1 in 4 people globally still lack access to safe drinking water
26/8/2025: The latest annual report by the UN's Joint Monitoring Programme finds that 106 million people drink directly from untreated surface sources. The 2030 targets relating to the Sustainable Development Goals for water and sanitation appear increasingly out of reach.
Source: World Health Organization
UN report warns of missed SDG targets in Africa
30/7/2025: Africa is making progress on over two-thirds of the Sustainable Development Goals, but the pace remains far too slow to meet the 2030 targets. The continent faces an annual sustainable development financing gap of up to USD 762 billion. Social protection coverage remains alarmingly low, with only 19 percent of vulnerable populations benefiting from any form of safety net.
Source: Inter Press Service
Sustainable Development Goals remain way off track
14/7/2025: The UN’s annual Sustainable Development Goals report reveals that only 18 per cent of the Goals are on track to be met by 2030 while a similar percentage have gone backwards. Implementation is impeded by a $4 trillion funding shortfall and geopolitical tensions which are undermining multilateralism.
Source: UN News
Oxfam warns global development is “abysmally off track”
25/6/2025: A new Oxfam report contrasts the growing wealth of the world's richest 1% with the largest cuts to foreign aid since records began. Oxfam calls on governments to band together in new coalitions to oppose extreme inequality
Source: Oxfam International
Decades of progress on poverty at risk, warns UN poverty expert
25/6/2025: The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights has warned that unprecedented cuts to global aid and intensifying attacks on multilateralism are undermining decades of progress. Official development assistance fell in 2024 for the first time in six years, with predictions estimating a drop of almost 20% for 2025.
Source: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Development is the first line of defence against conflict
19/6/2025: The UN Security Council has discussed the correlation between global conflicts and poor progress towards targets under the Sustainable Development Goals, as aid budgets are being slashed and military spending soars. Of the 700 million people worldwide living in extreme poverty, 40 per cent live in conflict-affected or fragile settings.
Source: UN News
UNDP leverages $60 for sustainable development from every aid dollar
28/5/2025: A new report released today by the UN Development Programme reveals that the agency has mobilised $870 billion for sustainable development in emerging economies between 2022 and 2024. UNDP collaborates with governments, financial institutions, and private-sector partners to reduce investment risks, strengthen public financial systems, and unlock capital.
Source: UN Development Programme
Human Development progress slows to a 35-year low
6/5/2025: Apart from the Covid years, human development has advanced at its lowest rate since 1990, according to the annual report of the UN Development Programme. For the fourth year in a row inequality between low and very high income countries continues to increase.
Source: UN Development Programme
UN concerns mount for Sustainable Development Goals
6/5/2025: In preparation for the June Conference on Financing for Development, the UN Secretary-General has warned that the Sustainable Development Goals are dramatically off track, exacerbated by a massive financing gap. More worrying still is that global collaboration is being actively questioned.
Source: Third World Network
How Zambia seeks to cash in on the global drive for EVs
18/2/2025: Intense Chinese and Western interest in Zambia’s copper resources brings the potential to lift people out of poverty, free the country from debt and meet its development goals. Ensuring local people benefit requires the nation to address its large informal mining economy.
Source: Climate Home News