world’s oceans will warm and ice melt will continue. Average sea level rise is predicted as 24 – 30cm by 2065 and 40-63cm by 2100. Most aspects of climate change will persist for many centuries even if emissions are stopped

• Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) have increased by almost 50 per cent since 1990

• Emissions grew more quickly between 2000 and 2010 than in each of the three previous decades

• It is still possible, using a wide array of technological measures and changes in behaviour, to limit the increase in global mean temperature to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels

• Major institutional and technological change will give a better than even chance that global warming will not exceed this threshold

Goal 13 Targets

• Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries

• Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning

• Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning

• Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible

• Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities

*Acknowledging that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change. 

Related Resources

UN and Climate Change Site

UN Framework on the Convention on Climate Change

World Meteorological Organization

UN Population Fund

Conserve and Sustainably Use the Oceans, Seas and Marine Resources

The world’s oceans – their temperature, chemistry, currents and life – drive global systems that make the Earth habitable for humankind.

Our rainwater, drinking water, weather, climate, coastlines, much of our food, and even the oxygen in the air we breathe, are all ultimately provided and regulated by the sea. Throughout history, oceans and seas have been vital conduits for trade and transportation.

Careful management of this essential global resource is a key feature of a sustainable future.

Facts and Figures

• Oceans cover three quarters of the Earth’s surface, contain 97 per cent of the Earth’s water, and represent 99 per cent of the living space on the planet by volume

• Over three billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods

• Globally, the market value of marine and coastal resources and industries is estimated at $3 trillion per year or about 5 per cent of global GDP

• Oceans contain nearly 200,000 identified species, but actual numbers may lie in the millions

• Oceans absorb about 30 per cent of carbon dioxide produced by humans, buffering the impacts of global warming

• Oceans serve as the world’s largest source of protein, with more than 3 billion people depending on the oceans as their primary source of protein

• Marine fisheries directly or indirectly employ over 200 million people

• Subsidies for fishing are contributing to the rapid depletion of many fish species and are preventing efforts to save and restore global fisheries and related jobs, causing ocean fisheries to generate US$ 50 billion less per year than they could

• As much as 40 per cent of the world oceans are heavily affected by human activities, including pollution, depleted fisheries, and loss of coastal habitats

Goal 14 Targets

• By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution

• By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take action for their restoration in order to achieve healthy and productive oceans

• Minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification, including through enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels

• By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics

• By 2020, conserve at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, consistent with national and international law and based on the best available scientific information

• By 2020, prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and refrain from introducing new such subsidies, recognizing that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an integral part of the World Trade Organization fisheries subsidies negotiation

• By 2030, increase the economic benefits to Small Island developing States and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism

• Increase scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technology, taking into account the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Criteria and Guidelines on the Transfer of Marine Technology, in order to improve ocean health and to enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity to the development of developing countries, in particular small island developing States and least developed countries

• Provide access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets

• Enhance the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in UNCLOS, which provides the legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources, as recalled in paragraph 158 of The Future We Want

Related References

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture

UNEP Ecosystem Management

Convention on Biological Diversity

UN-OCEANS

UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

UNDP Water and Ocean Governance

IMO

UN Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea

Sustainably Manage Forests, Combat Desertification, Halt and Reverse Land Degradation, Halt Biodiversity Loss

Forests cover 30 per cent of the Earth’s surface and in addition to providing food security and shelter, forests are key to combating climate change, protecting biodiversity and the homes of the indigenous population.  Thirteen million hectares of forests are being lost every year while the persistent degradation of drylands has led to the desertification of 3.6 billion hectares.

Deforestation and desertification – caused by human activities and climate change – pose major challenges to sustainable development and have affected the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the fight against poverty. Efforts are being made to manage forests and combat desertification.

Facts and Figures

Forests

• Around 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihood. This includes some 70 million indigenous people

• Forests are home to more than 80 per cent of all terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects

Desertification

• 2.6 billion people depend directly on agriculture, but 52 per cent of the land used for agriculture is moderately or severely affected by soil degradation

• As of 2008, land degradation affected 1.5 billion people globally

• Arable land loss is estimated at 30 to 35 times the historical rate

• Due to drought and desertification each year 12 million hectares are lost (23 hectares per minute), where 20 million tons of grain could have been grown

• 74 per cent of the poor are directly affected by land degradation globally

Biodiversity

• Of the 8,300 animal breeds known, 8 per cent are extinct and 22 per cent are at risk of extinction

• Of the over 80,000 tree species, less than 1 per cent have been studied for potential use

• Fish provide 20 per cent of animal protein to about 3 billion people. Only ten species provide about 30 per cent of marine capture fisheries and ten species provide about 50 per cent of aquaculture production

• Over 80 per cent of the human diet is provided by plants. Only three cereal crops – rice, maize and wheat – provide 60 per cent of energy intake

• As many as 80 per cent of people living in rural areas in developing countries rely on traditional plant-­‐based medicines for basic
  healthcare

• Micro-organisms and invertebrates are key to ecosystem services, but their contributions are still poorly known and rarely acknowledged

Goal 15 Targets

• By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements

• By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally

• By 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world

• By 2030, ensure the conservation of mountain ecosystems, including their biodiversity, in order to enhance their capacity to provide benefits that are essential for sustainable development

• Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species

• Promote fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and promote appropriate access to such resources, as internationally agreed

• Take urgent action to end poaching and trafficking of protected species of flora and fauna and address both demand and supply of illegal wildlife products

• By 2020, introduce measures to prevent the introduction and significantly reduce the impact of invasive alien species on land and water ecosystems and control or eradicate the priority species

• By 2020, integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts

• Mobilize and significantly increase financial resources from all sources to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and ecosystems

• Mobilize significant resources from all sources and at all levels to finance sustainable forest management and provide adequate incentives to developing countries to advance such management, including for conservation and reforestation

• Enhance global support for efforts to combat poaching and trafficking of protected species, including by increasing the capacity of local communities to pursue sustainable livelihood opportunities

Related References

UNEP

Convention on Biological Diversity

FAO – Forestry

The New York Declaration on Forests