What are the SDGs?

SDGs is short for the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. They are also referred to as the Global Goals. The United Nation’s formed the 17 goals in January of 2015 as calls to actions for developed and developing countries. The intention of the goals is to stimulate change for people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership. If all goals are met, the world will be a better place in 2030 for the whole planet.

“[The Sustainable Development Goals] recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.”

United Nations, 2015a

Human Rights

The Sustainable Development Goals are closely tied to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was also established by the United Nations. Proclaimed in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights lays out the basic fundamental rights that should be protected for all humans. Unfortunately, there are many people in the world that don’t have these rights respected. If the Sustainable Development Goals are achieved, everyone would be living with their basic rights met, at minimum.

Here are some examples of Human Rights and SDGs that are closely related:

Article 2 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.	Goal 5: Gender Equality Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls   Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities Reduce inequality within and among countries
Article 4 No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. Article 5 No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Article 9 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Article 10 Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.	Goal 16: 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
Article 16 Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.	Goal 5: Gender Equality Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Article 23 Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.	Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Article 25 Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.	Goal 1: No Poverty End poverty in all its forms everywhere Goal 2: Zero Hunger End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages   Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Article 26 Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.	Goal 4: Quality Education Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

To deepen your knowledge about Human Rights, check out the TED-Ed lesson by Benedetta Berti:

To go to the complete Universal Declaration of Human Rights, click the button below:

Interconnectedness of the SDGs

Assignment from Module 1

When comparing the SDGs, there are many that are connected to each other, either through a shared interest or because the achievement of one would help achieve another.

I tried to be very intentional about connecting the SDGs but it became a little hard to read by the end. I referred to this 170 Actions PDF from the “Taking Action in Your Classroom” section of Module 1 of the course for many of the connections. I colour coded the connections based on if they are more related to the economy, society, or the environment. This isn’t an exact representation since it’s all connected in the end but it helped make the lines distinguishable. Doing this helped me better understand how interconnected all the goals really are.

Diamond Ranking Activity

Assignment from Module 1

The below Diamond Ranking activity was completed for Module 1 of the course.

Sorting the Sustainable Development Goals based on what I think matters most was harder than I was expecting it to be. I moved the goals around multiple times before leaving them as the current arrangement. I could’ve made an argument for each of the goals to be considered the most important. Although I ended up with “Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation” at the bottom, it’s certainly not because I don’t think it’s important but I think making headway on the other goals would contribute to cleaner water and sanitation.

The reason I placed “Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production” at the top is because achieving this goal would have positive effects on the other goals. Many developed countries over consume unnecessary products that use up resources in their production processes. The fast fashion industry is an excellent example of this. Approximately 10 times more articles of clothing are produced each year than there are people on the planet and lots of it ends up in the landfill each year. Many of the textiles used require lots of water for producing and polyesters are made from plastics that take forever to breakdown. This CBC Marketplace episode provides important information on sustainable fashion: https://youtu.be/UpwSrWlKGyg?si=lZ1kKfTsoRPeW-ln. Without even diving too deep into the full supply chain, this industry affects equality of workers, water, climate change, life below water and life on land. Many other overconsumed products would have the similar far-reaching effects. My diamond ranking basically trickled down based on this perspective.

I put “Goal 4: Quality Education” close to the top because education leads to positive contributions to society, which would help with achieving other goals.

“Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities” is up there as well because it has a ripple effect that contributes to poverty, hunger, gender inequalities, and clean water and sanitation.

I put “Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals” at the top of the diamond because all the goals require contributions, monetary and hands-on, from organizations and countries in order for them to be achieved.

In one way or another, all of these goals could be improved within the community I leave in, especially reducing inequities and poverty.

I based my ranking on what I read about each goal on https://www.globalgoals.org/ and https://sdgs.un.org/goals.

References

TED-Ed. (2015, October 15). What are the universal human rights? – Benedetta Berti. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDgIVseTkuE

United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. United Nations. https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/2021/03/udhr.pdf

United Nations. (2015a, October 21). The 17 Goals. https://sdgs.un.org/goals

United Nations. (2015b, October 21). Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda

United Nations. (2018, April 20). Do you know all 17 SDGs?. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XTBYMfZyrM