ENVSCI Lesson 2: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Elaborate
1. What are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
- The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of seventeen (17) interlinked
objectives adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty,
protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The 17
SDGs are integrated—they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others,
and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability. The
first SDG is No Poverty which entails to end all forms of poverty, second is Zero Hunger
where the goal is to end hunger and achieve food security, improved nutrition, and promote
sustainable agriculture especially in the marginalized area, third is Good Health and Well-
Being that explains to ensure healthy lives and to promote well-being for all at all ages,
fourth one is all about Quality Education in which the UN wants to ensure inclusive and
quality education for all and promote lifelong learners, the fifth SDG is Gender Equality
where women and girls should be empowered and to achieve gender equality, sixth is about
Clean Water and Sanitation where the goal is ensure everyone has the access to clean and
safe water sources and sanitation, the next and seventh SDG is Affordable and Clean Energy
which is about to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for
all, eighth is Decent Work and Economic Growth that has a goal to promote inclusive and
sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all, the ninth one is about
Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure that aims to build resilient infrastructure, promote
inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation, tenth is Reduced
Inequalities that explains reduce inequalities within and among countries, the eleventh SDG
is Sustainable Cities and Communities wherein the goal is to make cities inclusive, safe,
resilient and sustainable, twelfth is the Responsible Consumption and Production which talks
about ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, thirteenth is Climate
Action which explain about taking urgent action to tackle climate change and its impacts, the
next and fourteenth SDG is Life Below Water wherein conserving and sustainable using of
the world’s oceans, seas and marine resources are the main goals, the fifteenth is Life On
Land that aims to sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land
degradation, and halt biodiversity loss, sixteenth is Peace, Justice and strong Institutions
which is about promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development,
provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at
all levels, and seventeenth or the last SDG is Partnerships for the Goals that has a goal
revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

2. What are our nation’s efforts towards meeting the SDGs?

- As a citizen of this progressive country here are the efforts I am seeing from the moment
which I think the vision is meeting the SDGs;
a. Giving 4Ps and reaching out to urban areas which poverty is prominent and and hunger.
In this, is serves as a financial assistance to surpass days of hunger and also is had its
own contribution in defining lives through giving incentives and providing needs
especially for studies that might give enough opportunities to taste luxury and rise up to
poverty which school and institution's main vision and mission which is also inclined to
SDG #4, Good Health and Well-Being.
b. Establishing Law inclined to SDG#5, Gender Equality. The Congress now is tackling about
SOGIE BILL. The SOGIE Equality Bill is an anti-discrimination bill. It seeks to prohibit acts
of discrimination that are committed based on an individual’s sexual orientation, gender
identity, or gender expression. It is about protecting individuals from discrimination on
the basis of SOGIE. These acts include refusing to admit or expelling of students from
educational institutions, imposing harsher penalties or requirements on students, denial
of access to health services, denial of access to establishments or facilities, harassment,
 and profiling, among others. This will help the Filipino Citizens feel accountable, safe and
free.
c. Ensuring the safety of every Filipinos. SDG#16, Peace, Justice and strong Institutions the
government assuring the security that the Filipino Citizens will be able to live lives to the
fullest. By giving the service of the Military, Police Men and Coast Guard keeping the
security of the people in water base area which is also inclined to SDG#15, Life On Land.
d. The SDG #6, Clean Water and Sanitation, which adopts a multi-sectoral approach to the
problem of water as reflected in the Philippines joint programme. In the Philippines, the
SDG Fund will work towards improving governance and access of safe water, sanitation
and hygiene at all levels through improved solutions that will benefit most, especially
women and girls in households, schools, health center and public spaces; and generate
knowledge utilized to aid policy advocacy, planning and capacity building.
e. The SDG #8, Decent Work and Economic Growth, the SDG Fund supports initiatives that
tackle inclusive growth by creating opportunities for good and decent jobs and secure
livelihoods. The programme will work with extractive industries and large projects to
generate more inclusive growth and economic opportunities for the whole population. A
UN analysis indicates that the five largest mega-projects in the country with an
investment of 3.4 billion dollars will generate only 33,000 direct jobs.

3. How is climate change intricately linked with sustainable development and the achievement of
the SDGs?
- Climate change is the reason why the SDGs were created because it slowly destroys
everything. Water getting scarce that causes droughts that can create destructive sand and
dust storms and reducing land for vegetation, the rising of sea level that covers some islands
caused by the melting of polar caps, changes of temperature that causes severe rainfall and
frequent storms, extinction of Arctic/Antarctic animals, and a lot more. The SDGs were made
to fight off climate change. It may not disappear entirely but it aims to slowly restore our
planet. 191 UN Member countries are adapting the SDGs from 2015 until the present and it
did create a lot of improvement. For example, The Ocean Cleanup has now officially
removed more than 100,000 kg of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP). Since
deployment in August 2021, System 002 (or “Jenny”) has now collected 101,353 kg of plastic
over 45 extractions, sweeping an area of ocean of over 3000km2 – comparable to the size of
Luxembourg or Rhode Island. Other examples are; on October 2022, Earth's protective ozone
layer is slowly but noticeably healing at a pace that would fully mend the hole over
Antarctica in about 43 years, a new United Nations report says; on April 2022, the
Philippines is a best performer when it comes to gender equality in the East Asia and Pacific
(EAP) region and even globally. In the latest Global Gender Gap report, the Philippines
occupies the 17th place, with 78.4% of its overall gender gap closed to date; Employment
Rate in Philippines averaged 91.72 percent from 1991 until 2023, reaching an all time high of
95.80 percent in November of 2022 and a record low of 82.40 percent in June of 2020. For
many, a warming climatic system is expected to impact the availability of basic necessities
like freshwater, food security, and energy, while efforts to redress climate change, both
through adaptation and mitigation, will similarly inform and shape the global development
agenda. The links between climate change and sustainable development are strong. Poor
and developing countries, particularly least developed countries, will be among those most
adversely affected and least able to cope with the

Members:
Garcia, Dianne C.
Miraflor, Nastasha Ruth H.
Nietes. Rene Jr. O.
Tacquian, Mary Den P.