I am Ban Ki-moon,
the 8th Secretary General of the United Nations.
Since stepping down from my position at the United Nations,
I have returned to my home country of South Korea where I'm working with
a duly established Institute for Global Engagement
and Empowerment at Yonsei University in Seoul.
Additionally, together with the former Austrian president, Heinz Fischer,
I have launched the Ban Ki-moon Center for Global Citizens in Vienna, Austria.
The Institute for Global Engagement and Empowerment,
IGEE at Yonsei University has developed this online course to reach as many people
around the globe as possible to inspire
everyone especially young people to act as global citizens,
and spread our message about sustainable development for the planet.
The course is unusual and exciting because I'll be
teaching along with the many additional instructors from around the world,
each of whom is a brilliant expert in a different area of sustainable development.
By taking this course,
you will learn much about the state of the world at this time,
and where we hope to take it,
both in the near term and in the distant future.
You will also learn about why everyone of us
is crucial to the process of achieving sustainable development
and ways that you can engage and participate in
motivating leaders and citizens of the world to make positive change.
What is sustainable development?
When the Millennium Development Goals was slowly approaching the target year 2015,
a universal and sustainable development agenda with a follow on the MDGs,
the Sustainable Development Goals were to implement 17 different goals that would
meet the needs of today's population without
compromising ideas of the future generation.
The Puntland commission of 1987 states that Sustainable Development means
strong economic and social development
in particular for people with a low standards of living.
After vigorous negotiations and walking through the complexity of the topic,
the final document of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda was
adopted at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is crucial to the survival of Earth.
We don't have a plan B because there is no planet B.
This is what I have been repeating so many
times to the people of the world particularly,
those who do not believe climate change is happening.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development now sets
the vision for the next 12 years of global action.
The Sustainable Development Goals encompass the unfinished business of the MDGs,
but go well beyond the poverty eradication,
breaking significant new ground.
The agenda for Sustainable Development is a universal,
integrated, and human rights based agenda for the future of our planet.
This course is divided into
the five aspects of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
People, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership.
In addition, it looks at the importance of youth in the implementation of the SDGs.
The first week of the course looks at the general concept of sustainable development,
learning about the core values of the 2030 Agenda,
and the behind the scenes negotiations that brought it to reality.
The second week focuses on people.
People are foundational to the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
There are people around the world who are still in
need of the most basic necessities of life.
Everything from water to food,
from literacy to primary education and beyond.
The second week addresses the fundamental issues of poverty because eradication of
poverty is the main driving force of
the Millennium Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.
The third week looks at the importance of our planet.
By the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda started,
is in negotiations that duly introduced the focus
was on the environmental aspect within our society.
After the Kyoto Protocol,
the importance of preserving and protecting our environment was highlighted.
This focus on the environment emphasized at
development agenda that meets the needs of the environment.
The third week we'll discuss Ecosystems Services and Climate Change mitigations.
The fourth week focuses on the issue of prosperity.
Like the Millennium Development Goals,
economic development is also the key in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
Therefore, this week, we'll introduce the concept of
the different development approaches including urbanization,
green energy, and green jobs.
The fifth week explores the relationship of peace and partnership.
Issues such as social inclusion will be covered and in how peace can be
achieved through interdependency of all sectors from public to private,
and how the SDGs are planning to interconnect everyone.
In the last week, we will look at the emphasis
on youth and the implementation of SDGs.
Youth are the agents of change.
The current young generation can be the first generation to
eradicate poverty and to provide primary education for everyone.
The potential is very high.
How can youth help in the implementation of
the 17 goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?
Ban Ki-moonDistinguished Chair Professor
