Niterói (RJ) - The Military Police Shock Troops used morale bombs and tear gas and some police came to take weapons during the confusion to remove protesters from the avenue. 6/19/2013. Fernando Frazão / ABr. Creative Commons.
Brazil is struggling to deliver on the newly minted sustainable development goals (SDGs). This is hardly surprising. The country is bogged down by a series of monumental political and economic crises which is distracting politicians and civilians. And while Brazilian diplomats are adamant that the SDGs must be universally binding for all countries, the country has made painfully limited progress in implementing any of the SDGs. The Brazilian government's latest voluntary report suggests that the biggest obstacle to moving forward may not be about resource contraints, bur rather is a lack of will to move forward, especially on sensitive issues of security and justice.
To be fair, Brazil takes the global sustainable development agenda seriously. The country hosted the 1992 UN conference on environment and development and a follow-up conference, the Rio +20, in 2012. At a High Level Political Forum in New York earlier this year, Brazil listed off its record over the past twenty years. Brazilian diplomats also underlined the key SDGs they intend to prioritize in the coming years, notably those associated with ending poverty (SDG1), reducing hunger (SDG2), promoting health (SDG3) and gender equity (SDG5), and strengthening innovation and infrastructure (SDG9), marine life (SDG14) and partnerships (SDG17). These are all worthwhile priorities.
