“Sustainable Development Goals in Future Earth” lecture by Professor Yuto Kitamura

On Saturday, January 15th, Professor Yuto Kitamura, from the University of Tokyo, gave his lecture on the topic ‘Sustainable Development goals in Future Earth’. He presented in detail the Sustainable Development Goals and the process through which they were defined, as he was part of the delegation representing the Japanese government at the time. The SDGs is a set of targets that has many differences when compared to previous editions, such as the Millenium Development Goals. The SDGs are more complex and more comprehensive, which is good because it unites many stakeholders. But, at the same time, it is confusing and does not provide a clear focus.

The process was confusing because of the number of representatives, stakeholders, and the time restraints. It was the first time the goals were defined by representatives of the nation states, as the previous editions, such as the Millennium Development Goals, were defined by the United Nations organizations. For instance, in the discussions to define the SDGs, education was a sector viewed as successful from the beginning of the century.

This lecture was an interesting opportunity to know more about the internal processes that have taken place in defining and are used to monitor the global goals. We hope some of the current students will one day participate in the definition and monitoring of the global goals in the future.

Authored by Danilo Dalmon

Related Link: Seminar Information