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Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Bangladesh: An Overview
By the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – are a formation of 17 global goals associated by UNGA
The concept of sustainable development formed the basis of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The concept of sustainable development can be interpreted in many different ways, but at its core is an approach to development that looks to balance different, and often competing, needs against an awareness of the environmental, social and economic limitations we face as a society. Living within our environmental limits is one of the central principles of sustainable development.
Bangladesh is a disaster-prone country due to its hydrological and geo-morphological realities, its location at the bottom of three major river systems – the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and the Meghna and being bound on the south by the Bay of Bengal. Given the evolving climate change, the country has begun to be visited by extreme climatic events more frequently. These climatic events cause adverse socio-economic consequences for the affected people and, therefore, are a major concern for national socio-economic progress. For example, mega cyclones Sidr in 2007 and Aila in 2009 have caused huge losses and damages affecting a large number of people and consumed significant budgetary resources in relief and rehabilitation, thereby constraining the country’s development prospects by reducing resource availability for development activities. The objectives of the paper is to clarify the concept of Sustainable Development and SDG goals, to find out the global strategies to implement SDG goals and targets, to observe the existing programs of Bangladesh towards SDG, to explore the achievement and challenges of SDG in Bangladesh and to discover the social workers’ interventions in the continent of sustainable development.
Sustainable development is the organizing principle for meeting human development goals while at the same time sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services upon which the economy and society depend. The desired result is a state of society where living conditions and resource use continue to meet human needs without undermining the integrity and stability of the natural system.
Global community has adopted the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, encompassing 17 universal and transformative goals and 169 targets. With the global commitment of leaving no one behind, the 2030 Agenda aimed at ending poverty and hunger, attaining gender equality, fighting inequality and tackling climate change to protect the earth.
The government needs to ensure coordination amongst the various sectors for ensuring overall sustainability in future through an integrated approach. However, it cannot be achieved fully without adequate support from the international community for climate adaptation. It is also necessary to promote regional cooperation in finding solutions to regional water crisis. As Bangladesh has significant role and contribution to formulate the SDGs, it also needs to show its implementation commitment and achievement pathway for sustainable development.
