Building a Greener Future: Unleashing the Power of Sustainable Development
Sustainable development is the organizing principle to attain certain objectives that would make the world a better place to live for everyone, irrespective of any discrimination. The desired outcomes of these aims would be crucial for the improvement of humanity’s present and future. Sustainable development can only be achieved if specific goals are completed. These goals were embraced by all the United Nation Members in 2015, to erase intricate issues for good, by the end of 2030. There are seventeen Sustainable Development Goals that are needed to be accomplished. The goals are interconnected with each other as dealing with one goal would ultimately result in affecting the others. I consider the prime objective of these goals to eradicate poverty, end gender discrimination and provide quality education.
The first and foremost objective is to eliminate prevailing poverty in the world. According to World Survey, the most poverty-dense continents are Asia and Africa, the reason being, these countries were under colonial rule. Moreover, United Nations estimates that about 736 million people are still living in extreme poverty across the globe. Most of the countries under utmost poverty have capitalistic forms of government. As a result, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Another reason for poverty is that these countries spend most of their GDP on defense forces instead of the welfare of people. Especially, in India, where 86 million people are living in poverty.
Secondly, ending discrimination against women and girls is a basic human right and it's also crucial for a better and sustainable future. Especially in poverty-stricken countries, women face sexual harassment, income inequality and most importantly violence. Oppression against women in these countries is due to the continuous rejection of modernity.
Thirdly, one of the most significant goals is to ensure quality education for everyone. Education is not a fundamental human right but also a gateway for humanity’s survival. Due to recent developments by United Nations, enrollment in primary education in developing countries has reached 91%. But on the downside, one out of four girls is not in school. Girls are denied education in developing countries due to cultural reasons.
To conclude, as mentioned before, these goals are to be accomplished to achieve sustainable development. As goals are interrelated and to achieve one goal, we would have to start from the basic ones. Starting from poverty to ensure economic balance which would consequently result in paving the way for education and then gender equality.
The writer is a media student at SZABIST Islamabad.