BACKGROUND OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also called global goals, born at the United Nations conference on Sustainable Development Goals in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 but adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015. The primary objective to produce a set of universal goals that meet the urgent environmental, political and economic changes facing our world by 2030 and make sure no one is left behind. Even though all 17 goals are unique, they interconnect and covers issues that affects us all. They involve us all to build a safer, sustainable, more prosperous planet for all humanity.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals replaced the Millennium Development Goals started in 2000 in order to tackle integrity of poverty. These Millennium Development Goals agree with some objectives for combating hunger and poverty, preventing deadly diseases and expanding primary education for all children along with other development priorities.
The Millennium Development Goals have made improvement in few important areas like reducing poverty, decrease in child mortality rate, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. They started a global movement for free primary education which inspired many countries to invest in future generations.
Some of MDGs achievements are:
- More than a billion people were lifted out of extreme poverty.
- Child mortality rate had dropped by more than half.
- Number of children dropping out of schools has reduced by more than half.
- HIV/AIDS infections fell by 40%.
Fig.2 Transition from Millennium Development goals to Sustainable Development goals
WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 6?
Clean water and sanitation is the 6th sustainable development goal. Clean and accessible water is the basic piece which we need. We want to live in a world where there is free accessible fresh water. Millions of people including children die from diseases which are caused due to lack of water and poor sanitation and hygiene. This may be due to bad economics and poor infrastructure. Food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities of the poor
people are affected by water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate sanitation.To improve sanitation and access to drinking water, there needs to be increased investment in management of freshwater ecosystems and sanitation facilities on a local level in several developing countries within Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, Southern Asia, Eastern Asia and South-Eastern Asia.
TARGETS
6.1 By 2030, access to safe and equitable water for each and every person.
6.2 By 2030, adequate sanitation and hygiene for all including putting an end to open defecation by paying special attention to the needs of women in these situations.
6.3 By 2030, improve water quality by reducing water pollution, eliminating dumping of hazardous chemicals and harmful substances in water, reducing the proportion of untreated water into half and increasing recycling and safe reuse of water.
6.4 By 2030, increasing water use efficiency across all sectors and ensuring sustainable withdrawal and supply of freshwater in order to address the problem of water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity.
6.5 By 2030, implement integrated water resource management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate.
6.6 By 2020, protect and restore water related ecosystems, including forests, mountains, rivers, wetlands, lakes and aquifers.
6.A By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity building support to developing countries in water and sanitation related activities and programs including desalination, wastewater treatment, water harvesting, water efficiency, recycling and reuse technologies.
6.B Support and strengthen the participation of the local communities in improving water and sanitation management.
INDICATORS
6.1 Proportion of population using safely managed water services.
A safely managed drinking water service is defined as an improved drinking water source that is located on the premises and available when needed, and free of faecal and priority chemical contamination. Improved water sources include piped water, boreholes or tubewells, protected dug wells, protected springs and packaged or delivered water.
6.2 Proportion of population using safely managed sanitation services, which includes hand washing facility with soap and water.
A safely managed sanitation service is defined as an improved sanitation facility which is not shared with other households and where excreta are safely disposed of in situ or transported and treated off-site. Improved sanitation facilities include flush/pour flush to piped sewer system, septic tank or pit latrine, ventilated improved pit latrine, composting toilet or pit latrine with slab.Handwashing facilities may be fixed or mobile and include a sink with tap water, buckets with taps, tippy-taps, and jugs or basins designated for handwashing. Soap includes bar soap, liquid soap, powder detergent, and soapy water but does not include ash, soil, sand or other hand washing agents.
6.3 Proportion of wastewater that is treated safely.
Wastewater is generated by households, both as sewage and as faecal sludge, and by economic activities. Safely treated means that the wastewater has undergone sufficient treatment for its intended recipient (e.g. lake, river, ocean or soil) or further use (e.g. in agriculture). Overall ambient water quality is estimated based on a core set of five parameters for surface water bodies and three for groundwater bodies, which inform on major water quality impairments present in many parts of the world. For surface water, these parameters are dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, nitrogen, phosphorus and pH and for groundwater they are electrical conductivity, nitrate and pH.
6.4
(i) Change in efficiency of usage of water over the period of time.
Water-use efficiency is defined as the value added in US dollars per volume of water withdrawn in cubic metres, by a given economic activity. Some sectors, for example, agriculture, industry, energy and municipal water supply are particularly relevant due to their high water use.
(ii) Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources.
The level of water stress is defined as the ratio between total freshwater withdrawals by all economic activities and total available freshwater resources, after taking into account environmental flow requirements. Environmental flow requirements are essential to maintaining ecosystem health and resilience.
6.5
(i) Degree of integrated water resources management implementation (from 0-100)
The degree to which integrated water resources management (IWRM) is implemented is assessed by four key components of IWRM: enabling environment, institutions and participation, management instruments and financing.
(ii) Proportion of transboundary basin area with an operational arrangement for water cooperation.
An “arrangement for water cooperation” is a bilateral or multilateral treaty, convention, agreement or other formal arrangement between riparian countries that provides a framework for cooperation on transboundary water management. Criteria for an “operational” arrangement include: the existence of a joint body, regular, formal communication between riparian countries, joint or coordinated management plans or objectives and a regular exchange of data and information.
6.6 Change in the extent of water related ecosystems over time.
This tracks changes in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time, and includes data on the spatial extent of water-related ecosystems and the quantity and quality of water within them.
6.A Amount of water and sanitation related official development assistance which is a part of government coordinated spending plan.
This tracks the amount of water- and sanitation-related official development assistance (ODA) that is included in a government-coordinated spending plan. A government-coordinated spending plan is defined as a financing plan/budget at the national or subnational level, clearly assessing the financial resources available and the strategies for financing future requirements.
Fig3. Annual expenditure for drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in India
6.B Proportion of local administrative units that has established and operational policies and procedures for participation of local communities in water and sanitation management.
This tracks the existence of procedures defined in law or policy for participation of local communities in water and sanitation planning, as well as the extent of this participation (high/moderate/low).
POLICIES SUGGESTED BY UN FOR ACHIEVING SDG
The 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by all United Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet , now and into the future .
The various policies suggested by UN for achieving each sustainable development goals are as follows :
- Eradicate all the poverty for all people who are currently living on less than $1.25 a day .
- It can be achieved by reducing at least by half the proportion of men , women and children .
- Implementing nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all including price flooring and various other policies for achieving eradication of poverty.
- Another important point is significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources ; including through enhanced development cooperation in order to provide adequate resources .
- End hunger and ensure food is accessible to all people.
- It can be achieved by ensuring sustainable food production and implementing resilient practices that increases productivity and production as well .
- Furthermore by doubling the agricultural productivity and incomes of small scale producers , in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers , pastoralists and fishers and the small scale producers .
- One of the main aims is also to reduce the global maternity ratio to less than 70 per 100000 live births .
- It can be achieved by ending the epidemics of AIDS , tuberculosis , malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat other various diseases .
- Strengthening the prevention and treatment of substance abuse , including alcohol.
- Furthermore , the UN wants to ensure all girls and boys complete free , equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.
- It can be achieved by building and upgrading education facilities that are child , disability and gender sensitive and provide a safe , non – violent , inclusive and effective learning environment for all.
- Expanding globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries , in particular least developed countries .
- Additionally , ending all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere. Eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls in public and private spheres , including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation .
- Moreover , also achieving universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all .This can be done by achieving access to adequate and equitable sanitation for all and ending open defecation , paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations. It can also be done by using efficient use of water.
- UN also wants to reduce the inequalities between other countries .By ensuring equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws , policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation , policies and action .Adopting policies ,especially fiscal, wage and social protection policies and progressively achieve greater equality .
- It is very important to protect our climate with excessive globalization . This can be done by raising awareness and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation , adaptation, impact reduction and early warning .
Hence , these are the various policies suggested by the UN to achieve various sustainable development goals.
2020-5-14-1589440962
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