Will the SDGs still be relevant after this pandemic?
Recently I’ve written a blog about privilege during social distancing. Writing that blog made me re-evaluate the importance of the SDGs — Sustainable Development Goals.
The truth is, the SDGs promote a vision for a 2030 planet Earth where we’ve eradicated issues such as poverty, gender inequality, and world hunger. Can you imagine a world without all these problems?
Can you imagine the difference it would make, in this pandemic, if we lived in an equal world? I know you can’t, because sadly we are far from reaching that reality.
I live in a country where I have access to free and effective health care. If I get sick, I know I can just go to my local hospital and get the assistance that I need. But this doesn’t apply to everyone. According to the World Health Organization, 400 million people don’t have access to essential health services.
Can you imagine how you would feel, in the middle of a pandemic, if you didn’t have access to medical care if you needed it?
How about if your country provided free health care, but didn’t have enough resources to provide services to everyone? Because that’s the reality of 40% of all the countries in the world.
Do you know how all of this could be averted? If we took serious action towards SDG 3 — Good Health and Well-being. How could we do that? Investing in health care could be a good start.
We can also talk about one topic we discussed earlier last week, after Dr. Jane Goodall’s statement. The consequences of living in extreme poverty.
Extreme poverty disables people of their power of choice. They have to opt for what is cheap and can keep them and their families fed. And it doesn’t just stop here, with food.
It’s also about employment and the privileges you have. If you have an underpaying job, how will you afford to choose between safe or cheap?
Like I mentioned here, if you can’t buy safe foods, you might end up being more at risk of contracting a dangerous disease and spreading it to others.
And, again, do you know how all of this could be averted? If we took serious action towards SDG 1 — No Poverty — and SDG 2 — Zero Hunger. How could we do that? We could start by being more conscious of our food consumption and about the places we buy our things from.
If you don’t think my points are valid, a UN report about the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 pointed out that, if we invested more in the SDGs, we would have a better foundation to battle this pandemic.
In the report, they further mention that investing in the SDGs could ‘’have put us on track towards a world with access to universal health coverage and quality health care’’.
Basically, what they are saying is that, if we had taken action towards these problems, we would be better prepared to face this tragic event.
So, it’s good that we recognize that, if we had taken more serious action towards the SDGs, we would be in a more comfortable situation now. But, what about after this pandemic? Will the SDGs still be relevant?
Honestly, the answer is yes.
Just think about it for a second. There are things that are getting better, right now, because of this pandemic. Like how the CO2 emissions have had the biggest drop since WWII.
But, the truth is, this will mean nothing if, when we go back to normality, we switch right back to how we used to do things.
The SDG’s, like our New Year resolutions, are goals that we need to strive to achieve. They aim to help our society, our environment, and our economy to make our world a better place.
And, it’s important we understand we can’t achieve one goal without achieving all the others.
They are all connected and we often forget that, for example, gender equality is highly connected with ending world hunger, considering that 60% of the 805 million hungry people in the world are women and children.
Permanent change calls for permanent action, and that’s what we have to do after this is over. And a great way to cause permanent change is by working towards the SDGs.
In the end, achieving the 2030 agenda could be the answer to all our problems. It’s could be ‘’quick-fix’’ to our planet and to our society. But this will only be a reality if, after this pandemic, we start educating ourselves and others about the importance of the SDGs and what we can do to help.
It’s time we invest more in goals that will change our lives forever!
The SDGs will be relevant until we achieve them beyond 2030! If we want a fair and equal world, where people don’t have to worry if they will have food on their table or a doctor in case of emergencies, we have to remember that the SDGs matter.
So share this blog, share your knowledge about this topic, and do your part because this planet is not only mine, it’s ours.
