Coleman Rohde

12/9/21

UN Sustainability Goals

Choose five of the goals and write a brief reflection on each one. Is the goal realistic? What

would be required to meet this goal?

Goal 2: Zero Hunger

The second UN sustainability goal is zero hunger in the world by 2030. Currently 690

million people are hungry. Additionally, the covid pandemic has exacerbated world hunger.

Massive amounts of agricultural infrastructure would need to be implemented. The genetic

diversity of seeds would need to be maintained. Agricultural practices would also have to make

adaptations to the effects of climate change with increased flooding, droughts, etc.

Ultimately this goal lacks realism. Adaptive solutions to climate change will likely be

much too expensive for the poor farmers who are plagued by food insecurity. These farmers

already experience droughts and floods which prevent food security which are only being made

worse by climate change. This goal can largely not be met because it only seeks to provide

unrealistic forms of long-term relief. The UN’s efforts make no mention of direct food

distribution even though corporations likely have the capital to do so. Not to mention, genetic

diversity of seeds or fruits is often low for many crops due to selective breeding and cloning

techniques like grafting which maintain a desirable taste and shape of the crop.

Goal 4: Quality Education

Approximately 260 million children are not in education. The covid pandemic made this

much worse, albeit briefly, putting 1.6 billion children out of school. This was especially
problematic because some children rely on the schools for meals. 750 million adults are illiterate

(⅔ of them being women). The UN hopes to address this by fostering institutions which offer

free education for all boys and girls by 2030.

Ultimately this goal is much more realistic than ending world hunger by 2030 but is still

plagued with its own issues. There are governments which restrict the education of women

through religious or other justification which is then sometimes codified into law. With the

resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan it is highly improbable that women will get access to a

free and equal education to that of men with potential instances of sharia law. This problem

mostly arises from the lack of measures the UN can take to enforce the goal. The UN can’t

invade Afghanistan and force the Taliban to comply. The UN can just ask nicely for the Taliban

to comply and inevitably be rejected. The same goes for other parts of the world. The UN

doesn’t run the government of other countries so it will be difficult or impossible to establish a

free public education everywhere.

Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

Billions of people lack access to clean drinking water. Additionally most of these people

live in more rural areas which are harder to access. With the global pandemic in mind, sanitation

has become one of the most important practices. Handwashing is one the most effective way to

prevent the spread of pathogens. To combat this the UN wants to achieve universal and equitable

access to clean water by 2030. Additionally, by 2030, the UN hopes to halve the proportion of

untreated wastewater.

Like the other goals, the primary goal of Goal 6 is too lofty to achieve. This is because

the UN goals often want to solve a problem in its totality by 2030 but there will inevitably be

some who slip through the cracks. Halving the proportion of untreated wastewater by 2030, on
the other hand, is a more quantifiable and achievable goal. Unlike Goal 4, this goal is largely

unhampered by the ideologies of each country as access to clean water is almost universally

accepted as something good. However, much of the actual work towards infrastructure will have

to be done at the respective governments in terms of policy. In terms of funding the UN might be

able to provide but the policy might lag behind.

Goal 14: Life Below Water

Oceans absorb over 30% of the carbon dioxide produced by humans. Over three billion

people depend on the ocean for their livelihoods but ocean acidification and climate change are

reducing ocean biodiversity. Marine fisheries employ over 200 million people. To combat this

the UN hopes to significantly reduce marine pollution by 2025, and end overfishing by 2020.

Ultimately, these goals are either lofty, too vague, and/or not enough time is given to

achieve them. 2020 has already gone by and overfishing is still a prevalent issue which is

impacting the biodiversity of marine life. The word “significantly” also leaves much to be

desired as the goalpost for “significant” can easily be shifted so that the goal is too easily

achievable and actually insignificant or impossible to achieve. Overfishing is also a huge issue

the UN gave much too little time to solve. If over 200 million people are employed by fishing, a

much greater amount is fed by it. With the massive and rising population of the world,

overfishing is necessary unless everyone is extremely food secure and shifting towards other

sources of food rather than fish. Thus the goal to end overfishing should have been pushed back

past 2030 when food security had been addressed.

Goal 15: Life on Land

 Currently, around 1 million species are threatened with extinction, risking the future

biodiversity of the planet as a whole. Natural survival is critical to human survival as the rich

biodiversity of the planet maintains the oxygen-rich atmosphere, pollinates crops, and produces

food. Approximately 1.6 billion people depend on the forests for their livelihoods. Land that can

possibly be used for agriculture is declining due to desertification. To solve desertification, and

maintain biodiversity, the UN proposes that deforestation be halted by 2020, combat

desertification by 2030, and take action to end poaching.

The UN’s goals to preserve life on land seem to lack some serious initiative and realism.

Deforestation still continues and 2020 has already passed. They gave no date or quantity with

regard to their call to end poaching and thus it is not realistically achievable. The only semi-

specific goal which is realistic is with regard to desertification. Developing methods to

counteract desertification by 2030 is reasonable and achievable because development of

technology often occurs at a level external to that of governments.