New SDG Advocate campaigns at the forefront
Back in May, six innovative public figures joined the battle to push the world towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030. Each of the new official SDG Advocates committed themselves to pursue the 17 goals on behalf of “peace, prosperity, people, planet and partnerships.”
As the days get closer to the SDG Summit in September, UN News caught up with some of them:
Brazilian footballer Marta Vieira da Silva: ‘Gender equality’ makes development sustainable
Brazilian footballer “Marta” not only plays for the Orlando Pride in the National Women’s Soccer League and the Brazil national team as a forward, but with 17 goals — the same number as the SDG — she is the top scorer ever at FIFA World Cup tournaments — that’s both for the men and women’s championships.
Nature gives us food, medicine, clean air and pure water.
This UN Women Goodwill Ambassador said she is “fully committed” to lend her voice and life experience “to ensure that women and girls around the world have the same opportunities that men and boys have to fulfill their potential.”
“Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are the direct objectives of Goal 5, but they also play a key role in the achievement of many other goals, as well as supporting the overall success of the SDG,” said the 33-year-old champion.
“There really can be no development that is sustainable without gender equality,” she stressed.
Da Silva became an SDG Advocate because she wanted “to help inspire many more girls and women, boys and men, to think of gender equality as a catalyst to create opportunities so that the next generation doesn’t have to go through what I did.”
She recounted that born in a small town, in a poor family, “prejudice and lack of opportunities hurt me many times along the way.”
“It hurt when the boys did not let me play, it hurt when adult coaches from opposing teams took me out of championships, because I was a girl,” she recalled. “It hurt to leave my family to play professional football at age 14; but to see how my mother never gave up was my greatest inspiration.”
The footballer is using that same strength and commitment “to support the Secretary-General to promote the Goals, raise awareness, maintain global commitment and call for greater ambition and scalable action to
achieve the SDG by 2030, leaving no one behind.
Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim: Climate change is ‘the mother of all battles’
Environment and Indigenous Rights activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, expressed to UN News her passion for all 17 SDG “as a package.”
She elaborated that indigenous peoples don’t see “any difference between economic and social issues and environmental protection.”
“Nature gives us food, medicine, clean air and pure water,” she explained. “Nature is the basis of our economy and keeps us in balance to cohabitate peacefully among communities.”
Calling it “the mother of all battles,” Ibrahim said that “the international community should focus all of its efforts on fighting climate change.”
“The reality is, if we don’t address the climate crisis our biodiversity will disappear, our oceans will die, and the poorest and marginalized communities around the world will suffer,” underscored the SDG Advocate. “Fighting climate change is more than an objective, it is a battle that will require every human on this living planet to join.”
The Chadian activist sees her SDG advocate role an as “a bridge between the UN System and those who are left behind,” saying that she wants to be “the voice” of those who are silenced, the most vulnerable and of Indigenous Peoples solutions.
“They have so much to bring to the table, if only global leaders could take the time to listen to them,” she upheld. In the coming months, Ms. Ibrahim will be advocating for her “indigenous sisters and brothers” throughout international conventions, including the UN Climate Change Conference and Convention on Biological Diversity.