Emphasizing Goal Number Seven: A Student’s Perspective

At first glance, it is hard to prioritize the Millennium Development Goals. Which goal takes precedence when placed in a human rights dialogue? The eradication of world poverty and hunger, the promotion of gender equality, the achievement of universal primary education, and the reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS are all extremely important for the realization of universal human rights. However, there is one goal that always takes the backseat when prioritizing. This often forgotten goal must now come to the fore in every country’s future planning. It must become every individual’s primary focus when living out every day. We must no longer neglect the seventh Millennium Development Goal: Ensure Environmental Sustainability.

MDG 7 aspires to integrate the principals of sustainable development into country policies and to reverse the loss of environmental resources. It also aims to reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015. Finally, by 2020 MDG 7 seeks to achieve significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers. To realize these targets, achieving a healthy, sustainable environment must become the priority of the international community. In fact, the remaining seven MDGs will not be achieved unless serious and immediate action is taken with regards to the ecosystem services that sustain all human life. The United Nations Development Programme informs us that more than one billion people lack access to safe drinking water but what good is it to help those people gain the rights to that water when there is no clean water left to drink? Basic human rights include the right to food, fresh air, water, and shelter, however, at the rate we are presently moving we will soon run out of these basic needs and our human rights will become irrelevant.

Dr. Walter Reid, the Director of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, reasserts that the human rights agenda parallels the environment’s agenda. The Assessment indicates that 60 percent of the ecosystem services that support life are being degraded or used unsustainably. Damaging consequences from this degradation are likely to drastically worsen in the next fifty years. But who will be most affected by these consequences? Reid reminds us that it is the poor and the disenfranchised, those most dependent on ecosystems, who pay and who will continue to pay the greatest cost. Access to safe drinking water will become harder to guarantee for everyone, let alone those living in the impoverished regions of the world.

The continued degradation of ecosystem services proves to be an immense barrier to achieving the MDGs. Although the international community may witness some progress in eradicating extreme poverty and world hunger, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment indicates that this progress will occur at much slower rates than required, thus prohibiting the accomplishment of the goals by 2015.

Despite this arduous outlook, I strongly believe that it is not too late to reverse some of the negative developments. We must first make a clearer connection between the importance of a sustainable environment and the enrichment of human well being. All development plans must incorporate the environment into their agenda and all states must be willing to adopt ecosystem-friendly policies as a top priority. We must also remember that the realization of human rights requires a healthy environment and that a healthy, sustainable environment requires a serious commitment on behalf of the international community. Finally, without the collaboration of all members of the international community, little will be accomplished and the dream of achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 - if at all - may as well remain an idealistic dream without a hope of becoming reality. Let’s work together now and get the job done.