The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) is taking place this year for the second time since the UN member states adopted the 2030 Agenda. The HLPF is the centrepiece of the global review of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Last year, 22 countries, including Switzerland, presented their first steps towards the implementation of the ambitious SDGs; this year, another 44 states will present their first national report.
The 2017 HLPF also kicks off the thematic review of individual SDGs, which will be followed by an in-depth annual discussion on progress in specific areas. The focus this year is on the following six goals:
SDG 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere
SDG 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
SDG 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
SDG 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
In addition, every HLPF will also review progress towards SDG 17: strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development. Because all the goals in the 2030 Agenda are to be addressed and achieved in their entirety, the thematic reviews of individual SDGs are specifically designed to identify synergies and conflicting targets in other areas. Switzerland will actively help shape these thematic discussions. The HLPF procedures also allow Switzerland to share its own experience in implementing the 2030 Agenda, and to learn from the countries presenting national reports. This allows states to engage in constructive dialogue on an equal footing and to exchange solutions to a variety of challenges.
A wide-ranging support programme
A Partnership Exchange event to strengthen partnerships between state and non-state actors and an SDG Business Forum will be held alongside the official HLPF programme. The SDG Business Forum is an opportunity to flesh out the role of the private sector in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Again this year, numerous side events will be organised by individual UN member states, international organisations and non-state actors. Switzerland is organising an event on the significance of SDG 16 for the entire 2030 Agenda and an event on sustainable livestock farming. It will also co-chair a series of events on gender equality, policy coherence for sustainable development and other topics.
A broad-based Swiss delegation
A delegation comprised of members of nine different federal agencies and headed by Switzerland's Special Envoy for Global Sustainable Development, Ambassador Michael Gerber, will take part in the HLPF. Aware that all relevant stakeholders in society must be included to achieve the SDGs, the Swiss delegation will be supported, as it is every year, by representatives from civil society, the private sector and the academic world.
