Curtain Raiser ｜

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The seventh session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF 2019) under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) this year will focus on “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality.”

The 2019 Forum will conduct in-depth reviews of five Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• SDG 4 (quality education)
• SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth)
• SDG 10 (reduced inequalities)
• SDG 13 (climate action)
• SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions)

It will also review SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals), which is reviewed each year.

The discussion on SDG 13 will consider the link to the Climate Summit to be convened by the UN Secretary-General on 23 September 2019 to encourage countries to increase their climate ambition, and nine action portfolios (mitigation; social and political drivers; youth and public mobilization; financing; energy transition; industry transition; nature-based solutions; infrastructure, cities and local action; and resilience and adaptation).

In response to calls for a more holistic approach to the SDGs based on their interlinkages, as reported in the Earth Negotiations Bulletin summary and analysis of HLPF 2018, this year, the last hour of each SDG review session will be devoted to interlinkages and cross-cutting issues.

In addition, 47 countries, including eight for the second time, have volunteered to present their national voluntary reviews.

HLPF 2019 includes a ministerial meeting in conjunction with the High-level Segment of the Economic and Social Council from 16-19 July. In addition, a HLPF Summit will convene on 24 and 25 September 2019 under the auspices of the UN General Assembly, where Heads of State and Government will review progress in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and conduct the first four-year review of all 17 SDGs. One outcome document will result from the two 2019 sessions.

In anticipation of the HLPF Summit, two new sessions will be held during HLPF 2019 session, on “Four years of VNRs: what have we learned on implementing the SDGs?” during the first week; and on “Lessons learned from the first cycle of HLPF and messages for 2019 HLPF Summit” during the second week. The discussions will be based on a survey that will be distributed to all participants the first day and analysed for a discussion on the last afternoon of the 2019 session.