The SDGs have contributed to a unified understanding of many of the acute challenges we face, while also inspiring global solutions-oriented inquiry and action. In the context of our accelerating global crises, and with our rapidly growing knowledge and wisdom base, it is essential to constantly revisit and evolve the framework and implementation process of this collective compass. With the growing realization (thanks to the present crisis) that we are all inherently interconnected, the evolution of the SDGs could potentially include shifts from:
- the concept of sustainable development goals, rooted in a political and economic human-centered mindset of separateness, domination and extraction, to a mindset of thriving evolution commitments rooted in the science and he(art) of the interconnectedness of all of Life, mutual nourishment and accountability.
- the goal of a growth economy to one of a healthy economy for all of Life
- siloed and symptomatic framing of goals and action to a whole-system healing strategy that articulates the roots and interdependencies of causes and solutions.
- unbinding agreements on goals to a collective commitment to an effective holistic strategy with clear foundational actions to be taken by all that is supported by and embedded outcome-based incentives and deterrents.
- a system that leaves the field open to dynamics of compromise, secrecy and self-interest to one that ensures full transparency and accountability of all actors on the health of the whole.
Adoption and implementation of focused whole-system health initiatives, such as Codes for a Healthy Earth and the World Water Law, would support the exponential and simultaneous advancement of all the SDGs.
Feature Image by Henning Westerkamp from Pixabay
