Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

 

The Millennium Development Goals and the International Development Agenda  -   TVP Manual - Section 1:Informing and Setting the Vision -

see Manuals General Index


 The depletion of the Earth's resources is higher than the rate of regenerating resources. This means that we have not chosen a sustainable path of economic development. 

The MDG 7 acknowledges that development can be sustained only by environment conservation and recognizes the right of future generations to inherit an environment as preserved as the one that we are enjoying. 

Although the rate of depletion of natural resources is decreasing, humanity is unable to protect plant and animal species at the risk of extinction.

South East Asia's contribution to green house gases increased by 82% in the past decade although per capita emissions remain the highest in the developed regions.

More than half the population of countries like Sierra Leone and Mozambique remain without access to safe drinking water. 

Graphs
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MDG 7 - Targets

Target 7.A: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources

  • 7.1 Proportion of land area covered by forest
  • 7.2 CO2 emissions, total, per capita and per $1 GDP (PPP)
  • 7.3 Consumption of ozone-depleting substances
  • 7.4 Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits
  • 7.5 Proportion of total water resources used

Target 7.B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss

  • 7.6 Proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected
  • 7.7 Proportion of species threatened with extinction

Target 7.C: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

  • 7.8 Proportion of population using an improved drinking water source
  • 7.9 Proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility

Target 7.D: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

  • 7.10 Proportion of urban population living in slumsb
     

Image:Mdg7popslum.jpgImage:Mdg7popurban.jpgImage:Mdg7popwater.jpg


 

Hard Facts
 
  • Principles of sustainable development are integrated into country policies and programmes and loss of environmental resources is reversed;
  • Tree-planting programmes, combined with the natural expansion of forests in some regions, have added more than 7 million hectares of new forest annually;
  • Deforestation rates have slowed, the net loss of forest area having decreased from over 8.3 million hectares per year in 1990-2000 to 5.2 million hectares per year in the period 2000-2010;
     
  • Per capita emissions remain the highest in the developed regions, about 12 metric tons of CO2 per person per year, compared with about 3 metric tons in developing regions and 0.8 metric tons in sub-Saharan Africa;
  • Emissions per unit of economic output fell by more than 20 per cent in the developed regions, while they increased by 35 per cent in South-Eastern Asia and by 25 per cent in Northern Africa.


 

Hard Facts
 
  • The world has missed the 2010 target for bio-diversity conservation;
  • Nearly 17,000 species of plants and animals are currently at risk of extinction, and the number of species threatened by extinction is growing by the day;
  • The number of species facing extinction is growing by the day, especially in developing countries;
  • Overexploitation of global fisheries has stabilized, but steep challenges remain to ensure their sustainability.'
     


 

Hard Facts
 
  • The world will miss the target of halving the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation;
  • 69% of the population in Sub Saharan Africa and 64% in South Asia still lack access to safe sanitation;
  • Globally, 8 out of 10 people who are without access to an improved drinking water source live in rural areas;
  • Percentage of population, in developing regions, having access to improved sources of drinking water has increased from 71% in 1990 to 86% in 2015.
  • Number of people, in developing regions, lacked access to improved sanitation is expected to increase from an estimated 2.6 billion people in 2008 to 2.7 billion by 2015.


 

Hard Facts
 
  • In the last ten years, more than 200 million slum dwellers have gained access to improved water, sanitation or durable and less crowded housing;
  • The share of the urban population living in slums has declined from 39% in 1990 to 33% in 2010;
  • The absolute number of slum dwellers in the developing world has grown from 57 million in 1990 to 767 million in 2000 to 828 million in 2010.'
     


 

 

·         Episode 7 - MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability