From rapid population growth to the accelerating disappearance of the Earth’s biodiversity, both human and natural environments are experiencing unprecedented change. While some changes have heralded an era of progress and technological advancement, others have ensured that persistent poverty and underdevelopment still plague societies and regions across
the world.

In an increasingly interconnected and globalized world in which development issues and dynamics have reached new levels of complexity, international institutions have been struggling to keep up. The UN’s new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), however, are a step in the right direction in providing a new and innovative framework through which to approach an increasing development gap between the richest and the poorest countries in the world.

The previous Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been credited with halving the world’s extreme poverty rate, helping more girls to access education, and reducing child mortality rates. Their limits, however, were their narrow focus on developing countries and their lack of focus on the environment. This time, as the international community prepares to finalize the development agenda for the next 15 years, we have a chance to get it right.

The world’s increasing interconnectedness and interdependence—caused in part by the widespread use of Information and Communication Technologies and globalization—has ensured that phenomena such as illegal migration, corruption and even civil conflicts now spread across borders, and often have a global rather than a local impact. Globalization itself, which has strengthened interactions between nations through trade, technology and information-sharing, has contributed to an increasingly uneven distribution of resources and opportunities. The divide between developed and underdeveloped countries has never been greater.

International organizations and institutions have begun responding to these global challenges with increasingly global solutions. And the SDGs, with their wide-ranging 17 goals, are one example. By focusing on both developed and developing countries, the new goals recognize the world’s interconnectedness and acknowledge that development—and sustainable development in particular—cannot occur in isolation. As nations continue to become increasingly interdependent, the SDGs are a nod towards our common shared destiny.

The SDGs’ second strength is a new and improved focus on environmental sustainability. Humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly in the past 50 years than in any comparable period in human history. We are all aware of the dire statistics: 1 of every 8 birds, 1 of every 4 mammals and 1 of every 3 amphibians is threatened with extinction. The same is true of 6 of every 7 marine turtles, and of one-third of our reef-building corals. Some 75 percent of genetic diversity of agricultural crops has been lost, three-quarters of world fisheries are fully or over-exploited. The list goes on.

The SDGs recognize that environmental sustainability underpins all of development. The environment provides food, building material, clothing, fuel and energy which are necessary to our existence. The SDGs must not only increase public awareness on the value of biodiversity and the environment in ensuring human well-being, but must also ensure that the individual targets of the new development agenda complement and work in synergy with the others.

The UN’s new Sustainable Development Goals, however, are a step in the right direction in providing a new and innovative framework through which to approach an increasing development gap between the richest and the poorest countries in the world.

The concept of sustainability, however, which emerged among early environmentalists in the 1960s, is no longer only about the environment. Today, sustainability implies the need for a common strategy to manage threats to our shared future. The SDGs recognize that responding to these threats and implementing the proposed targets will require innovative and cross-cutting approaches. While this role has often been attributed to the sciences and natural science in particular, it is important to stress the fundamental role and contributions of other disciplines, including the often-overlooked learning sciences and their impact on education systems and policies.

It is heartening to see that UNESCO MGIEP, a relatively new institution in the UN family in the Asia-Pacific region, not only deals with cross-cutting issues, but focuses specifically on finding innovative solutions to global challenges. Its mandate to use education as a tool for creating generations of young people, who are equipped to create more peaceful and sustainable societies, is much-needed in today’s context. With more than 1.2 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24, the youth are the primary stakeholders who will inherit the challenges we face today and who will lead the process of achieving the new SDGs by 2030.

UNESCO MGIEP is the first UN institution to not only focus on reforming education systems, but also on developing a better understanding of the pedagogical approaches involved in teaching and learning in formal, non-formal and informal education. Similar to ecosystems in nature, the Institute views education as a complex system that has the ability to adapt to changing environments and pressures. Only by allowing pedagogies to evolve, will it be possible to build future generations of young people who are able to think critically, adopt different perspectives and become true global citizens.

Zakri Abdul Hamid
Science Adviser to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Member of the Scientific Advisory board to the UN Secretary-General, and Founding Chair of IPBES (Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services)