The UN Needs To Fine-Tune The SDGs For Holistic Impact.

The United Nations needs to articulate and drive global values for humanity to enable the direly needed sustainable decision-making and action at the individual, local, and governmental levels. Contributing to the SDGs global conversations in a document titled “Fine-Tuning The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) For Holistic Impact,” Ven. Anthony Ajero explained that “The transformation of humanity is the crux of the matter in sustaining life on our planet, hence the SDGs need to place humanity at the centre of our quest for “The Future We Want.”

The 8-part document that is contextualized within the global conversation posits that without the right values, mankind, the top disruptor of our planetary ecosystem, will continue to destroy the eco-system.

It states: “The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN) are very encompassing and hold a clear view of the developmental relevance of earth’s key constituents: agriculture, climate, energy, gender, justice, oceans, partnerships, poverty, sanitation, science and technology, transport, water, work, etc. However, the critical factor of humanity is implicitly acknowledged but under-represented among the goals. As the top disruptor of our planetary ecosystem, the SDGs need to intentionally focus on human spiritual development through our pursuit of redemptive values.

“The transformation of humanity is the crux of the matter in sustaining life on our planet, hence the SDGs need to place humanity at the centre of our quest for “The Future We Want,” not because we are the planet’s most important species but because we are most culpable in the disruptions threatening the planet.

“Perhaps more worrisome is that our increasingly divisive world of contesting ideologies - faith, politics, and economy - does not find discussions around values attractive. Such conversations tend to be bogged down in narrow defences and recriminations. Nevertheless, we need global values to guide ourselves in the world for the simple reason that values drive action.”

The document adds that “Virtually all religions, at least doctrinally, seek to engender positive values that ensure humans live in harmony with one another and the world. Social groups and charities like the Rotary International and Lions Club International also, by value promotion and practical interventions, encourage the flourishing of humanity despite the religious and political diversities of their membership. Still, societies and communities formally and informally promote and disseminate values to perpetuate themselves from generation to generation. Successfully implementing the SDGs for our planet’s flourishing necessitates bringing on board those faith communities, social organisations, and charities familiar with human value formation.

“The bottom-line is that although the SDGs aim to promote the human family’s dignity and thrive on a sustainable planet, they may remain ideals on paper until the critical factor of humanity is mainstreamed. To the extent that they also aim at redressing the ecological imbalance troubling the planet, emphasis needs to be placed on promoting human values. This will underpin human moral ecology as a nuclear subset of the ecological dynamics that shape the planet.”