A Case Study on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) | Case study on 17 SDGs by MOHD AFIQ AZIZI BIN MOHD HAMIDI

STUDY ON 17 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDG)

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) has become the modern “slogan” not only for the academic but also for commercial arena (Mawla, 2020). The SDGs were adopted by the United Nations, with the aim to improve the world. There is a total of 17 SDGs that play part in all areas in a global scale.

The first SDG goal is “No Poverty”. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly (2015) defines this goal as “End poverty in all its form everywhere”. The 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development towards this goal sets that by 2030, ensure that all men and women, especially the poor and vulnerable, have equitable access to economic opportunities, basic services, suitable new technology, land, and services (UN General Assembly, 2015). Academicians also suggest revamping global poverty reduction approaches with evaluation of ecological and environmental preservation to achieve this SDG (Ming, 2021). The UN General Assembly (2015) agrees that ending poverty in all of its aspects and manifestations is the largest global challenge.

            The second SDG is themed “Zero Hunger”. The UN General Assembly (2015) interpret it as “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. In certain parts of the world, hunger is one of the most urgent issues due to its immediate life-threatening and debilitating effects (Herrmann, 2020). Adverse environmental environments, agricultural development problems, national political agendas, climate change, and international trade laws are among the most critical challenges for this SDG (Herrmann, 2020).

            The third SDG is “Good Health and wellbeing”. This SDG ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages (UN General Assembly, 2015).  The 2030 agenda for towards this goal sets to reduce global infant deaths to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030, and end AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other tropical diseases (UN General Assembly, 2015). The first agreement of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) shows a positive result as it estimates that more than 21 million additional lives were saved during this period 2000–2015 (Asi, 2018).

            The fourth SDG is “quality education”. The UN General Assembly (2015) set this goal to ensure that all students receive a high-quality education that is comprehensive and equal, and that lifetime learning resources are available to all. Education is very important especially in this modern era. In 2019, nine out of ten children in Low-Income Countries (LICs) are unable to read with literacy by the age of ten (Beeharry, 2021). According to the Education Commission's Learning Generation survey, education funding would boost from $1.2 trillion to $3 trillion per year by 2030 (Beeharry, 2021). 

            The fifth SDG is “Gender Equality” that was set to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls “(UN General Assembly, 2015). Gender equity is characterised as an absent of disparities between men and women in terms of health, education, economics, and politics, as well as the relative differences between men and women (Zhang, 2021). Today, governments strive to be more flexible, attentive, and accountable as women play an active role in civil society, education agencies and more (Zabaniotou, 2020).

The sixth SDG is “Clean water and sanitation”. This SDG goal was set to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” (UN General Assembly, 2015). Access to clean water and sanitation for all people and for various purposes is a cornerstone of human health and well-being, facilitates the achievement of other development goals (Requejo-Castro, 2020). Since water is such an important part of human development and ecosystem needs, almost all SDGs would be impossible to achieve without it (Mulligan, 2020).

            The seventh SDG is “Affordable and clean energy”. UN General Assembly (2015) defines this goal as ensuring that everybody has access to affordable, clean, secure, and modern energy. Renewable energy resources are plentiful around the world, and several generation technologies have been proposed to use them to generate electricity (Key, 2019). On a theoretical basis, the worldwide renewable resource base could satisfy global demand for energy services many times over, yet the promise of renewables remains unrealized (Key, 2019). Thus, this SDG goal aims to realize this renewable energy visions in a global scale.

            The eight SDG is “Decent work and economic growth”. This SDG aims to encourage long-term, inclusive, and sustainable economic development, as well as full and productive jobs and decent work for all (UN General Assembly, 2015). According to the most recent Global Slavery Index, there are 40.3 million people worldwide who are enslaved. SDG 8 addresses the problem of forced labor that aims to abolish all aspects of modern slavery and human trafficking by 2025. This SDG has a very positive effect as the number of working women in the formal and informal sectors has increased significantly (Rai, 2019).

            The ninth SDG is “Industry, innovation and infrastructure”. This goal was defined by UN General Assembly (2015) as developing resilient infrastructure, encourage inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and encourage creativity. The UN General Assembly (2015) sets a goal to build high-quality, dependable, long-lasting, and durable infrastructure, including regional infrastructure, to promote economic growth and human well-being, with a focus on ensuring accessible and equal access for all by the year 2030.

            The tenth SDG is “Reduced inequalities” which focuses among countries (UN General Assembly, 2015). Nasir (2018) claims that income inequality is argued to be one of the most pressing problems in the urban growth process. The increase of consumer income inequality is often cited as a major factor in the rise of globalization, social tension, and protectionist demands that challenges this SDG (Aiyar, 2020).

            The eleventh SDG is “Sustainable cities and communities” which aims to make cities and human societies more egalitarian, safe, resilient, and long-lasting (UN General Assembly, 2015). This goal aims that by 2030, ensure that everybody has access to secure, decent, and affordable housing and basic services, as well as upgrade slums (UN General Assembly, 2015). In this goal, urban areas will be the main focus for development. Macke (2019) states that the definition of a sustainable city usually focuses on technological outcomes for a more successful urban transition focused on sustainability impacts. (Macke, 2019).

            The twelfth SDG is “Responsible consumption and production”. (UN General Assembly, 2015) set this goal to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. This goal allows quality production in services and goods that improve the quality of life. Efforts in this goal have successfully centered on maximizing resource quality in industrial processes over the last decades (Jonkute, 2016).

            The 13^th SDG is “Climate action”. This goal is defined as to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. This SDG is very important because after the industrial revolution, a high energy demand causes the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas to rapidly increases which is the primary cause of global air pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. (Codal, 2021). However, Baum (2021) stated that despite initial progress toward Agenda 2030 on an international and national level, widespread adoption on a local basis and concrete policies are yet to be implemented.

            The 14^th SDG is “Life below water” to conserve oceans, rivers, and aquatic resources (UN General Assembly, 2015). This SDG is important because oceans represent 99% of the living space on the planet while absorbing 30% of the carbon emissions (Virto, 2018). Gulseven (2020) stated that over 3 billion people rely on marine and coastal biodiversity as their main source of income. Because of increasingly human-caused actions, it could be too late to save the oceans if action is not done quickly (Gulseven, 2020).

            The 15^th SDG is “Life on land” that is to protect and restore the life on land such as forests and ecosystems (UN General Assembly, 2015). UN General Assembly (2015) aims by 2020 to successfully promote the introduction of sustainable forest management practices in all types of forests, halt deforestation, regenerate degraded forests, and significantly increase global afforestation and reforestation.

The 16^th SDG is “Peace justice and strong institutions”. UN General Assembly (2015) defines this SDG as promoting peaceful and inclusive societies and access to justice for all and aims to reduce all types of aggression and their associated mortality rates in all parts of the world by 2030. There has been an immense effort towards this SDG. In 2018, mankind spent $14.1 trillion (11.2 percent of global GDP) on preventing, managing, or recovering from conflict, with $5.7 trillion spent on armed disaster and military spending alone (Yarnall, 2021).

The 17^th SDG is “Partnership for the goals”. This SDG aims to strengthen and revitalise the Global Partnership for all SDGs (UN General Assembly, 2015). This SDG is critical because the international community agrees that the Sustainable Development Goals can only be achieved by effective global alliances and collaborations (Addo-Atuah, 2020). Chimhowu (2019) stated that Goal 17 can strengthen global, international, national, and subnational collaboration.

In conclusion, all 17 SDGs presents a huge vision yet realistic to implement. With these 17 goals, all government and communities can have a guide and starting point to make the world a better place in the future.

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