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VBE Research Project
RESEARCH REPORT
ON
UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Written by:-
Diksha Bagh
Diya Jain
Khushi Kumar
Saaniya Makandar
Shradha Bhatia
Tanya Singh
Tisha Manchanda
Vaibhavi Singhania
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INTRODUCTION
NO POVERTY
ZERO HUNGER
Even before the pandemic, the number
of people going hungry and suffering
from food insecurity had been
gradually rising since 2014. The
COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the
vulnerabilities and inadequacies of
global food systems, which could add hundreds of millions more
people to the chronically undernourished, making the goal of ending
hunger a more distant reach. The COVID-19 pandemic might have
pushed an additional 83-132 million into chronic hunger in 2020. In
addition, countries around the world continue to struggle with multiple
forms of malnutrition. Even before the pandemic, the number of
people affected by hunger globally has been slowly on the rise since
2014. An estimated 25.9% of the world population – about 2 billion
people – were affected by moderate or severe food insecurity in 2019,
an increase from 22.4% in 2015. Globally, 149.2 million or 22.0% of
children under age 5 are suffering from stunting (low height for age)
based on the latest estimates for 2020, decreasing from 24.4% in
2015. In women, anaemia increases the risk of adverse maternal and
neonatal outcomes. The average labor daily productivity of
small-scale food producers in the limited number of surveyed
countries is lower than for large-scale producers.
At the global level, the share of countries affected by high food prices
broadly decreased from 2014-2015 to 2018-2019, with the notable
exception of Central, Southern and Western Asia and North Africa due
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GOOD
HEALTH AND
WELL BEING
Before the COVID-19 pandemic,
progress had been made in many
health areas, including improving
maternal and children health,
increasing immunization coverage,
and reducing communicable diseases, albeit not fast enough to meet
the SDG 3 targets by 2030. The disruption caused by the pandemic
has now halted or even reversed progress made. The world has made
substantial progress toward the goal of ending preventable child
deaths & the global neonatal mortality rate fell from 30 to 17 between
2000 and 2019. In 2019, 1.74 billion people were reported to require
mass or individual treatment and care for neglected tropical diseases
(NTDs), about 12 million fewer than reported in 2018. Immunization
is one of the world’s most successful and cost-effective health
interventions. While vaccination coverage among infants increased
from 72% in 2000 to 85% in 2015 and 2019, when an estimated 19.7
million children did not receive the essential vaccines during the first
year of life. Health workers are at the frontline of the COVID-19
pandemic response. Countries, especially those with limited health
workforce, are further decapitated with regards to delivery of essential
health services.
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QUALITY
EDUCATION
The impact of the COVID-19
pandemic on schooling is a
‘generational catastrophe’. Before the
pandemic, progress was already slow
and insufficient to reach the SDG
education targets. School closures
brought by the pandemic have had
devastating consequences for children’s learning and wellbeing. It is
estimated that an additional 101 million children and youth (from
grades 1 to 9) fell below the minimum reading proficiency level due to
COVID-19 in 2020, which wiped out the education gains achieved over
the last 20 years.
Pre-COVID-19 data from 76 countries and territories ( low- and
middle-income), indicate that around 7 in 10 children aged 3 - 4 are
developmentally on track, with no significant differences by child’s
sex. However, many young children are unable to attend early
childhood education due to the pandemic and are therefore now
entirely reliant on their caregivers for nurturing care.
Disparities in access to education and learning outcomes remain
persistent across a range of education indicators. For example, there
were still only 92 literate women aged 15 years or older for every 100
literate men of the same age in 2019. Recovery could occur by 2024,
but only if exceptional efforts are devoted to the task through remedial
and catch-up strategies.
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GENDER
EQUALITY
The socio-economic impacts of
COVID-19 have adversely affected
progress made in recent years in relation to gender equality. The
pandemic has highlighted the need to act swiftly to address existing
gender inequality that remains pervasive globally and get back on
track to achieve the goal of gender equality.
Women have played a critical role in the response to COVID-19, yet
they remain under-represented in critical leadership positions and their
rights and priorities are often not explicitly addressed in response and
recovery measures. The crisis presents the opportunity to re-shape
and rebuild systems, laws, policies and institutions to advance gender
equality. Discriminatory laws and legal gaps continue to prevent
women from enjoying their human rights.
Over the past decade, the practice of child marriage has declined
significantly, with the global proportion of young women who were
married as children decreasing by 15%, from nearly 1 in 4 in 2010 to 1
in 5 in 2020. On an average day, women spend about 2.5 times as
many hours on unpaid domestic work and care work as men,
according to the latest data from 90 countries and areas collected
between 2001 and 2019. By 2019, women accounted for nearly 39%
of the global labour force, but occupied only 28.3% of managerial
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CLEAN
WATER AND
SANITISATION
Billions of people worldwide still live
without safely managed drinking
water, sanitation and hygiene
services, which are critical for
protecting human health and containing the spread of COVID-19. Over
the last century, global water use has increased at more than twice the
rate of population growth. In addition to water stress, countries are
facing growing challenges linked to water pollution, degraded
water-related ecosystems, water scarcity caused by climate change
and cooperation over transboundary waters.
Between 2000 and 2020, the global population using safely managed
drinking water services and safely managed sanitation services
increased by 2 billion and 2.4 billion, respectively. Among the 42
countries reporting on both total wastewater generation and total
wastewater treatment in 2015, 32% of total wastewater flows received
at least some treatment.
AFFORDABLE
AND CLEAN
ENERGY
Despite significant progress over the
last decade on improving access to
electricity, increasing the use of
renewable energy in the electricity
sectors, and improving energy efficiency, the world is still short of
achieving affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
Clean and sustainable energy should be at the heart of the COVID-19
response and fight against climate change. The global electricity
access rate improved from 83% in 2010 to 90% in 2019 with an
average annual electrification of 0.876 percentage points. The
renewable energy share of total final energy consumption gradually
increased from 16.4% in 2010 to 17.1% in 2018. International financial
flows to developing countries in support of clean and renewable
energy reached $14 billion in 2018, 35% lower than in 2017, but still
32% higher than in 2010. Hydropower projects received 27% of 2018
flows, while solar projects received 26%, geothermal 8%, wind 5%, and
multiple/other renewables 34%. Solar and wind capacity both
expanded much faster than population growth, leading to increases in
per capita capacity of 22.2% and 11.3% respectively.
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DECENT WORK
AND ECONOMIC
GROWTH
Before the pandemic hit in 2020,
average growth of the economy had
already slowed. The COVID-19
pandemic has caused the worst global
economic recession since the Great Depression and massive damage
to working time and income. In 2020, 8.8% of global working hours
were lost (relative to the fourth quarter of 2019), equivalent to 255
million full time jobs, which is approximately four times greater than
the loss during the global financial crisis in 2009. Young workers and
women were particularly hard hit by the crisis in the labour market.
The global economy is slowly recovering, although it may remain
below pre-pandemic trends for a prolonged period. Following an
average growth of about 2% from 2014 to 2018, global real GDP per
capita increased by only 1.3% in 2019 and is estimated to decline by
5.3% in 2020 due to the COVID19 pandemic. Global real GDP per
capita is projected to increase again by 3.6% in 2021 and 2.6% in
2022. Prior to the onset of the pandemic, informal employment
represented 60.2% of global employment. The median gender pay gap
in countries with data around 2017 (based on hourly earnings) is close
to 12%, meaning that in half of all countries with data, women’s hourly
earnings are on average 12% lower than men. Global unemployment
increased by 33 million in 2020, with the unemployment rate
increasing by 1.1 percentage points to 6.5%. In 2019, more than one
in five of the world’s youth were not in employment, education or
training (NEET), almost unchanged since 2005.
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In 2020, almost one third of the 107 countries with data have
formulated and operationalized a youth employment strategy, while 44
(41.1%) of them have such strategies but did not provide conclusive
evidence on their implementation, and just under a quarter of them
(24.3%) are in the process of developing one.
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INDUSTRY,
INNOVATION AND
INFRASTRUCTURE
The tale of industrial growth has
shaped the trajectory of our history
as a community of countries in
significant ways. Industry has
revolutionized our economy and
helped drive fundamental changes in our society, from the earliest
steam engines to the first assembly lines to today's fully global
production networks and procedures.Our development, however, has
left huge sections of the population behind due to a lack of
sustainable practices and infrastructure. In 2016, more than 937
million people throughout the world lacked access to electricity.
Existing infrastructural restrictions reduce business productivity by
about 40% in many nations.
REDUCED
INEQUALITY
The international community has
made significant progress in
assisting people in their efforts to
escape poverty. The underdeveloped
nations - least developed countries, landlocked developing countries,
and tiny island developing states – continue to reduce poverty. Within
these countries, however, huge gaps in access to health and education
services and other assets remain. Moreover, while income disparities
across countries have decreased, disparities within countries have
increased. In 2017, the wealthiest 1% of the world's population owned
50.1% of the world's wealth, while the poorest 70% of the world's
working-age population together held only 2.7%. When one considers
that a total of 36 million billionaires, or 0.7% of the world's adult
population, own 46% of total global wealth, which today stands at
$280 trillion, the disparity is stunning. According to Forbes, the world's
top ten billionaires have a combined worth of $505 billion, which is
more than the total goods and services produced by most countries
each year.
SUSTAINABLE
CITIES AND
COMMUNITIES
Today, over 4.2 billion people live in
cities, and it is estimated that by 2030,
six out of ten people will live in cities.
By 2030, the world is expected to have 43 megacities with populations
of more than 10 million people, most of which will be in developing
countries. Cities with less than one million people, many of which are
in Asia and Africa, are among the fastest-growing urban
agglomerations. While one in every eight people lives in one of the
world's 33 megacities, nearly half of the world's urban dwellers live in
settlements of less than 500,000 people. As a result, cities account for
60-80% of global energy consumption and 75% of global carbon
emissions despite occupying only 3% of the planet's land. Freshwater
supplies, sewage, the living environment, and public health are all
under strain due to rapid urbanisation. Congestion, a lack of essential
services, a lack of adequate housing, and deteriorating infrastructure
plague our rapidly growing urban world. More than a third of the
world's urban population lives in slums, with slum dwellers accounting
for more than half of all city dwellers in Sub-Saharan Africa.
RESPONSIBLE
CONSUMPTION
AND
PRODUCTION
Our planet is under a great deal of stress. If the global population reaches
9.6 billion people by 2050, about three earth will be required to sustain
current lifestyles for everyone. Every year, an estimated one-third of all food
produced – 1.3 billion tonnes worth around USD 1 trillion – rots in
consumers' and retailers' bins or spoils due to poor transportation and
harvesting practices. More than a billion people still lack access to clean
drinking water. Freshwater makes up less than 3% of the world's water, with
2.5% frozen in Antarctica, the Arctic, and glaciers. As a result, humanity
must rely on 0.5% to meet all of man's ecosystem and freshwater needs.
Despite technological advancements that have improved energy efficiency,
energy consumption in OECD countries is expected to rise by another 35%
by 2020.
CLIMATE ACTION
LIFE BELOW
WATER
Every year, coastal and marine resources bring in USD 28 trillion to the global
economy. However, this is only one aspect of why they are so vital to our planet.
The temperature, chemistry, currents, and life of the world's oceans drive global
systems that keep the Earth habitable for humans. The sea provides and
regulates our rainwater, drinking water, weather, climate, coastlines, much of our
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food, and even the oxygen in the air we breathe. Oceans and seas have always
been important trade and transportation routes throughout history. A sustainable
future necessitates careful management of this vital global resource.
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LIFE ON LAND
The state of our most crucial habitat –
land – determines our species' fate. The
survival of land ecosystems is critical to
our future. Plants provide the oxygen we
breathe and the food we eat through
photosynthesis and are thus the
foundation of most life on Earth. They're
also the source of the vast majority of
today's medicines. Only 12914 of the more than 300,000 known plant species
have been evaluated by the IUCN, with 68% of those estimated being threatened
with extinction. A third or more of the estimated 6300 amphibian species are on
the verge of extinction. A total of 12% of the world's 9865 bird species are now
threatened, with 192 species, or 2%, facing an "extremely high risk" of extinction
in the wild. The IUCN has evaluated about 9,526 species out of 1.3 million known
invertebrate species, with about 30% of those assessed at risk of extinction.
Approximately 90% of primates live in tropical forests, which are rapidly
decreasing. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates
that nearly half of the world's primate species are endangered. Overall, the IUCN
estimates that half of the world's 5491 known mammals are declining in
population. A fifth are clearly on the verge of extinction, with 1131 mammals
classified as endangered, threatened, or vulnerable worldwide. Marine mammals,
including several whales, dolphins, and porpoises, are among the mammals on
the verge of extinction, alongside primates. The IUCN has classified 594 species
as endangered or vulnerable to extinction, accounting for 21% of all evaluated
reptiles worldwide. According to the FAO, an estimated 18 million acres (7.3
million hectares) of forest are lost each year, roughly the size of Panama.
According to the WWF, deforestation is responsible for 15% of global greenhouse
gas emissions. The desertification of 3.6 billion hectares has resulted from the
continued degradation of drylands. Currently, 2.6 billion people are directly
dependent on agriculture; however, soil degradation affects 52%of agricultural
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The foundation of sustainable development island and forests cover 30% of the
Earth's surface and, in addition to providing food and shelter, are critical in
combating climate change, protecting biodiversity, and providing a home for
indigenous people. More than 80% of all terrestrial animal, plant and insect
species can be found in forests. At the same time, around 1.6 billion people also
depend on forests for their livelihood, including some 70 million indigenous
people. Over 80% of the human diet is provided by plants, with rice, maize and
wheat providing 60% energy intake. In addition, 80% of people living in rural areas
in developing countries rely on traditional plant-based medicines to offer their
primary healthcare. At the same time, 1.6 billion people, including 70 million
indigenous peoples, depend on forests for their survival. Plants provide over 80%
of the human diet, with rice, maize, and wheat accounting for 60% of total energy.
Furthermore, traditional plant-based medicines are used by 80% of people living
in rural areas in developing countries for primary healthcare.
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PEACE AND
JUSTICE
STRONG
INSTITUTIONS
Violence is perhaps the most significant
and destructive threat to a country's development, growth, well-being, and even
survival. In some parts of the world, armed conflict is causing mass
displacement within countries and across borders, resulting in massive
humanitarian crises that have a negative impact on every aspect of our
development. Other types of violence, such as crime and sexual and
gender-based violence, continue to be global. Young people are particularly
vulnerable; 43% of all homicides in the world involve people aged 10 to 29, and
children account for a third of all human trafficking victims. Violence, on the other
hand, can take on more subtle forms. Institutional violence, such as
unaccountable legal and judicial systems and deprivation of people's human
rights and fundamental freedoms, are all forms of violence and injustice. In
addition, corruption, bribery, theft, and tax evasion cost developing countries
around USD1.26 trillion per year, money that could be used to lift many people out
of poverty for at least six years.
The first step toward achieving any aspect of the 2030 global sustainable
development agenda will be to restore security and human rights to people
whose lives and fundamental freedoms are being jeopardised by direct violence
or institutionalised injustice. Many countries that failed to meet their Millennium
Development Goals by 2015 were afflicted by armed conflict and instability.
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PARTNERSHIPS
TO ACHIEVE
THE GOAL
A new global partnership is
required to achieve an ambitious
and interconnected global
development plan, which includes
financing development, connecting people through information technology
networks, increasing international trade flows, and improving data
collection and analysis. Even as the world comes together for global
growth – official development assistance was USD 153 billion in 2018,
down 0.6% in real terms from 2016 – only five OECD-DAC countries met the
UN target of providing official development assistance equal to 0.7% gross
national income in 2018. People all over the world are becoming more
connected as a result of physical and digital networks – more than half of
the world's population (over 4 billion users) is now online, with the most
recent data showing that nearly a quarter of a billion new users joined the
internet for the first time in 2017.
Partnerships between governments, the private sector, and civil society are
required for a successful sustainable development agenda. These 17 lofty
goals and the complex challenges they seek to address don't fit neatly into
neatly defined sectors or across national borders. Climate change is a
global issue, and businesses are just as important as governments in
combating it. Without universities and scientists, and especially without
knowledge exchange across continents, innovation is impossible. Gender
equality is about communities as much as it is about legal tools. Our
epidemics, like their solutions, are global. At the international, regional,
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THE SURVEY
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After viewing the response to the question “Do you donate to charity
often?”:-
After viewing the response to the question “Do you help others irrespective
of their race/gender/religion or caste?”:-
We see that 70.5% of people's responses are ‘always’ and 20.5% of
people's responses are ‘often’. So therefore, we come to the conclusion
that most of the people do help others irrespective of their
race/gender/religion or caste.
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After viewing the response to the question “Do you recycle/reuse your
plastic?”:-
We see that 50% of the people’s responses are ‘sometimes’ and 31.8%
people’s responses are ‘often’. So therefore, we come to the conclusion
that about 50% of the people recycle their plastic waste products and are
trying to save nature.
After viewing the response to the question “Do you practice Gender
Equality in your home and surroundings?”: -
We see that 68.2% of the people’s responses are ‘always’ and 22.7%
people’s responses are ‘often’. So therefore, we come to a conclusion that
more than 50%of people do practice gender equality in their homes and
surroundings and our helping this planet fight against gender
discrimination.
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After viewing the response to the question “How often do you have to
throw away leftover food?”:-
We see that 45.5% of the people’s responses are ‘never’ and 31.8% of the
people’s responses are ‘occasionally’. So therefore, we can conclude that
about three-fourth of the people are not wasting leftover food and instead
are using them here and there and are helping with conserving the wastage
of food which is actually 31.9% every day.
After viewing the response to the question “Do you use wind/solar power as an
energy source?”:-
We see that 40.9% of the people’s responses are ‘occasionally’ and 38.6% of the
people’s responses are ‘never’. So therefore, we can conclude after seeing the
answers to this question that not many are using any wind/solar power as an
energy source. This amount can be fairly increased.
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After viewing the response to the question “Which of the following goals
peak your interest?”:-
We see that most of the people's responses are ‘Quality Education’ and
are about 84.1%. And for the options ‘industry, innovation and
infrastructure’ and ‘partnerships’ and ‘life on land’ are having the least
percentage which is 31.8%. So therefore, we can conclude that more people
believe that quality education is important.
After viewing the response to the question “Are you aware of the
sustainable development goals set by the UNDP?”: -
We see that most of the people response is ‘YES’ and that is for about
62.2% but there are also many people who do not know about the goals set
by the UNDP and they are for about 37.8% which is a sad fact that they do
not know about the goals but we together can work together to reach out to
many people and raise awareness.
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SUGGESTIONS ON HOW
TO INCORPORATE SDGs
IN DAILY LIVES
· Reduce
It means to minimize the
amount of waste we
produce. Reduce wastage of
food. Reduce the usage of
non-renewable resources and
instead use renewable
alternatives. E.g. – a
renewable alternative for
electricity would be solar
energy or wind energy.
· Reuse
Reuse water from washing vegetables and fruits for
watering the plants. You can also reuse plastic containers
instead of buying them again and again. One of the
advantages of reusing to you will be that you’ll be saving
money and getting your work done as well.
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· Recycle
Recycling paper can help eliminate deforestation, which is
a burning concern in the current scenario. Recycle
batteries, mobiles, bulbs, computers, oils and toxic
products.
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Donation is not only about money. You can donate anything that is not
useful to you anymore but could be useful to someone else. All those
clothes stashed at the back of your closet that never get the
opportunity to see the light of the day? Well, there’s your opportunity!
Donate them! Someone out there with holes in their clothes will be
utterly grateful to you for your kindness. Just had a party at your
house last night? Don’t throw away the leftover food. You could simply
pack it up and deliver it to a food bank. You will be filling the stomachs
of people who most probably would have been hungry for days. Think
of all the well wishes you’d be getting.
Something as basic as a piece of cloth or food, which means so little
to us because we get it that easily means a lot to them who are not
able to afford it.
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4. VOLUNTEER
If you really believe in doing something for others, this one's for you!
You can help change the world just by giving your time for the
betterment of society. It really is that easy. Moreover, you can choose
the cause you want to volunteer for. If you love animals and feel they
deserve better treatment. There are many four legged fur balls waiting
for your help. You could also volunteer in old age homes, orphanages
or just volunteer to clean the environment. This investment of your
time could change the world for the future generations. A volunteering
experience is something that will change your perspective towards life
and give you a purpose to serve the world. Especially in the current
situation due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the world needs you!
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5. CONSUME RESPONSIBLY
SUMMARY
To recapitulate, we are living in an era in which problems from a
myriad of areas are given due importance, be it the problem of
worldwide hunger, poverty or gender equality. We face new sets of
challenges with every step taken towards progress and development,
some of which did not even exist before and are completely
unprecedented for our times. The implications of the actions of
humankind are grave, and the regulation of such actions and finding
the solution for these problems is the utmost need of the hour. The
United Nations Organization has provided a set of 17 sustainable
development goals, to ensure that we, as a temporary resident of this
planet, tread on the path of progress without damaging its essence.
We can not achieve these goals, unless and until we imbibe them in
our daily lives, and work towards implementing sustainable actions on
an individual level. It is our responsibility to leave this planet in a better
condition than before, not the opposite. In order to find out more about
the actual incorporation of these goals in our daily lives, we conducted
a small survey in which we found that 38% of the responses that we
received were not aware of the SDGs. Hence, it is necessary to spread
awareness about the UN SDGs in society and make people more
sensitive to the issues faced by the global community and this planet
right now. From the survey, we also found out that the actions
prescribed by the UN for the achievement of the goals are hardly
practiced by the people. We as a global citizen are conscious of the
issues, yet there are few who actually take steps towards achieving
these goals. Therefore, spreading knowledge about the importance of
SDGs, ways in which it can impact their lives and how people can
incorporate them in their everyday actions can play a significant role in
achieving these aspirations. We can make a difference, only if we
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