There have been many problems such as poverty, pollution,
inequality, climate change, etc. which are strongly entangled together. In
2015, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) set the agenda called SDGs
(Sustainable Development Goals) which is composed of 17 Goals and 169 targets
to end such problems. SDGs have replaced MDGs (Millennium Development Goals)
which ended in 2015. ‘No poverty’, ‘zero hunger’, ‘good health and well-being’,
‘quality education’, ‘gender equality’, ‘clean water and sanitation’, ‘affordable
and clean energy’, ‘decent work and economic growth’, ‘industry, innovation and
infrastructure’, ‘reduced inequalities’, ‘sustainable cities and communities’, ‘responsible
consumption and production’, ‘climate action’, ‘life below water’, ‘life on
land’, ‘peace, justice and strong institutions’, ‘partnership for the goals’
are main 17 goals.
resource : un.org |
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In ecosystem, as far as I know, moderate amount of waste
could be resources for other individuals. And the individuals make waste and
others use it again… that is how ecosystem circulates and balances itself. Nature
and human beings had maintained such balance for thousands of years or for more
until two hundred years ago. Afterwards, along with dramatic development of
civilization and technology human population have exponentially increased and
spent substantial amounts of resources. The population gets larger, and
inevitably has made overwhelming wastes and pollutions.
“Learn How to
See. Everything Connects to Everything Else.”
Leonardo Da Vinci – painter, architect, cartographer,
botanist, musician, engineer, and inventor – said all the things in the
universe are connected in different matters and in different shapes. He told
that in order to see the real world, we have to one step back and to entangle
everything together.
After struggling decades with sectoral programs and
respective analysis for those global problems, people came up with totally
changed methodology. Rather than one-aspect approaches, we need approaches from
diverse aspect as well as border-breaking among disciplines. In this regards,
integrated landscape approach showed up and has gained increasing interest.
As one of the students studying landscape ecology, I
totally agree with the fact that landscape scale of integrated research is
required to achieve the sustainable development goals as well as what Leonardo Da Vince said. I think all of
the 17 goals are heavily related to land, where we live on, and experts from diverse
disciplines and stakeholders should gather to come across creative solutions.
Currently there are many integrated landscape initiatives
(ILI) especially in Africa, Latin America and South Asia. Government,
indigenous groups, Local farmers and producer association participate in
initiatives. They mainly obtain investment on agriculture, forestry,
conservation, natural resources management, livelihoods and human well-being
and multi-sectoral coordination and planning.
However, most of these initiatives are discussed and executed
focusing on limited region (Africa, South Asia and Latin America) on the earth.
It might be because those areas urgently need integrated landscape scale
management and investment. Next steps are to spread such integrated solution to
all the corners on this beautiful planet. We should let all people perceive
current problem and it will lead to efficient, eco-friendly land use.
What are the primary land uses reported in the landscape? (resources : http://sdgs.peoplefoodandnature.org/) |
I just started first semester in Landscape Ecology for
master’s degree in Germany. For bachelor’s I have studied landscape
architecture, in which I should always consider human effects against
conservation, biodiversity and climates, etc. During bachelor’s, I got more
interested in how do we mitigate human effects on nature, in how ecosystem
interact within itself and in how each different regional ecosystems affect
human unequally, and in how can we make sustainable development for earth ourselves.
These curiosities are the motivation that makes me do my best for current
study.
From the beginning of civilization, it seemed impossible
to make surplus food provision for thousands of years. Finally we human beings
made it (unfortunately there are still numerous people in hungers) and this led
to significant progress in civilization. And now, we have much heavy and
complicate task for our future. My dream is to contribute myself to achieve
this task, which is of entire human beings, sooner. Surely, we must be able to
overcome facing problems as like our fathers and grandfathers did.