Lesson 3: Intercultural Dialogue and Sustainable Development: is there a connection?
ICD & SDGS in a Nutshell
Goal 1: No Poverty
Intercultural dialogue is a prerequisite for eliminating global poverty.
As a global community, we will only be able to attain this goal via conversation and understanding of each side’s needs.
Goal 2: Zero Hunger
The food and agricultural industries provide critical development solutions and they are critical to end hunger and poverty. To take advantage of the solutions given by the agriculture and food sectors, global coordination is required. Only via communication will there be coordination.
Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being
Understanding the true requirements and conditions is essential to guarantee healthy lifestyles and improve overall well-being.
Goal 4: Quality Education
Education is the foundation for the improvement of people’s lives and sustainable development. ESD (education for sustainable development), a process through which people and social structures are taught how to live in a sustainable manner (PCE, 2004), comprises a new perspective that aims to enable individuals of all ages to take on responsibility for ensuring a sustainable future (Tilbury 1995; UNESCO, 2002).
Goal 5: Gender Equality
Women's empowerment and gender equality are critical for driving sustainable development. Ending all types of discrimination against women and girls is a basic human right that also has a multiplier impact on other areas of development. Multicultural dialogue contributes to the establishment of gender equality, due to empathy that characterize it.
Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
Access to safe drinking water is one of the most crucial commodities. There can be no intercultural dialogue and people who do not have water to drink at the same time
Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
Energy is required for our society's growth and prosperity. Many restraints will be lifted if we can achieve inexpensive and clean energy and humanity's growth and progress will be unlimited.
Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
Placing job creation at the center of economic strategy and development plans will result in not only more quality jobs, but also more robust, inclusive, and poverty-reducing growth. This goal, requires global dialogue, since globalization has and will continue to have an impact on our economy.
Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
Our industries and infrastructure must be improved to face future challenges. To do so, we must encourage the development of breakthrough sustainable technologies and guarantee that everyone has equitable access to information and financial markets. This goal, also, requires global dialogue, since globalization has and will continue to have an impact on our economy.
Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
Due to the empathy that distinguishes multicultural dialogue, it helps to the reduction of inequities at all levels, as noted in the goal of gender equality.
Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
The conversation promotes the exchange of traditional, local, and scientific knowledge, making it simpler to implement effective practices on basic services such as energy, housing, and transportation.
Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
To maintain sustainable consumption and production practices, the planet's biophysical limitations must be respected, and present global consumption rates must be reduced to match the biophysical ability to generate ecosystem services and benefits. Again, for anything like this to happen on a global scale, a transnational and multicultural dialogue is required.
Goal 13: Climate Action
Goal 14: Life Below Water
Goal 15: Life on Land
The phrase "global commons" refers to international, supranational, and global resource regions where reservoir resources can be found. The natural resources of the world, such as the seas, atmosphere, and space, as well as Antarctica, are all considered global commons. As a result, it is important that governments reach an agreement on collective action, as climate change affects every country on every continent. It is destabilizing national economies and jeopardizing people's lives.
Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
As with any prior goal, there must be an exchange of ideas and best practices across several cultures, as well as the best actions taken by everybody.
Goal 17: Partnerships
Obviously, effective partnerships cannot arise without intercultural dialogue. Partnerships are the glue that holds the SDGs together, and they will be critical to making the Agenda a reality.
After briefly discussing each SDG's connection to intercultural dialogue, we can conclude that each goal both contributes to the development of Intercultural Dialogue and is dependent on it. But which goals would you consider as the most direct and interconnected with ICD? 17, 16, 11, 10, 8, 5, and 4?
Finally, when referring to global sustainable development, it makes sense to include all of the planet's customs, traditions, and cultural traits. The following quote, by Amartya Kumar Sen CH, an Indian economist and philosopher, addresses culture issues:
“Cultural matters are integral parts of the lives we lead. If development can be seen as enhancement of our living standards, then efforts geared to development can hardly ignore the world of culture.”
Co-funded by the Erasmus+ 2021 Framework Programme of the European Union
