{"id":819794,"date":"2020-03-03T09:05:02","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T08:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/?post_type=articles&p=819794"},"modified":"2020-11-17T09:13:01","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T08:13:01","slug":"harmony-and-the-origin-of-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/articles\/harmony-and-the-origin-of-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"Harmony and the Origin of Sustainability"},"featured_media":820302,"template":"","meta":{"_has_post_settings":[]},"schools":[29,33,35],"areas":[23,24],"subjects":[419,425],"class_list":["post-819794","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","schools-business-school","schools-human-sciences-and-technology","schools-university","areas-smart-society","areas-strategy","subjects-global-affairs","subjects-sustainability"],"custom-fields":{"wpcf-article-summary-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-summary":["The 2030 Agenda calls for social, economic, and environmental issues to be addressed through strategic plans for the public and private sectors. The Sustainable Development Goals follow in the footsteps of the Millennium Development Goals, albeit with a broader approach to persistent problems and the challenges of the future. Although responsibility for implementing the agenda falls to governments, broader spaces for dialogue and action with other stakeholders are also essential. Circular economies, better data collection, and more systematic approaches to partnerships are essential to the success of the agenda. We must urgently get to work on all five Ps: people, prosperity, peace, partnership, and planet."],"wpcf-article-leadin":["As Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry once said, \u201cA goal without a plan is just a wish.\u201d The 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda are a roadmap for addressing the most serious threats facing the world today. Our entire planet must now come together to tackle this challenge."],"wpcf-article-body":["Between 2000 and 2015, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) had a major impact on rates of poverty\u2014especially extreme poverty\u2014all over the world. However, this achievement is uneven and unfinished, since major imbalances remain and new global<\/a> challenges have come to the fore.\r\n\r\nUrgent action is needed on the part of the global<\/a> community. UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres has identified five megatrends that are reshaping how we work and live: urbanization, climate change, protracted crises and conflicts, cutting-edge technologies<\/a>, and demographic changes (which take different forms in industrialized nations and the Global South).\r\n\r\nThis outlook, combined with the need to balance economic, social, and environmental policies and actions, gave rise to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were unanimously endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 2015.\r\n\r\nSince then, the international community has turned its attention to the severe gender gaps in poverty levels and the yawning inequalities in access to clean water, electricity, and other services that influence dignity and quality of life. Climate change and the protracted conflicts raging in many countries have only made it more difficult to address these problems.\r\n\r\nThe SDGs and the 2030 Agenda pick up where the MDGs left off, serving as a strategic<\/a> guide for governments and organizations alike. The SDGs are much more ambitious than the MDGs, since they apply to all countries, not just the developing world. Environmental protections, social inclusion, and economic development must be measured under a single rubric of sustainability.\r\n
Major imbalances remain and new global challenges have come to the fore.<\/blockquote>\r\nNot a new term<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe notion of sustainability vastly predates the SDGs. In psychology, it has been defined as \u201cthe harmony of living with nature.\u201d Sustainability also underpinned some of the oldest known farming methods, including those of ancient China, which stressed the importance of resource regeneration and boasted a vision and values oriented towards future generations.\r\n\r\nIn his 1968 essay \u201cThe Tragedy of the Commons,\u201d Garrett Hardin argued that long-term sustainability is not possible in a shared-resource system like ours if each individual acts in his or her own interest.\r\n\r\nThese reflections informed the concept of sustainable development, defined in 1987 by the UN World Commission on Environment and Development\u2014also known as the Brundtland Commission\u2014as \u201cthe kind of development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.\u201d\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTowards a circular, solidarity-based economy<\/strong>\r\n\r\nBeyond environmental protection, sustainable development calls for a broader paradigm that encompasses economic transformation, political action, and of course business activity. Any growth<\/a> must be consolidated in a cyclical\u2014as opposed to linear\u2014manner: the final product and any waste generated must serve as the starting point for new products or services, without creating new waste or exhausting resources. Sustainable development, therefore, is clearly oriented towards creating a circular, solidarity-based economy that increases people\u2019s well-being without overextending the planet.\r\n
Environmental protections, social inclusion, and economic development must be measured under a single rubric of sustainability.<\/blockquote>\r\nThe importance of data<\/strong>\r\n\r\nTo redress the inequalities within and between countries, we need better itemized and qualitative data on outcomes for different population groups to help us understand the underlying causes. Better data collection and interpretation capacities are needed at the national level, and data-protection policies will have to be developed through active and informed social discussion.\r\n\r\nOn the basis of these reflections, the 2030 Agenda can serve as a holistic, universal, unifying guide for all countries to follow, even as they tailor their contributions to their specific contexts. It is a guide with a vision and principles\u2014reflected in the official manifesto\u2014and a structure set out in the SDGs. The implementation of the goals requires collaboration and coordination, with each organization and each industry enriching the agenda through its particular knowledge.\r\n\r\nAny proposal or project relating to sustainable development must further the global<\/a> transformation sought by the UN member states, particularly in relation to the five Ps: people, prosperity, peace, partnership, and planet. These key themes capture the essence of the SDGs, integrating social, economic, and environmental aspects with the need to cultivate partnerships and develop long-term governance mechanisms.\r\n\r\n \r\n

\"La<\/a><\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\u00a9 IE Insights."],"wpcf-article-extract-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-extract":["By Simona Costanzo Sow<\/strong>. As Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry once said, \u201cA goal without a plan is just a wish.\u201d The 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda are a roadmap for addressing the most serious threats facing the world today. Our entire planet must now come together to tackle this challenge."]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/819794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"schools","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/schools?post=819794"},{"taxonomy":"areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas?post=819794"},{"taxonomy":"subjects","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subjects?post=819794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}