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iGEM: Environmental SDGs banner
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iGEM 2020

iGEM: Environmental SDGs

The challenge seeks to address the problems of our planet and the life and resources, both on land and in the sea as in UN SDGs 13, 14 & 15

How can iGEMers address goals 13, 14, and 15 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals?

Despite the quest for habitability on Mars and elsewhere, the Earth is the only home we have (as of now) and we must do well to protect, manage and preserve its resources.


By launching this challenge, 2020 iGEMers have the chance to join the rest of the world in achieving the UN vision for 2030 by an open and inclusive collaborative approach using synthetic biology as the driving force to do so.


Goal 13: Climate Action

The global mean temperature for 2018 was approximately 1°C above the pre-industrial baseline, and the last four years have been the warmest on record.


Climate change is the defining issue of our time and the greatest challenge to sustainable development [1]. In 2017, atmospheric CO2 concentrations reached 405.5 parts per million (ppm) (up from 400.1 ppm in 2015), representing 146 percent of pre-industrial levels [1]. To limit global warming to 1.5°C means that emissions will need to peak as soon as possible, followed by rapid reductions [1]. On the other hand, climate change is already exacerbating disaster risk. From 1998 to 2017, climate-related disasters around the world accounted for 77% of the nearly $3 trillion in direct economic losses from disasters and claimed an estimated 1.3 million lives [1]. We need rapid and far-reaching transitions in energy, land and urban infrastructure and industrial systems to realize the global carbon emission target of 2030 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 [1].


While countries have taken positive steps, far more ambitious plans and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society are required



Goal 14: Life Below Water

Life depends on oceans, which make up the planet’s largest ecosystem.


Oceans provide billions of people with food and livelihoods, produce about half the oxygen we breathe, and act as a climate regulator by absorbing atmospheric heat and more than one-quarter of man-made CO2 [1]. Land-based pollutants have caused coastal eutrophication, degraded water quality, and impaired coastal marine ecosystems. The uptake of increasing carbon emissions has led to a build-up of heat in the oceans and changes in their chemical composition (ocean acidification) causing the proportion of marine fish stocks that are within biologically sustainable levels declined from 90 % in 1974 to 67 % in 2015 globally [1]. 


There is a need to expand access to wastewater treatment, to reduce chemical and nutrient runoff from agricultural sources, along with global commitments to reduce plastic debris and preserve the health and productivity of fisheries & aquaculture [1]. While most countries have frameworks to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and to simultaneously address the needs of small-scale fisheries, implementation is the next critical stage [1]. 


Commitment and Engagement, both at the individual and societal level is encouraged and required to improve the functioning of marine ecosystems and biodiversity.



Goal 15: Life On Land

Biodiversity is declining faster than at any other time in human history, one million plant and animal species are at risk of extinction.


Human activity continues to erode the health of ecosystems on which all species depend. We witnessed the loss of more than 58 million hectares of forests between 2000 and 2015, an area roughly the size of Kenya [1]. A key driver for loss is the conversion of forest land for agricultural use, such as growing crops and raising livestock. The unsustainable agricultural practices, deforestation, unsustainable harvest, and trade, climate change have caused degradation of one-fifth of the Earth’s land area and have affected around one billion lives between 2000 and 2015 resulting in a significant loss of services essential to human well-being [1]. There is a need to protect sites that are important for terrestrial, freshwater, and mountain biodiversity to ensure long-term and sustainable use of natural resources [1]. Moreover, we need to accelerate our conservation efforts and simultaneously work towards the restoration of the effects of human-induced processes; desertification, deforestation, improper soil management, cropland expansion, and urbanization [1].


The severity of the situation requires immediate action and a fundamental transformation of our relationship with the Earth to halt biodiversity loss and protect ecosystems for the benefit of all.





References

[1] ]United Nations, "The Sustainable Development Goals 2019", United Nations Publications, New York, 2019.

[2] "Communications materials", United Nations Sustainable Development. [Online]. Available: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/news/communications-material/. [Accessed: 29- May- 2020]

Keywords
Modeling and simulation
Outreach
Open science
Laboratory skill
13Climate Action
14Life Below Water
15Life on Land