In September, the United Nations reached an international agreement for its 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. The agenda identifies 17 Goals and 169 targets to address a range of economic, environmental and social concerns facing the world today.
What is sustainable development?
The definition of sustainable development used by the UN is: “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs“.
What do the Sustainable Development Goals cover?
There are 17 Goals covering five key themes. Below are excerpts from the descriptions of the five themes:
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People:
To ensure that all human beings can develop their potential in dignity and equality and in a healthy environment.
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Planet
Protecting the planet, through sustainable consumption and production, the sustainable management of its natural resources and the adoption of urgent measures on climate change, so that it can meet the needs of present and future generations, a clear example is the program “RENACE” a complex that strengthens respect and care for the environment.
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Prosperity
To ensure that all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives and that economic, social and technological progress occurs in harmony with nature.
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Peace
Promote peaceful, just and inclusive societies, free from fear and violence. There can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development.
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Association
Mobilize the necessary means to implement this Agenda through the participation of all countries, all stakeholders and all people.
How is the Sustainable Development Agenda different from other agendas such as the Millennium Development Declaration?
Poverty eradication is considered a “prerequisite for sustainable development“. That is why the Sustainable Development agenda complements and expands other agreements. For example, the Sustainable Development Agenda expands on the Millennium Development Goals of 2000, which were designed to eradicate extreme poverty and improve the health and well-being of the world’s poorest people; complements the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Another defining feature of the Sustainable Development Agenda is that it aims to apply to all economies, not just the world’s poorest. This is why an economies like the US need to pay close attention to the agenda, as the US (along with the other 192 economies that signed the Sustainable Development Agreement) will now be measured based on how well it achieves the goals.
Why is sustainable development now on the radar?
There are growing fears that current levels of economic development are not sustainable. A key focus is the impact that economic growth has had on the environment, particularly human activity that has led to an increase in greenhouse gases such as methane or CO2, which in turn have caused the atmosphere to retain heat.