Messi, Shakira confirmed as UN sustainability ‘advocates’

The head of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has recruited stars including Lionel Messi and Shakira to campaign for the new global Sustainable Development Goals.

The SDGs were confirmed by world leaders at the New York climate summit in September and the UN Secretary-General has enlisted a range of celebrities and VIPs to help raise awareness.

In a statement on Tuesday Mr Ban said that the 17 "advocates" will be promoting the 17 SDGs that are "a to-do list for people and planet.”

The goals are designed to help the world achieve an end to poverty and hunger, gender equality, improving living standards and taking urgent action to combat climate change.

The group is co-chaired by the President of Ghana John Mahama and Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg and also includes Liberian Nobel Peace laureate Leymah Gbowee, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, heads of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and Jack Ma, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The group also includes Unilever CEO Paul Polman, British filmmaker Richard Curtis, Queen Mathilde of Belgium, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser, co-founder of the Qatar Foundation.

The new targets follow the eight Millennium Development Goals that were adopted in 2000 and were supposed to be achieved by the end of 2015 although most did not meet this deadline.

Mr Ban said the advocates will engage with governments, the private sector, civil society and academia to promote realisation of the targets.