SDGs in Action: the Australian Wildfires

SDGs in Action: the Australian Wildfires

Photo by Australian Maritime Safety Authority/Handout via REUTERS

Thick plumes of smoke rise from bushfires at the coast of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia January 4, 2020 in this aerial picture taken from AMSA Challenger jet.

While there is still much debate on the cause of the mass wildfires in Australia, that have since been snuffed out, one thing that people seem to agree on is that the country has had an unordinarily long, dry, and hot summer that only added to the intensity of the fires. The record high temperatures combined with a long term drought created low air and soil moisture that created a perfect climate for the uncontrollable fires once they started.

Look here to see how the 2019-2020 wildfires were unique to previous years.

The response to the wildfires has been particularly interesting, especially looking at what the UN Environment Programme has had to say. An article put out by the UN breaks down the social, environmental, and economic impact on Australia caused by the wildfires within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The UN lists 9 SDGs that were majorly impacted by the wildfires.

Goal 1: NO poverty and Goal 2: Zero Hunger. Wildfires aside, the poor are effect the most by increasing heat as they are more likely to rely on natural resources for their food, medicine, etc. The wildfires burned 18 million hectares of land that many people called home.

Goal 3: Good health and well-being effected all people in Australia most obviously because of air pollution but also from stress from people losing their homes and livelihoods.

Goal 5: Gender equality put females at much higher risk in Australia during the fires due to being able to physically cope with the fires and insufficient information.

Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation is effected by the black carbon output from the fires with enters the air and water and causes acidification.

Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure is an obvious one as the fires burned business, homes, powerlines etc.

Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production and Goal 13: Climate action go hand in hand in that irresponsible consumption/production contribute to pollution and global heating which all effects climate action in unseen ways.

Goal 15: Life on land has been effected in every way such as destroying houses, businesses, and biodiversity.

Looking at the breakdown of the goals effected by the uncontrollable wildfires in Australia, the UN Environment Programme shows concern of environmental factors on being able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals set to be reached in the next ten years. The UN has used what has recently happened in Australia as a current example of what will continue to happen globally if steps are not taken to meet the SDGs.