Amazing things can happen when we work together as a global alliance. The agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that was just adopted, entitled “Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” reflects input from our multi-year campaign to ensure that toxic pollution is adequately addressed.
Thank you to all involved.
As the issue of chemicals, waste and toxic pollution is critical to many elements of sustainable development, including poverty, health, environment and green economic growth, the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP) and its members launched a coordinated worldwide effort to convey our message to key decision-makers working on the SDGs.
We reached out to country delegates, international agencies, NGOs, academia, organizations and other stakeholders. Following numerous meetings, presentations at 18 international events, and a #SpotlightPollution campaign that rallied support from at least 38 different agencies and organizations from 25 countries, we are glad that our voices have been heard.
Thank you to all GAHP members and supporters, including the World Bank, UNDP, GIZ, the Ministery of Environment of Germany, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the U.S. Department of State, and many, many others.
June 2014: GAHP launches the successful #SpotlightPollution campaign to reach out to country delegations as well as donor and country governments responsible for negotiating the SDGs to raise support for inclusion of all types of pollution and its health impacts in the Health SDG and the SDG on Sustainable Consumption and Production. Within two weeks, GAHP secured support from a variety of government agencies, NGOs, academia and donors, including 38 different agencies/organizations from 25 countries. In total, 19 government agencies from 19 countries sent verbal, email of physical letters of support to GAHP. As a result, the target related to air pollution under the Health SDG was broadened to include water and soil pollution/contamination.
We are providing input to the current process of determining the indicators for the SDGs. Determining how nations will measure progress towards the goals of reducing deaths from pollution is a critical next step in the SDG process.
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