Peace & Prosperity for People & the Planet
In 2015, all Member States of the United Nations collaborated on a call to action to forward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for all countries in a global partnership.
The SDGs build on decades of work by countries and the UN and acknowledge the need to address challenges synergistically and unilaterally in order to have meaningful impact.
Each goal is important and significant, and collectively the 17 Sustainable Development Goals represent an ambitious framework of change.
Many of the SDGs have been impacted by COVID-19, demonstrating the inextricable link between human and planetary health
The latest Global Development Sustainable Report (GSDR) concludes:
The COVID-19 pandemic may give us an unexpected opportunity to make deep structural changes in our energy system, our food system, and our economy that may have seemed too expensive or too disruptive before. We have the chance to build back better and greener. By working with nature and using nature-based solutions, we can not only protect the environment but also benefit from nature’s capacity to help us enhance our resilience and address a whole range of development challenges. For the sake of our planet and our human family, we cannot let this chance slip away.
To underline the importance of the moment, we share below the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
- NO POVERTY – End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
- ZERO HUNGER – End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
- GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
- QUALITY EDUCATION – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
- GENDER EQUALITY – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
- CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION – Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
- AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
- DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH – Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
- INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE – Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
- REDUCED INEQUALITIES – Reduce inequality within and among countries.
- SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
- RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION – Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
- CLIMATE ACTION – Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
- LIFE BELOW WATER – Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
- LIFE ON LAND – Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
- PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS – Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
- PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOAL – Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.
*
At UW-Green Bay, we have created a noncredit Sustainability Certificate Program that encompasses the multi-facets of sustainability — environmental, business practices and public policy. The program not only adopts a proven and successful model, but it is affordable, accessible, and flexible.
The program is 100% online with three core courses six weeks in duration and a final capstone course requiring participants to put sustainability theory into practice within their organizations. Full program details are available online.
*
RESOURCES:
GSDR 2019. United Nations. “Global Sustainable Development Report 2019. The Future is Now: Science for Achieving Sustainable Development.”
The 17 Goals. United Nations.