“By defining our goal more clearly, by making it seem more manageable and less remote, we help all people to see it, to draw hope from it, and to move irresistibly toward it.”
- President John F. Kennedy
In September 2015, world leaders from all 193 United Nations member states adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to guide global action on the urgent environmental, political, and economic challenges facing our planet. Presented as 17 interconnected goals, the SDGs represent a global vision of how we can work together, across disciplines, sectors, and societies to face and overcome our biggest challenges. At the heart of the SDGs is the concept of ‘leaving no one behind’; a recognition of the fundamental dignity and right of the most marginalized, discriminated, impoverished, and vulnerable populations of the world to benefit from these global efforts.
Four years into the SDG mandate, progress has been slow. No country is on track to fully achieve their SDG commitments, and many countries are moving backwards, with inequalities and environmental degradation continuing to rise. Canada ranks among the best in the world for progress (ranked 20th). As in other high-income countries, however, high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, pollution and waste, and threats to biodiversity represent major challenges for Canada to overcome. Confronted with these challenges, we must remember that the SDGs demand that we move past ‘business as usual’ and seek transformational solutions. Currently, the approaches we’ve been taking are not solving our problems. Making meaningful progress on the SDGs requires us to understand that maintaining the status quo is a choice; a choice that has led to an unimaginable level of economic wealth for some, but also immeasurable environmental destruction and social inequality for most. The SDGs present an opportunity for an honest conversation about the choices we’ve made to get us here and the choices we must make to address the new realities we face. There is an abundance of creative energy in the world today, and a willingness to invest in new ideas. Younger generations are confident that achieving the SDGs will lead them to a better future. We have an opportunity to be very intentional and strategic about how we move forward.
The Sustainable Development Goals are the guiding “North Star” to this change. Think of them as a common guidepost that everyone can see regardless of their initial vantage point; they go beyond geographic borders, and endure beyond short-term headlines and political cycles. The SDGs are bringing us together to build strategic bridges. They give us a framework from which to set bold timelines and clear milestones, align approaches, co-create, and monitor outcomes.
Make no mistake - our world already has a clearly articulated vision of how and what we need to do to work together to create a sustainable and prosperous planet for generations to come. We only need to start implementing this vision.
About the Author: Jon Beale is the Manager of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) of Canada, hosted at the University of Waterloo. SDSN Canada is part of a global SDSN movement to build a network of universities, colleges, and knowledge institutions working together to create practical solutions to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
