We might seem a strange group to be writing this together – a British film-maker, a Libyan-Canadian doctor and women’s rights activist, and an indigenous leader from Chad – but what we have in common is that we are all appointed by the UN secretary general as advocates for the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Some won’t have heard of these global goals – 17 objectives to which every nation signed up in 2015 – but they form the basis of a masterplan to make us the first generation to end extreme poverty, the last to be threatened by climate change, and the most determined to end injustice and inequality.

Hailed as ambitious when they were agreed in 2015, the goals nonetheless offered a new way to view the world, with no division between the developed and developing. Just one world tackling the most pressing challenges together.

With only a decade to go till the 2030 deadline, we are in an alarming position where we are still not on track to achieving the goals.

As the Amazon burns and the youth go on strike for climate change, we are reminded that the climate crisis is just one of many issues, and that our people are suffering too. Hunger is on the rise, and after prolonged decline, progress to halt diseases like malaria is stalling.

Women and girls are still subjected to horrendous violence, while conflicts displace thousands of people every day. In all this, it cannot be ignored that the poorest and most vulnerable communities will experience the repercussions of the climate crisis the most keenly.

We still have time, but it’s quickly running out: 2020 will be our last chance to get on track.

This week at the UN, we have seen some promising signs from activists, civil society, and businesses willing to fight for people and planet. At five big summits on health, climate, finance, small island states and the global goals themselves, meaningful commitments have been made, including the launch of a decade of action for the SDGs.

Over the next 10 years, citizens, organisations and businesses will campaign for global unity in the fight for people and planet. The moment the clock strikes midnight on the first day of 2020 they will be making noises in the media, online, in schools, in concerts, on advertising hoardings and in village squares and city streets to press for acceleration and achievement of the goals.

This is a matter of urgency. The global goals cannot wait for the young girl being prepared for child marriage tomorrow. Nor can the mother choosing today whether to spend her money on food for all her children, or life-saving medicine for one sick child. Or the family deciding whether they must abandon everything tonight and become refugees.

Sustainable development goals: changing the world in 17 steps – interactive Read more

Across history, we’ve seen how movements accelerate and grow. From the anti-apartheid movement, to votes for women to the movements of today – Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, Fridays for Future. The movements of the past laid the foundations for the campaigns of today. The goals can provide a foundation and framework to hypercharge those campaigns and demands even further in the years ahead to bring us together to fight for progress.

The sustainable development agenda is the only masterplan every world leader has signed up to. That the SDGs even exist is amazing. Governments are integrating the goals into their work, businesses and investors are embracing them as the best benchmark of progress, and kids are learning about them in school in 130 countries.

Next year is our opportunity to push even further – to be louder and come together to demand more from our leaders.

We’ve got a deadline and we’re determined to charge towards it and invite everyone to join us. As so many children reminded us last week; there is no Planet B and no Plan B.

Richard Curtis is a film-maker and co-founder of Project Everyone; Alaa Murabit is a medical doctor and global SDG advocate; and Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim is an activist for women, the environment and indigenous rights

