The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice. According to the United Nations, the Goals interconnect and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve each Goal and target by 2030.
In this view, Sustinere’s climate solutions projects directly contribute to 12 of the 17 SDGs. We are able to integrate each and every one of the following SDGs into every project because our projects have a life cycle of 10 years or more, and we can therefore progressively integrate all these SDGs while focusing on the most urgent elements first and strengthening capacity over time. See below which SDGs we systematically incorporate into every project and the different ways in which we advance them in our work:
Each project builds the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduces their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters, by including the most vulnerable households in each community we work in, in the direct beneficiaries of agroforestry systems and resulting products, medicine, and other commodities, and by putting the right trees on or around their land to protect them from floods and other climate threats.
By agreeing with all community leaders and representatives, that the payments from the sale of carbon credits, commodities and biomass will go towards helping the most vulnerable households in the community, and also to establishing basic public services and infrastructure for the benefit of the entire community, such as hospitals, roads and schools.
By helping ensure access to all community members in our projects, and particularly to women, children, and those in vulnerable situations, to safe, sufficient, and nutritious food, through food products from agroforestry systems and through earnings from the commercialization of their food crops, medicine, biomass and other products resulting from the projects.
By doubling the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples and family farmers, by combining agroforestry production with organic fertilizers and the expertise of our agroforestry engineers and agronomists to increase both the quality and yield of agricultural crops.
By helping ensure access to all community members in our projects, and particularly to women, children, and those in vulnerable situations, to safe, sufficient, and nutritious food, through food products from agroforestry systems and through earnings from the commercialization of their food crops, medicine, biomass and other products resulting from the projects.
By doubling the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples and family farmers, by combining agroforestry production with organic fertilizers and the expertise of our agroforestry engineers and agronomists to increase both the quality and yield of agricultural crops.
By substantially reducing the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination, through conservation and reforestation of areas in and around community households, which leads to cleaner air and cleaner, higher quality soil. The use of chemicals in agricultural production is also progressively eliminated and replaced with organic, certified fertilizers. Reforestation in and around water streams, with the expertise of our water quality scientists, also serves to decontaminate the water.
By ensuring the existence of medical facilities with a core set of relevant essential medicines available and affordable on a sustainable basis. In some cases, and in some remote areas with the communities in our projects, a hospital might be built, along with the roads and transport networks to access it.
By ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls in the communities we work in, by ensuring their full participation at every stage of the project life cycle, by conducting gender analysis at the beginning of each project and making sure the issues specific to women and girls are duly considered and integrated in the project.
By guaranteeing women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to natural resources, by training women in leadership roles in reforestation and conservation activities, and training them in entrepreneurship and trade to enable the sale of agroforestry products by women’s’ entrepreneurial networks from the communities of our projects.
By ensuring universal access to safe and drinkable water for all in the community, whether it is through the decontamination of water streams, better market access for remote areas, or even the installation of a water pump for community use.
By improving water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse, through training and capacity building with communities in every project.
By protecting and restoring water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes, through reforestation and conservation projects where water ecosystems are analyzed for quality and biodiversity, and specific interventions for cleaning and purifying are undertaken where needed.
By ensuring universal access to safe and drinkable water for all in the community, whether it is through the decontamination of water streams, better market access for remote areas, or even the installation of a water pump for community use.
By improving water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse, through training and capacity building with communities in every project.
By protecting and restoring water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes, through reforestation and conservation projects where water ecosystems are analyzed for quality and biodiversity, and specific interventions for cleaning and purifying are undertaken where needed.
By ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services in the communities we work, by sustainably using forest biomass and wood pellets to provide electricity and clean fuels, especially for the most vulnerable households.
By increasing the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, by sourcing sustainable and clean forest biomass and wood pellets to enable residential and industrial energy to move away from fossil fuels and progressively adopt this form of renewable, carbon neutral energy on the global stage. In particular, providing forest biomass for the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), through the ACT Green Fund.
By ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services in the communities we work, by sustainably using forest biomass and wood pellets to provide electricity and clean fuels, especially for the most vulnerable households.
By increasing the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, by sourcing sustainable and clean forest biomass and wood pellets to enable residential and industrial energy to move away from fossil fuels and progressively adopt this form of renewable, carbon neutral energy on the global stage. In particular, providing forest biomass for the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), through the ACT Green Fund.
By progressively achieving and sustaining income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the world population at a rate higher than the national average, given that the vast majority of our projects are located in developing countries in the global south, and cumulatively are generating income growth for communities and individuals
– By ensuring equal opportunity and reducing inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory practices in the access to resources and economic development opportunities of women and girls, youth and aboriginal people, by specifically focusing on, involving and empowering these groups in our climate solutions projects.
By strengthening efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage, especially by reviving and applying ancestral aboriginal knowledge in forestry and medicinal contexts, and by preserving native forests through conservation projects.
By increasing the number of human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and developing and implementing, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels, as part of the reforestation and conservation projects and requirements for climate change mitigation and detailed environmental management plans that our experts develop along with communities in every project.
By achieving the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reducing their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment, by requiring the progressive elimination of all chemicals in agriculture and the adoption of organic, natural and certified fertilizers along with agroforestry solutions for crop protection and pest resistance.
– By supporting developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production, by providing the training, expertise and capacity building offered by our agroforestry, agronomist, nutritionist and plant biologist specialists to communities from our projects, and especially by providing the knowledge and know-how to establish advanced and sophisticated agroforestry systems for sustainable production and consumption.
By strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries, through nature-based climate solutions such as reforestation and conservation
Promoting mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities, which we achieve in each project in the developing world while working on climate change management plans and directly empowering women, youth and members from the most vulnerable households
By ensuring the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements By taking urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species |