Brown University’s commitment to sustainable development goals for a better future

 

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted in the year 2015 in the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit. There are a total of 17 agendas in the sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations member countries. The objective of these goals is to address various global problems which covers various social, environmental, economic and governance issues such as poverty, education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, climate crisis, justice, economic growth and much more. The members aim at making progress in the development goals and provide a better and much more sustainable world for the future generations. Currently, Finland is the country which is ranked number 1 in the SDG’s index rank out of 166 countries. A countries rank is determined by the total progress made for achieving all the 17 goals.



The United States of America has a SDG index rank of 39. The United States of America on behalf of their citizens has formed the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) which directly helps them in actively contributing to make progress in the SDG’s. To achieve and make progress in the SDG’s requires a global partnership and combined effort from the government, the private sectors, institutions and individuals globally. Brown University is a prestigious institution established in the year 1764, making it one of the oldest and most esteemed universities in the United States of America. Brown University is one of the institutions in the country actively contributing towards the SDG’s. The students, faculty and staff at Brown’s are focused towards making a positive impact in the world. To achieve sustainability Brown University has an Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES) where they through research, partnerships across various industries and solutions contribute for a sustainable world. At this point of time Brown’s plan is to focus and prioritize five key areas that are of most global importance. These five goals are to reduce greenhouse emissions, reduce nutrient pollution, preserve biodiversity, safeguard human health and to reduce water impacts. Brown university recognizes the importance of sustainability for this world and therefore actively contributes for a sustainable future for all. More about these goals, achievements and initiative taken by Brown University will be discussed in the next blog.




References: -

 

United Nations (2015). The 17 Sustainable Development Goals. [online] United Nations. Available at: https://sdgs.un.org/goals.

‌

United Nations (2023). Sustainable Development Report 2022. [online] dashboards.sdgindex.org. Available at: https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/rankings.

‌

U.S. Agency for International Development. (2023). The U.S. Commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals. [online] Available at: https://www.usaid.gov/sdgs.

‌

Sustainability | Brown University. (n.d.). Sustainability Strategic Plan. [online] Available at: https://sustainability.brown.edu/about/sustainability-strategic-plan.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Brown University's Water Conservation Initiatives

Image
  The objective of Sustainable Development’s Goal number 6 is to ensure sustainable management and availability of clean water for all. Water is a necessity for survival of humans and ecosystems globally, yet almost 2 billion people on this planet do not have access to clean water for completing the daily basic activities to keep up with hygiene and sanitation. To contribute their part in this goal, Brown University is committed to reduce its water footprints by lowering on campus water use and increase in water quality on campus. To address this situation, Brown University has made significant investments which help in reducing water usage. Firstly, Brown’s has introduced trayless dining which has resulted in saving of half gallon of water per person by eliminating the need to wash those trays. This initiative has also helped Brown University in reducing its energy consumption that would have been used to heat the water.   Secondly, the Office of sustainability at Brown’s has coll
Read more

Understanding Nutrient Pollution

Image
  Nutrient pollution is becoming one of the most extensive and rigorous environment problem faced by our planet. This issue poses significant threats to water quality, human health, and also leads to unhealthy air and acid rain. Nutrient pollution occurs when nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus enters water bodies in over abundance. Even though these nutrient are essential for life but excessive quantities can create serious ecological problems like algae- chocked waterways. This increase in algae can deplete oxygen levels in the water which will result in harming fishes and other aquatic life and in many instances produce toxins that might harm humans. The usage of fertilizers in agriculture is one of the major cause of nutrient pollution. Other causes are improperly managed animal manure in agriculture, lack of operating or removing of excessive nutrients from the wastewater treatment plants, usage of fossil fuels increases the amount of nitrogen in the air and industrial discharg
Read more