Sustainable Development: The World We Want, Or The World We Don’t Want?
Presenter: Dr. Joan Russow
June, 2015
In 2000, the member states of the UN agreed to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were to be fulfilled by 2015:
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals
The theme of Rio+20 World Conference was “The Future We Want”. In 2012, I wrote “The Future we want is impeded by the continuation of the Future we do not want”: Peace, Earth and Justice: http://pejnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10112
In 2015, the United Nations is subsuming the MDG into Sustainable Development Goals as 17 Goals with the theme :”The World We Want: A Future For All”: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&type=400&nr=1616&menu=1300
Questions:
Is the world we want impeded by the continuation of the world we do not want?
Is it possible to have sustainable development within a world of predominantly unsustainable practices without concurrently eliminating these practices?
How do we move from the world we don’t want to one we do want?
Informative Links:
The United Nations: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/sustainabledevelopmentgoalsThis article by The World Health Organization (2015) lists a few key facts, and has an progress report on how these goals are being achieved (or not): http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs290/en/