Why reaching Goal 7 helps the other
Goals.
Why reaching Goal 7 is important for the other
Goals.
- Goal 1: Poor people’s livelihoods and food security often depend on the local environment which they have little control over
- Goal 2: Time spent collecting water and fuel wood reduces time available for attending school. In addition, the lack of energy, water and sanitation services in rural areas discourages qualified teachers from working in poor villages
- Goal 3: Women and girls often spend hours each day collecting water and fuel collection, reducing their time and opportunities for education, literacy and income-generating activities. Women often have unequal rights and insecure access to land and other natural resources, limiting their opportunities
- Goal 4: Diseases such as diarrhoea from unclean water and inadequate sanitation and respiratory infections related to pollution are leading killers of children under five. Lack of fuel for boiling water contributes to preventable waterborne diseases.
- Goal 5: Inhaling polluted indoor air and carrying heavy loads of water and fuel wood hurt women’s health and make them less fit to bear children, with greater risks of complications during pregnancy. Lack of energy for lighting and refrigeration, as well as inadequate sanitation all undermine health care, especially in rural areas.
- Goal 6: Up to 20% of the diseases in developing countries may be due to environmental risk factors such as malaria and parasitic infections. Preventive measures are key and new biodiversity-derived medicines hold promise for fighting major diseases.
- Goal 8: Many global environmental problems— for development, climate change, loss of species diversity, depletion of global fisheries—can be solved only through partnerships between rich and poor countries.
Adapted from ‘80:20 development in an unequal world’ TIDE 2005
