Sustainable Development Goals – Quo Vadis, Cities of the World?

Abstract

The United Nations unveiled a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015, with 169 targets and a little over 230 indicators. This was a sequel to the Millennium Development Goals whose remit ended in 2015. Challenges lie ahead for governments around the world – national, provincial and municipal – to adapt the targets and indicators to effect a meaningful transition towards sustainable development by 2030. Cities are where the battle for sustainable development will be won or lost – they contribute 80% of the global GDP, and account for 70% each of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. With over two-thirds of the global population likely to live in cities by 2060, this is more than a cliché. A clutch of sustainable cities makes a sustainable province; a clutch of sustainable provinces makes a sustainable country, and it follows that several sustainable countries learning and sharing and helping other countries, will make for a sustainable world in the 21st century and further on into the future. While moving forward, trade-offs and complementarities must not be forgotten. Often, there are serendipitous benefits when complementarities which exist are not factored in, but the trade-offs if forgotten may end up robbing Peter to pay Paul. Despite the interregnum brought about by the Corona Virus pandemic in 2020, the world will be getting up, dusting itself clean and moving ahead in the next decade towards the SDGs set for year-2030.