“We don’t have a plan B because there is no planet B!”
– Ban Ki Moon, former United Nations Secretary General
In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly established the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. The SDGs are global goals that serve as a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future, an urgent call for action for all countries – developed and developing – to end poverty and other deprivations, improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth, while also tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests in a global partnership, according to the UN.
The challenges highlighted by the SDGs are not new. Everyday, people struggle with poverty, inequality, food insecurity and the catastrophic results of global warming. These challenges are so complex that they can’t be solved with a single discipline, mindset or expertise alone.
With the power of the internet, we are more connected than ever before and more and more people are watching from the sidelines, witnessing the social woes around the world and wondering, "What can I do?" When liking and sharing posts are not enough, events like the Global Goals Jam (GGJ) give anyone from anywhere a chance to brainstorm together with people from diverse backgrounds and actually make something that will contribute to solving these problems.
For more information on SDGs in Japan, please see the following resource (Japanese only)
http://www.jp.undp.org/content/tokyo/ja/home/presscenter/articles/2019/myworld_2019_survey.html
