[MUSIC] Humanity finds itself at, perhaps, the most exciting and challenging juncture in its history. When our early ancestors traded their nomadic ways for fixed addresses, they, presumably, initially, allowed their waste products to fall wherever they were produced. And they took freely of game for food and trees for energy. Later, they realized they needed to manage how they used these natural resources because they were getting sick from drinking polluted water. Water that was polluted by their own waste and the local food and energy sources were rapidly being depleted. As the global population grew, it became obvious that management of resources at the regional level was also necessary. As the quality of our air and the water around any given region is influenced by the actions in neighboring regions. Climate and other impacts of human activity that can be seen at the planetary level, have now made us realize that there’s a need to manage our use of resources at the global level. A catalyst for moving into this phase in human history may well have been the pictures of Earth from space sent back to Earth by Apollo astronauts in the 1970s. I know you've all seen this picture because it is one of, or maybe even the picture that has been most downloaded from the Internet. Despite it's age, this photo continues to fascinate us, and there are two things about it that are so obvious, I can guarantee you, you have never really stopped to contemplate them. Firstly, it shows clearly that our ancestors were wrong to call this planet Earth, more correct would have been to christen it water or ocean, as the ocean covers over 70% of the earth surface. The other salient feature of the Earth that can be seen in the photo, is that our planet is not connected in any other way, has no umbilical cord, if you like, to any other body in space. Thus, this picture provides proof that once we've used the natural resources upon which we are dependent, those resources will not be replenished. The photo also shows us that it is, essentially, impossible to really get rid of our waste. Plastic in the ocean? Where else would it be? When we since the 1950s have known that it is, essentially, non-degradable. And our culture has embraced its one time use. Climate change, our society has since the Industrial Revolution relied on combustion of nearly inert, solid carbon products, which has resulted in an excess production of carbon containing greenhouse gas waste, including CO2. As in the case of plastic in the oceans, we mostly don't see this waste, but it is still with us. Despite the fact that we've had this visual evidence since the Apollo space missions that the Earth's resources are not infinite. It wasn't until 2015 when the 193 member countries of the UN adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that we got a global convention acknowledging our resources are limited. A possible explanation for the long gap between having evidence of resource limitation and its acknowledgment in the political arena might be that once you acknowledge something is limited, you then have to begin to consider how that something is going to be shared. The sustainable development goals or SDGs are a part of the 2030 agenda. And they can be seen as a vision for how we want to share the Earth's resources among what will soon be 9 to 10 billion people all with a right to development. This makes the SDGs relevant for every person, country, and company on Earth. I met with Mogens Lykketoft, a Danish member of parliament and a former foreign minister for Denmark, who was chairing the United Nations general assembly when the SDGs were adopted. I asked him how he views the SDGs in relation to earlier global development goals. Mogens, you sat at the head of the table when the SDGs or Agenda 2030 was adopted. So, of course, that makes it something very special for you. But is there anything really special about the SDGs or the 2030 Agenda? >> Well, the United Nations has defined many good agendas for the world. But this is the most comprehensive one we ever saw. Realizing that we should not only, of course, continue the fight against extreme poverty, as we fought so good in the first 15 years of the century. But we had to combine it with much, much greater attention to the limitation of global resources and a more fair distribution of global resources. That is actually what the 17 goals for sustainable development is. It's about both social, economic, and environmental sustainability. >> And what about the process? Was it different in arriving at the goals? Was there anything different about that compared to earlier agendas or earlier agreements? >> Very much so. I think it was the first time in UN history we saw such a strong participation from the civil society. And my strong impression is we would never have gotten such a strong, even revolutionary, global agenda adopted only through the work of 193 governments. If it hadn't been for at least 8 million people from civil society participating in the preparations for this, we would not have had near as ambitious an agenda as we have now. >> You mentioned civil society there. I've noticed, and it's really a good news, that very many companies are also picking up on the SDGs. But rather often we're seeing that they're saying 17's too many we can't deal with that. So they pick out two or three they think they're good at and really try and profile themselves with them. What do you think about cherry picking? >> It's important that every agent, every party in this discussion, realizes the total interconnection between the goals and the necessity to move forward on all goals at the same time. But of course, there are companies who have special qualifications and special issues. And it's very importantly, actually, that together with the civil society we have very strong business community now arguing for higher standards and higher national ambitions in order to push forward the technologies and products we need for fulfilling this great agenda. I think that what we see now is that in the forefront of this, besides the NGOs, we have the big cities, the big states, for instance in the U.S., and big companies. We need much more attention from national governments still, but it's a good start. We have these strong partners in the business community and in the civil society. >> Mogens, I know it's impossible to look into the future, and I'm not going to ask you to be a soothsayer. But how important do you think it is, that we make these goals, that we achieve these goals? >> It's really existential for humanity. >> Existential. >> It's necessary to realize that goal 13, climate change, is the most urgent one. Because without really changing the development on climate, without really limiting the global warming, we will not be able to mobilize the resources for the rest of this very great agenda. Because global warming would create huge, forced migration, new conflicts, a lot of resources being sucked away from the totality of this agenda. That's why it's so urgent to act on climate. In doing that, we will be able to make progress on a lot of other issues on this agenda, as well. >> Thanks very much, Mogens. It's a great honor to be able to speak to you about the SDGs. >> Thank you, very much. >> The UN agenda 2030 with its SDGs, is built up upon, but further develops the understanding of global sustainable development which was introduced by the World Commission on Environment and Development. Established by the U.N. General Secretary and led by the former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The Commission's report came in 1987 and is published as a book with the title Our Common Future. Popularly, however, it is usually called the Brundtland Report. The Brundtland Report made two very important points. Firstly, it emphasized the importance of intergenerational equity. In other words, the report argued that we must not, through our resource use, today, lower potential living standards of future generations. Secondly, the Brundtland Report argued that sustainable development must include, in addition to consideration of economic sustainability, also environmental and social sustainability. At the time of the Brundtland Report, however, it was not really possible to define what was meant by environmental and social sustainability. The past 30 years has brought us much closer to an understanding of these two sustainability components. And they've been specified in many of the sustainable development goals. In essence, environmental sustainability requires that the human demand for resources is brought to and maintained within the global supply of these resources. And social sustainability demands that certain basal human rights are respected. I recommend that you go to the UN SDG website and familiarize yourself with the 17 goals. Associated with each goal, you will find relevant facts and a number of subgoals or targets. Please take some time to study them before the next lecture. [MUSIC]
