Covid-19 has clearly shown us that we live in a global community where issues and concerns faced by human society are shared. National and international forums address concerns beyond local, national and regional boundaries, and it has become impossible to address concerns alone. At the Sustainability and Resilience Institute, we argue that the relationship between resilience and sustainability is vital in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and transforming the world, making the world a better place to live in, to engage with, and to fight for.
Governments and civil society organisations aim to improve people’s lives and livelihood in their respective sphere through policies and planning, and in line with the UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals. According to the United Nations Organisation, the global community faces a range of issues such as economic disparity, climate change, water, poverty, food security, migration, human rights violation, decolonisation and gender equality. Climate change is one of the significant challenges which has drawn the attention of the worldwide community. The impacts of climate change are more pronounced at local levels, with shifting weather patterns, sea-level rise, extreme flooding and unprecedented shocks have resulted in food security situations. Today an estimated 795 million people are undernourished, which is a threat to global health worldwide and the potential rise in global poverty. Freshwater resources are depleting globally, and inadequate water supply systems, sanitation and hygiene are becoming challenging. Bad economic policies, insufficient infrastructure and mismanagement of resource distribution have displaced an estimated 59.5 million people from their homes, and among them, an estimated 20 million are refugees.
Sustainability and Resilience Institute aims to create awareness, conduct research and develop strategies to contribute towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We belive that resilience is vital to achieve sustainability at both a local and global scale. If an individual, community or business is resilient in the face of change they are much more likely to be able to be sustainable over the long term. At local levels, communities capitalise upon cultural memory, traditions and belief systems to ensure resilience and long-term sustainability. Both resilience and sustainability are critical to livelihood systems and long-term sustainability of livelihood assets and outcomes for the greater good of human societies.
We have seen through Covid-19 as never before, that the world has a chance to reset and tackle issues on a global scale, but, to move forward towards a sustainable future, we must build resilience into everything we do.
