The Edmund Rice Centre has made a submission to the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee Inquiry into the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
You can download a copy of the submission here.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an ambitious agenda that recognise the relationship between development, human rights, sustainability and climate change. There is no point implementing policies to drive global economic growth if those policies undermine the health of the planet.
This submission responds to the following term of reference for this Inquiry:
- What SDG are currently being addressed by Australia’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) program; and
- Which of the SDG is Australia best suited to achieving through our ODA program, and should Australia’s ODA be consolidated to focus on achieving core SDG.
Our submission draws on the Centre’s extensive experience working for climate justice in partnership with people from Pacific Island atoll countries, such as Kiribati and Tuvalu. For many years, these countries have been putting out desperate calls to industrialised countries to mitigate climate change, and to recognise their vulnerability. The effects of climate change in the Pacific are also human rights issues and exacerbate pre-existing development challenges.