17 UN Sustainable Development Goals

The member states of the United Nations committed to the action plan of the 2030 Agenda , with the main objective of ensuring the protection and prosperity of people and the environment. It is one of the most ambitious climate action plans promoted by the UN.

In 2015, after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that had been agreed in the year 2000, the UN created the new agreement of the 2030 Agenda. This agreement was signed by the 193 Member States and combats 17 Sustainable Development Goals , made up of 169 goals to be endorsed. These purposes should be approached both internally in each country and globally.

By fulfilling its objectives, it is intended to guarantee a sustainable economic and social development, responding to an ecofeminist social justice that serves all ages. Many of the objectives are closely related since to meet them it is necessary to meet another. For example, to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (goal 11); it must achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls (goal 5); in addition to adopting urgent measures to combat climate change and its effects (objective 13) since those who will suffer the most will be the people who are in the most vulnerable situation.

Achieving the goals of the SDGs implies responsibility, active participation and commitment of the three levels of government: public administration, private sector and civil society. Each sector must become aware and take responsibility to achieve this.

If you want more information, in this other article we talk more about What is the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development .

Achieving this goal implies ensuring sustainable social justice by reducing economic inequality . According to the UN, the number of people living in extreme poverty fell from 36% in 1990 to 10% in 2015 . This means that 700 million people are still living in poverty, with problems meeting their basic needs.

In Spain, the Environmental Sciences Association (ACA) has calculated that 11% of Spanish households are in a situation of energy poverty. We also encourage you to read this other article in which you will see 5 recycling projects against poverty .

About 135 million people suffer from severe hunger , according to the World Food Program. To achieve food security, it is necessary to encourage both an agrarian and food reform that does not overexploit and degrade the environment. This approach also helps to continue to extract food resources over a long period of time.

Without this principle, it is difficult to achieve the rest of the SDGs, so it is one of the bases. One of the great advances that have been obtained is having lengthened life expectancy and having reduced infant and maternal mortality .

About 260 million children in 2018 were not in school. Ending illiteracy , improving the condition of schools or the preparation of teachers remains a great task .

In addition, we want to emphasize the great importance of environmental education and, therefore, we recommend you enter this link to another post on our website in which we discuss this issue.

The fight continues to reduce patriarchal injustice around the world. Many laws and social norms are still in force, so women end up being disrespectful . There are still countries where female cutting is practiced, girls are forced to marry prematurely, they are excluded from education to take care of the family, it is asked if they have children or if they are married during job interviews, they are objects of consumption sexually or are underestimated at work, among other facts.

Access to education and the empowerment of women and girls will help them decide, reflect and act in making social, political and economic decisions.

Access to safe drinking water is still a global problem . Thousands of people continue to die from diseases associated with pathogens present in water . The lack of sanitation systems and measures causes some water sources to be contaminated.

We also recommend reading these other articles on What is drinking water and its characteristics and about Water Conservation, its importance and techniques .

The clean and green energies need to be more accessible to all, as they are needed both to avoid increasing climate change and to reduce environmental pollution and mitigate diseases associated with pollution, you have to change the energy model based on the fossil resources. In addition, a large part of the world’s population cannot meet their basic needs due to lack of energy accessibility , limiting their opportunities.

Here you can learn more about What are clean or green energies and the Importance of clean energies for the environment .

Millions of people work in an ultra precarious and undignified situation , whose health and dignity is lost by earning some money to survive in a bad way, so it ends up being a subsistence economy. Furthermore, in most places the most precarious jobs are always carried out by women and girls.

Achieving inclusive, resilient and sustainable industrialization is everyone’s job when it comes to pooling knowledge and turning the tables. The countries of the North must facilitate trade to the countries of the South through economic measures such as the reduction of tariffs, since those of the South, generally, are poorer than those of the North or their wealth is worse distributed, or even absorbed by other countries.

Faced with the same problem such as climate change or COVID-19, the countries of the North and those of the South will face differently due to the inequalities that exist between them, generally generating advantages in the countries of the North and disadvantages in the countries of the North. from the south. Even within the same country there are very pronounced social inequalities .

Every space must be safe and inclusive for all the people who form it, as well as ensuring respect for the environment and the health of its inhabitants.

There are large migrations to cities due to rural exodus, the lack of employment in these ends up hindering the quality of life and brutalizing social, economic and gender inequalities .

The uncontrolled style of consumption and production of the last century has generated major environmental problems : climate change, lack of resources, pollution of ecosystems, loss of biodiversity … It must be approached through a more sustainable model with a vision of economy circular and local .

Devastating effects associated with climate change are already being experienced and it is estimated that if the objectives of the Paris Agreement of not exceeding two global degrees are not achieved, environmental catastrophes will be more severe and irreversible, in addition to affecting those who they have fewer resources to cope with it.

Here you can learn about the causes and consequences of climate change and in this other post and in this video you will learn more about how climate change affects us .

Uncontrolled overfishing , the presence of plastics in the sea , increased ocean acidification and pollution must be ended , both in order to preserve its biodiversity and to continue living off the oceans.

Here we talk about World Oceans Day .

A year, 13 million hectares of forests can be destroyed by industrial, agricultural and livestock exploitation, promoting desertification . In addition to causing losses in biodiversity , it generates displacement of peoples who live in them, such as the Batwa of Burundi or the indigenous peoples of the Amazon.

In this link you will see more information about Desertification, its causes and consequences .

To do this, we must continue to fight culturally to end xenophobia, machismo, homophobia , aporophobia, gerontophobia, gordofobia , child abuse, sexual abuse, etc., as well as continue with the creation of more suitable spaces for people with functional diversity.

To expand this information, we recommend you read this other article by our colleagues from Psychology-Online about What are social values, their types, examples and list .

If it is sought not to remain in empty words, there must be an understanding and understanding between the sectors involved such as governments, private companies and citizens , throughout the world.

After learning about the different objectives pursued by the 2030 Agenda (the SDGs), we will let you discover more about Sustainable Development: definition and examples with this post. In addition, we also recommend you read these other articles on the Advantages and Disadvantages of Sustainable Development and the Difference between Sustainable and Sustainable Development .

If you want to read more articles similar to 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals , we recommend that you enter our Sustainability and Sustainable Development category .