The Sustainable Development Goals From a Social Work Perspective in the COVID-19 Pandemic Period

2022 ◽  
pp. 326-341
Author(s):  
Hatice Öztürk ◽  
Bilge Abukan ◽  
Filiz Yıldırım

The COVID-19 pandemic is an ecosocial and global crisis caused by human actions. With the pandemic, poverty and inequalities have gradually deepened; in particular, the acceleration of digitalization in the pandemic period has revealed digital inequalities. In addition, problems such as poverty, climate change, global warming, and social and environmental sustainability concerns constitute obstacles to achieving sustainable development goals. Social workers play an active role in the achievement of sustainable development goals; as such, they should also be able to critically evaluate the associated processes and results. In such an evaluation, it is important that social workers adopt an ecosocial approach that centers on people and nature. Based on this, in this study, sustainable development and related goals are evaluated from a critical point of view, discussing them in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of this analysis, the degrowth approach is recommended as an alternative to sustainable development.

Author(s):  
Dr. Basanta Kalita

The SDGs agenda is the outcome of a series of international conferences on the issue of environmental sustainability. A principle of common and differentiated responsibility was endorsed by the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992) and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20 (2012). The political commitments from the world leaders were confirmed during the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development held in Addis Ababa in July 2015 for a common policy on sustainable development. The goals are broad based and interdependent. Finally the Paris Declaration on Climate Change (2016) paved the way for the adoption of a comprehensive list of goals to be achieved by 2030. Each of the 17 sustainable development goals has a list of targets which are measured with indicators and are interdependent. The present study will be confined to the 6th goal which is ensuring “Clean water and Sanitation” in the Indian context. KEYWORDS: SDGs agenda, Climate Change, employment, sanitation services


Author(s):  
Sarah Anabarja ◽  
Ahmad Safril Mubah

The potential of Islamic environmentalism initiatives has been emerging in Indonesian Muslim society. The inclusion of sustainable development ideas into Islamic values has raised an increasing initiative of ‘Eco-Pesantren’. Following the numerous programs relating to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the country, the ‘Eco-Pesantren’ undertake the ideas by introducing environmental sustainability in their curriculum. This initiative is widely popular after some Islamic boarding schools or ‘pesantren’ in Java Island have successfully performed the value of sustainable development in their learning process. It is evident that sustainable development ideas are not the opposite of Islamic values, and the Islamic way of life can contribute to the environmental vision of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article analyses the practice of sustainable development from an Islamic point of view by focusing particularly on environmental issues. To describe the ‘Eco-Pesantren’ programs, this article is divided into three sections. First, explaining sustainable development from Islamic perspectives. Second, portraying the growth of Islamic environmentalism in Indonesia and ‘Eco-Pesantren’ initiatives and the challenges faced by those initiatives. Finally, the conclusion of this study.


Author(s):  
Andrew Harmer ◽  
Jonathan Kennedy

This chapter explores the relationship between international development and global health. Contrary to the view that development implies ‘good change’, this chapter argues that the discourse of development masks the destructive and exploitative practices of wealthy countries at the expense of poorer ones. These practices, and the unregulated capitalist economic system that they are part of, have created massive inequalities between and within countries, and potentially catastrophic climate change. Both of these outcomes are detrimental to global health and the millennium development goals and sustainable development goals do not challenge these dynamics. While the Sustainable Development Goals acknowledge that inequality and climate change are serious threats to the future of humanity, they fail to address the economic system that created them. Notwithstanding, it is possible that the enormity and proximity of the threat posed by inequality and global warming will energise a counter movement to create what Kate Raworth terms ‘an ecologically safe and socially just space’ for the global population while there is still time.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca R. Hernandez ◽  
Sarah M. Jordaan ◽  
Ben Kaldunski ◽  
Naresh Kumar

Energy development improves quality of life for humans, but also incurs environmental consequences. A global energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy may mitigate climate change but may also undermine the capacity to achieve some or all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this study, we use an innovation systems approach to construct a comprehensive roadmap for solar and wind energy to anticipate and improve impacts of a transition to a low carbon future in a manner ensuring climate goals and SDGs are mutually reinforcing. Our multidisciplinary approach began with an assessment of public investments in renewable energy followed by a 2-day research prioritization workshop. Fifty-eight expert workshop participants identified six research themes that proactively address the environmental sustainability of renewable energy. Next, we identified linkages between the six research themes and all 17 SDGs. Finally, we conducted a scientiometric analysis to analyze the research maturity of these themes. The results of these efforts elucidated the limits of existing knowledge of renewable energy-SDG interactions, informing the development of a research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RD3) roadmap to a renewable energy future aligned with both climate goals and SDGs. The RD3 roadmap has been designed to systematically develop solutions for diverse actors and organizations. Overall, our findings confer a broad vision for a sustainable transition to renewables to minimize unintended environmental consequences while supporting interoperability among actors particularly poised to influence its magnitude and direction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 233
Author(s):  
Senko Plicanic

<p>The article analyses the importance of an active role of the state in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Its starting point is that despite the fact that today there is a growing recognition in the world that for the implementation of sustainable development an active role of the state and local self-governing communities is indispensable and despite the fact that in Slovenia such a role of the state in implementing sustainable development stems from its Constitution, so far, too little has been done in Slovenia to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The purpose of this article is to analyse theoretical arguments and the Constitution in order to show the need for an active role of the state in implementing sustainable development goals, and also to discuss basic steps to be implemented in order to achieve an active role of the state in Slovenia. In this article comparative and analytical methods were used in studying the literature and regulation. The article, based on theoretical arguments and the constitutional analysis, identifies the need for an active role of the state in implementing sustainable development goals, and proposes arguments for it and also basic steps toward an active role of the state. The discussed topic is new and this article contributes to the field some fundamental arguments for the active role of state and for the more comprehensive policy-making. The article offers theoretical and constitutional arguments to be implemented in order to transform the present role of the state from a passive one into an active role and its findings are meant to be used by policy-makers and law-makers as a significant argument to pursue more active role of the state in implementing sustainable development goals.</p>


Author(s):  
Caroline Mwongera ◽  
Chris M. Mwungu ◽  
Mercy Lungaho ◽  
Steve Twomlow

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) focuses on productivity, climate-change adaptation, and mitigation, and the potential for developing resilient food production systems that lead to food and income security. Lately, several frameworks and tools have been developed to prioritize context-specific CSA technologies and assess the potential impacts of selected options. This study applied a mixed-method approach, the climate-smart agriculture rapid appraisal (CSA-RA) tool, to evaluate farmers’ preferred CSA technologies and to show how they link to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The chapter examines prioritized CSA options across diverse study sites. The authors find that the prioritized options align with the food security and livelihood needs of smallholder farmers, and relate to multiple sustainable development goals. Specifically, CSA technologies contribute to SDG1 (end poverty), SDG2 (end hunger and promote sustainable agriculture), SDG13 (combating climate change), and SDG15 (life on land). Limited awareness on the benefits of agriculture technologies and the diversity of outcomes desired by stakeholders’ present challenges and trade-offs for achieving the SDGs. The CSA-RA provides a methodological approach linking locally relevant indicators to the SDG targets.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 4224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Zamora-Polo ◽  
Jesús Sánchez-Martín

Sustainability, as a key concept in the education field, has submitted a relevant change during the last years. Thus, there is a growing debate about its meaning. It has undergone a crucial merging of significances from many fields: Ecology, environmental awareness, but also from politics, ethics or even spiritual approaches. All these fields have been co-involved in the building of such subject concept. In this sense, this article addresses the different ways of understanding sustainability as a polyhedral concept and how sustainability can be understood under the umbrella of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, it is proposed a conceptual framework to teach this UN Program at Higher Education, contributing to the training of undergraduate and postgraduate students from both a professional and a personal point of view. This framework is applied in a case study—in particular, in a course of Primary Teacher Degree called Didactics of Matter and Energy. This article finishes with practical consideration to build a change-maker University.


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