# Transcript

JULIUS MUGWAGWA
The key limitations and criticisms of the SDGs, in my view, are maybe not an issue that’s embedded within the SDGs themselves, but the context within which the goals are supposed to be delivered and the targets are supposed to be delivered. [INAUDIBLE] we are still talking about the seminational systems or the semiglobal space where maybe they’re using that political will and the political action to actually see goals like this through.
KAMNA PATEL
The biggest limitation to the SDG framework is that perhaps it’s so aspirational that it can’t be implemented and it remains a vision. But I’m not convinced that that is entirely a limitation. It’s good to have vision. It’s good to have something to aim towards.
And I’m sceptical of the critics that say it covers everything, it covers too much. Well, it should. It should cover everything, and it should be ambitious in its scope. If it’s supposed to be a unifying framework to think and a unifying set of principles that we should all be committed to, then it’s fine as it is. It’s not implementable, and it shouldn’t be.
REBECCA HANLIN
The SDG’s framework as a whole I think is good. It’s definitely an improvement on the Millennium Development Goals. I think a key problem actually is in implementation and the issue of national-level governments and the politics. So you find that it’s very difficult to match up long-term development goals with shorter, national political cycles.
RORY HORNER:
The weakness − well, of course they are very broad in scope. They cover so many different issues. And there’s also issues of accountability in terms of whether they really put pressure and whether they’re actually going to be enforced by people.
And I mean, particularly, how much are people in the global North and countries in the global North, governments in the global North, going to take up SDGs? Because that’s where the action needs to take place, as well as the global South, if the SDGs are to be delivered on.
HELEN YANACOPULOS
There are a number of problems with them. I would say three issues that I would– that speak to me are– one is that it is– they’re very– they’re, by definition, goal driven, and that means that a lot of the nuances of development are not seen, such as issues of justice, issues of equality, discrimination. These things are not captured by them and can be easily lost.
The second is that they are pitting ecology with poverty. And it’s good that they’ve– the two have been brought together. However, if we look at growth– and a lot of the SDGs revolve around growth. If we look at growth, it will have impacts on ecology, and that contradiction and tension is very difficult to negotiate.
And the third is that they don’t have a bite. They’re voluntary. So it’s voluntary what SDGs countries take on. It’s also– they can also be used by different actors for different reasons.
KUNDAN MISHRA
Well, one of the key limitations of SDG framework is it’s very broad. And the measurement metrics are still emerging. How do reporting mechanisms comply with what SDGs have set up as benchmarks of development have still not taken shape completely. And I think that’ll harm the SDG in the longer run as well.