Nicole Bornales

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (Goal 1. No Poverty, Goal 4. Quality Education and Goal 13. Climate Action) The world is bombarded with all forms of problems nowadays. Tracing their roots, they all boil down to poverty and corruption. And I therefore demand, not suggest that we, people, especially the local and international government officials must have a strong sense of dedication and passion regarding the implementation and practices of Sustainable Development goals. This will not only provide people antidotes for the present crisis and problems that the world is facing but will also lead everyone to a type of greater good and abundant living that no one ever have before. It is not new to all that there are seventeen sustainable development goals that have been established. And among those seventeen goals, I’ve chosen three sustainable goals that I think is correlated to each other. I believe that Goal 1. No Poverty, Goal 4. Quality Education and Goal 13. Climate Action serves as a starting point for a huge domino positive effect of the whole (17) sustainable development goals. I simply believe that these three can be the foundation and start-up platforms of the other goals in the list. Imagining solving poverty first, since one cannot learn with empty stomach. Eradicating poverty could also means solving hunger around poor corners of the world (which can cover the goal 2 of sustainable development and therefore can be a door for the other goals to be achieve), and for the reason that we, people, cannot talk about Climate change while families are busy earning a living to survive, it is quite best to achieve Goal number 1 (No Poverty) first, to strengthen families, to afford Quality education and to successfully combat Climate change through establishing innovated Climate actions. It is important for the world to achieve Goal 1 which is No Poverty. Because it is said, according to some readings, that getting rid of poverty or “Eradicating poverty is an act of justice and key to unlocking an enormous human potential”. Poverty is known to cause hunger to a wide population across countries around the globe. Clearly, Poverty is a mirror to lower socioeconomic status, particularly impoverishment which has a negative impact to the quality of an individual’s health – people in a country having a low quality of health will result to a slow progress since the labors and workforce that is needed by the country for its development will be coming from them. It is observed that poverty has many dimensions, and mostly its causes include unemployment, social exclusion and high vulnerability of certain population to disasters, diseases and other phenomena which prevent the people from being productive. It is important that as an individual, even you don’t experience poverty, you have care about other people’s economic situation. Aside from reducing poverty by at least half the proportion of men, women and children of all age, the implementation of social protection is covered by this goal. The goal one also aims to ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, new technologies and financial services. Many studies have shown that poverty and a lack of education are strongly correlated, since poor families may not be able to send their kids to school, children suffer from significant educational inequality. And I think this is where the Goal 4 “Quality Education” takes its place. The main objective of this goal is to ensure that all children complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes. This fourth goal of sustainable development includes providing equal access to affordable technical, vocational and higher education. Substantially, increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship. This also aims to build and upgrade educational facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all. Also this includes the expansion of higher education scholarship programs, both in undeveloped and developing countries. It is significant that people in a country gets quality education because education can be used for elevating the social and economic conditions in the marginalized sections of society. Which will result the countries to produce better citizens with liberated intellects, unlocked imaginations and equipped with self-respects. After all, education is said to be the key to prosperity and opens a world of opportunities, making everything possible for all to contribute to a more progressive and healthier society. When I speak of a “healthier society”, I meant of including not only healthier leaderships/governance of people but also a healthier surrounding and nature for all, after all healthy ecosystems provide the best raw materials and resources which we used for civilization and economic sustainment. That is why the goal thirteen is important. Its target is to stepped-up efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-induced impacts, including climate –related hazards in all countries; integrating climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning; and improving education, awareness raising and human and institutional capacity with respect to climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning. The success of achieving this goal is significant for the world since the relationship between man and the environment has been established long before. It is important that we, people, takes our part and performs our responsibilities well as we inhabit the environment and interact with it constantly. Undoubtedly, sustainable development goals is indeed a pathway to the future we want for all. It offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice, and exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance.