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SDGs for All

SDGs for All is a joint media project of the global news organization International Press Syndicate (INPS) and the lay Buddhist network Soka Gakkai International (SGI). It aims to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative goals and targets. It offers in-depth news and analyses of local, national, regional and global action for people, planet and prosperity. This project website is also a reference point for discussions, decisions and substantive actions related to 17 goals and 169 targets to move the world onto a sustainable and resilient path.

Photo: A portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, painted by Raghuvar Dayal, which was presented by India's Minister of Foreign Affairs to the UN General Assembly President on the occasion of the International Day of Non-Violence. Credit: UN Photo/Cia

By Joan Erakit

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) - During a country music festival outside of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino in Las Vegas, a gunman opened fire on concertgoers killing 50 and wounding over 200. Hours later, some 2230 miles away, the United Nations commemorated the International Day of Non-Violence at its headquarters on October 2, remembering Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement and pioneer of the philosophy and strategy of non-violence, born 148 years ago.

According to General Assembly resolution A/RES/61/271 of June 15, 2007, which established the commemoration, the International Day is an occasion to "disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness". The resolution reaffirms "the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence" and the desire "to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence".

Goal 16

Photo: Capoeira classes with boys formerly associated with armed groups in North Kivu. Credit: Flavio Forner | IDN-INPS

By Fabíola Ortiz

GOMA (IDN) - Since February this year, 16-year old Melvin* lives in a shelter for former child soldiers in the suburbs of Goma, the capital city of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He belongs to a small community.

His story resembles that of many Congolese boys living in the faraway communities in eastern DRC. He was abducted from his home village to forcedly join the Nyatura rebels – a Mayi-Mayi ethnic community-led armed group founded in 2010 mainly by the Congolese Hutus. Among the human rights violations they have been accused of is the recruitment of child soldiers – one of the most heinous crimes they have committed.

It is two years now that the introverted Melvin, who has lost track of his family, has not been able to return to his community. He is likely to be one among thousands of orphans from the conflict. (P25) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE |  SPANISH | SWAHILI

Goal 16

Photo: Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The camp is one of three, which house up to 300,000 Rohingya people fleeing inter-communal violence in Burma. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

By Jayasri Priyalal*

SINGAPORE (IDN) - The Rohingya crisis and influx of refugees to Bangladesh is headline stories in the media at present. As a Sri Lankan I could note the similarity of the conflicts of statelessness that prevailed in Sri Lanka then and Myanmar at present, and Sri Lanka’s approach to solving the crisis with India could be a framework for Myanmar to follow.

In 1948 when Sri Lanka gained independence from Britain, the island nation was left with about one million Tamils who were called "Indian Tamils" in Sri Lanka. They were brought to Sri Lanka from South India from the lowest Dalit caste to work in tea plantations that were set up on land the British confiscated from Sinhala peasants, who refused to work in those plantations. Thus the presence of these Tamils was deeply resented by the Sinhalese. British have created a stateless community who were neither Indian nor Sri Lankan citizens. (P24) HINDI｜JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | TAGALOG | THAI | URDU

Goal 16

Photo: UNIDO DG LI Yong addresses a special event, “Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (2016-2025): From political commitment to actions on the ground". 21 September 2017. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – When the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Resolution to declare 2016-2025 as the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III) in August 2016, it stated: "Africa remains the poorest and the most vulnerable region in the world." And this despite the two previous decades.

The Resolution A/RES/70/293 noted "the need for the continent to take urgent action to advance sustainable industrialization as a key element of furthering economic diversification and value addition, creating jobs and thus reducing poverty," and contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The Agenda with 17 Goals and 169 targets was adopted in September 2015. The Resolution reaffirmed "the importance of industrialization in supporting Africa’s own efforts towards sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and accelerated development." (P23) ARABIC｜FRENCH | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI

Goal 9

Photo credit: IISD/ENB | Francis Dejon

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | ORDOS CITY, China (IDN) – Land degradation is one of the planet’s most pressing global challenges. A third of the world’s land is degraded. But the good news is that by the end of the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on September 16, 2017 in China's Ordos City, 113 countries had agreed to specify concrete targets, with clear indicators, to reverse degradation and rehabilitate more land.

A new global roadmap to address land degradation was also agreed. The UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework is regarded as the most comprehensive global commitment to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in order to restore the productivity of vast swathes of degraded land, improve the livelihoods of more than 1.3 billion people, and to reduce the impacts of drought on vulnerable populations. (P22) ｜JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

Goal 1

Photo: Delegates attending the fifth thematic session of the General Assembly for the Global compact on safe, orderly and regular migration. Credit: UNIS Vienna.

By Julia Rainer

VIENNA (IDN) – "Smuggling of migrants, trafficking in persons and contemporary forms of slavery, including appropriate identification, protection and assistance to migrants and trafficking victims," was the title of the Fifth thematic session of the UN General Assembly hosted on September 4-5 by the United Nations Office in Vienna (UNOV).

The event aimed at supporting the inter-governmental process designed to lead to the adoption in 2018 of a global compact on safe, orderly and regular migration – a goal agreed by the member states when adopting the New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants in September 2016.

Louise Arbour, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for International Migration, and Secretary-General of the session, opened the discussion with a strong appeal to the member states.

Goal 4

Photo: Prof. Erin Moore constructs a "future" home for bees during UNESCO conference. Credit: A.D. McKenzie | IDN-INPS

By A.D. McKenzie

PARIS (IDN) – Given the rampant technological changes taking place, it’s impossible to predict what the world will look like in even 20 years, and only the development of critical thinking and common civic values will help humankind to deal with the future.

That is the viewpoint of Sonia Dhillon Marty, head of a foundation that is seeking to “foster civic engagement” through art, architecture, design, sustainable farming and technology”, as she puts it. “If we are together, people will listen, politicians will listen,” Dhillon Marty said during a conference in Paris, September 12-13 at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Goal 4

Photo credit: Kofi Annan Foundation

By Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General

Following is the text of a speech given by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (1997-2006), the founding chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation, and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, on September 7, 2017 at the ‘Making Waves’ conference in Afsluitdijk (English: Enclosure Dam), a major causeway in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and 1932. It is being reproduced courtesy of the Kofi Annan Foundation. – The Editor.

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) - I can’t think of a more symbolic and inspirational location to promote innovative solutions around water, food and energy than the iconic Afsluitdijk. The dam is a masterpiece of Dutch engineering and a symbol for the country’s centuries-long fight against flooding from the sea.

Goal 2

Photo: Lack of piped water across Africa has impelled villagers to turn to unprotected water bodies to access the precious liquid. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IDN-INPS

By Jeffrey Moyo

MWENEZI; Zimbabwe (IDN) - Raviro Chawuruka scoops out sand from a well on a stream bank closer to her rural home in Rutenga, 443 km west of Harare, in Mwenezi district in Zimbabwe’s Masvingo Province.

At the age of 72, Chawuruka says she has known no rest while scavenging for water, this as she daily battles it out with the sand-filled water well in the vicinity of her home. She stands out among millions of Africans to whom piped water still remains a luxury, decades after several African nations gained independence from their former colonisers: Zimbabwe over 37 years ago.

According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, 65 percent of Zimbabwe’s 14 million people such as Chawuruka are domiciled in rural areas, where they have become the number one victims of lack of piped water. (P21) ｜JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | CHINESE TEXT VERSION PDF | 

Goal 6

Photo: UN Secretary-General meets South Sudanese refugees during a visit to Imvepi settlement in northern Uganda in June 2017. UN Photo/Mark Gart

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has stressed the pressing need for increased diplomacy on vexatious global issues, broad adherence to the aims of the landmark Paris climate accord, wider engagement with the world’s youth and dedicated efforts to ensure gender parity across the UN system.

In an interview with UN News in the run-up to the 72nd Regular Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 72), which will convene at UN Headquarters in New York on September 12, Guterres said the UN “must be an instrument for a surge in diplomacy for peace.” Guterres, the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, and the former UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), took up his post on 1 January 1, 2017.

Goal 16

  1. China Hosts A Milestone UN Conference on Land Degradation
  2. Two UN Agencies Hold First Ever Asia-Pacific Ministerial Summit on the Environment
  3. Southern Africa Turns to the Sun as Energy Woes Bite
  4. Poverty Swoops on Southern Africa's Urban Dwellers
  5. Climate Change Threatens Agriculture in Pacific Rim Economies

Newsletter

Striving for People Planet and Peace 2017

MAPTING

Fostering Global Citizenship

 


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