I recently found a great video that summarises the main conclusions from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Report 2022. This video is remarkable in how viewer-friendly it is presenting byte-size information with graphics, making it easy for everyone to understand. It specifically divides each of the facts into separate SDGs. I recommend anyone wanting to understand the SDG Report 2022 should see this video. The link to it is attached below. Happy watching!
As I write this post, many heads of state and delegates are on planes going back home from the UN Ocean Conference 2022. This conference is an annual one and was co-hosted by the Governments of Portugal and Kenya for the year 2022. The aim of this conference is to conserve and sustain the use of oceans, seas, and marine life for sustainable development. This conference is focused on SDG 14 (Life Under Water).
This year's conference achieved many goals. One of its major successes was the Lisbon Declaration. This declaration was counted as a major success as by the end of the conference all 198 countries agreed to sign it and renew their commitment to ocean conservation. A few major points under this declaration are:
Developing countries, particularly small island developing countries and least developed countries need help with capacity building.
The need to develop and promote innovative financing solutions to create sustainable ocean-based economies.
Commitment to empowering women and girls, whose partnership is necessary to achieve SDG 14.
The importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from international maritime transportation, especially shipping.
The UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Secretary-General of the Conference, Liu Zhenmin also said “Going forward, it will be important that we renew our focus on ocean action. We need to do this by focusing on improving the scientific basis for our decisions, by improving the science-policy interface, and by engaging in scientific partnerships that build capacity through mutual learning.” This highlights how partnerships are essential for solving global challenges.
Despite the conditions of the floods in Assam and neighboring Bangladesh improving slowly, the future is only expected to be worse. Maplecroft, a consulting firm recently released conclusions from its flood hazard data, which showed that by 2050 India and Bangladesh will be home to 28% of the people most at risk from floods. Many regions in Bangladesh such as Khulna and Sylhet are due to have more than 40% of their populations being exposed to riverine flooding by 2050.
To stop this increased risk of flooding these countries and organizations in these countries have to take environmental risk into consideration while making policies. They will also have to focus more on disaster risk reduction. This is due to most disasters like floods not only displacing people but also having large-scale negative impacts on economies and supply chains, both of which are important to global and national development. I believe that it is now high time for governments to focus on sustainable development. We don't need further aggravation of these disasters, they're already causing too much damage!