The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) broaden the scope of the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) which were established at the turn of the century with the goal to help developing countries reduce extreme poverty and hunger, prevent deadly diseases and expand primary education to all children by 2015. By 2013 many goals had noticeably been achieved such as combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and improving maternal and child health. However progress towards the MDGs was uneven and some were not able to be realized. Further action and global commitment was required!
From the experience and the partial successes of the MDGs, valuable lessons were learned to begin work on a new set of goals to build a more sustainable, safer and prosperous planet for all humanity. At the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio in 2012, 17 global goals were set to meet some of the most pressing challenges facing our world today. The SDG represent a more comprehensive, universal Call to Action which the 193 U.N. states, including Canada, have committed to making a reality by 2030. These goals address social, economic and environmental areas of sustainable development.
This Agenda of the SDGs is an important political consensus document declaring UN member states’ intent to work collectively towards achieving people-centered sustainable development over the next 15 years. The MDG were targeted at developing countries, the SDG are applicable to all countries and were designed to be integrative and call for collaboration among the developed and developing countries. Today’s challenges of forced migration, protracted conflicts, the climate crisis and rising inequalities cannot be dealt with in isolation.
These goals were a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all – they address the global challenges we are facing including those related to economic inequality, climate action, sustainable consumption, peace, justice and life on land and below water. Quite an admirable list of goals but as William Blake and others have said, “If your reach does not exceed your grasp, what’s a heaven for?”
The SDGs reaffirm the responsibility of all states and all peoples to respect, protect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction of any kind. This sounds like a re-wording of our charism statement, to serve the dear neighbour without distinction.
There has been concern expressed about trying to do everything at once and possibly achieving little and that priority should be placed on the most urgent or fundamental priorities. Certainly an issue of great concern to us as women is the call to end discrimination and eliminate violence against women and girls as well as harmful practices such as child and forced early marriages and female genital mutilation. And as a member of the Blue Communities, we are committed to act both personally and communally to protect and care for water. There is much to pray about and work towards as we move closer to the year 2030.
- Mary Mettler