Understanding The Sustainable Development Goals (Part II)

The first part of a three-part series addressed the first five (5) Social Development Goals (SDGs) — No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health and Wellbeing, Quality Education, and Gender Equality — read about them here.

I’ll move further to the next five (5) SDGs and succinctly describe their purposes in line with creating a sustainable future by 2030.

SDG 6 — Clean Water and Sanitisation

Clean water and hygiene are major factors of sustainable living, especially in developed countries. This SDG is focused even more on a certain demography of people — the disabled.

People with disabilities are less likely to live in households with access to improved water and sanitisation, or even around facilities that ease accessibility. Statistically, evidence indicates that one in seven persons with disabilities finds the toilet at home hindering or not accessible.

A few goals for SDG 6:

• To achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
• To implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate
• By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes.

SDG 7 — Affordable and Clean Energy

SDG 7 seeks to address the issue of reliable energy for all.

The goal for this is that by 2030, there will be a double global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and availability.

Necessary infrastructure and technology upgrades will be supplied in developing countries in accordance with respective programmes of support.

SDG 8 — Decent Work and Economic Growth

All SDGs are for inclusive development, this means that people in all strata are involved. The nitty-gritty details of SDG 8 addresses the promotion and production of full employment for persons with disabilities.

Statistically, the employment ratio of persons with disabilities 15 and above is almost half that of persons without disabilities with 32% of those in developing countries being hindered due to inaccessibility to workplaces.

The paramount target is to be able to sustain a per capita economic growth in accordance with a nation’s circumstances. This means there will be at least a 7% growth per annum in developed countries.

SDG 9 — Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

Within all the inclusive growth, we must have infrastructure to help promote innovation and industrialization.

A few goals of SDG 9 include:

• To develop quality, sustainable, and reliable infrastructure (regional and transborder inclusive), that will largely support economic growth and is accessible to all.
• Enhance scientific research and upgrade technological capabilities of the industrial sectors in all countries, particularly developing countries.
• To significantly increase the access to information and communications technology in the least developed countries.

SDG 10 — Reduced Inequalities

Here are a few statistics on SDG 10 below:

• One in four people with psychosocial disabilities experiences physical or sexual violence in a year, a higher rate than the rest of the population.
• Persons with psychosocial disabilities are more likely to find health facilities hindering.

Via the establishment of national policies specific to persons with psychosocial disabilities, there has been a promotion of inclusion in social and economic activities. 66% of countries prohibit discrimination on the basis of psychological disabilities for recruitment purposes.

The final series of this will cover the rest of the social development goals, including information on how the United Nations intends to execute each of these SDGs. We all have a role to play.