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0 On September 15th, the EnvironFocus team hosted our monthly webinar series on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The focus this month was on SDG 15: Life on Land, with the webinar title “Sustainable Utilization of Land Resources”.
SDG 15: Life on Land
In order to address biodiversity loss and other issues, the United Nations General Assembly established the Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG 15): Life on Land, which is intended to be achieved by 2030. The aim of SDG 15 is to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. The Goal consists of several targets which provide a framework for the necessary actions to enhance the sustainable utilization of land resources.
For more information on SDG 15 and its targets, click here.
The Webinar
This webinar, hosted by CEO and Founder of EnvironFocus Obie Agusiegbe, featured presentations by guest panelists, Hiba Mohammad and Abhijeet More. To view the webinar preview, visit our youtube. To pay for the full video, visit our webinar recordings page on our website.
Hiba Mohammad
Hiba discussed Syrian forests and their relation to the SDGs, specifically SDG 15: Life on Land. As mentioned in her presentation, Syria is not meeting the 17 SDG targets, and is at risk of “falling behind” this can be due to a lot of factors but mainly as it is a poor and conflict-affected country.
Decreases in forest cover can be due to the amount of wildfires suffered, climate change, logging, as well as urbanization and agricultural expansion. And though there are forest management plans in place, they mainly focus on Pinus brutia, the most dominant tree in Syrian forests, which in turn decreases biodiversity. Hiba concluded by highlighting important solutions that need to be considered in order to increase and preserve the Syrian forest. These include: forest management, afforestation and deforestation prevention, fuel wood consumption reduction, wildfires prevention, and biodiversity and species Conservation.
A memorable quote from Hiba’s presentation: “Forests have a key role to play in providing solutions to crises, such as the COVID pandemic. They act as safety nets for the most vulnerable members of society providing food and income in times of scarcity. Therefore increasing their resilience by cultivating the forest sustainably, will be another step to assure that no one is left behind.”
Currently, Hiba is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture, Territory, Environment and Mathematics at The University of Brescia, Italy. Her research addresses the challenges of water resource management in large river basins. You can read more and follow her journey by visiting her website.
Abhijeet More
Abhijeet discussed SDG 15 and presented statistics outlining current issues under it, such as:
- “Deforestation and desertification have hampered sustainable development and negatively impacted millions of lives and livelihoods, due to human activity and climate change.”
- “Some 135 millions of people may be displaced by 2045 as a result of desertification.”
He also broke down each target and highlighted actions we can take as individuals to help change these statistics and support the environment and Life on Land. To conclude, he shared several actions he has personally volunteered to take in order to bring about change in his community. This was a powerful call to action. To learn more on Abhijeet’s contribution to SDGs, check out his newsletter.
A memorable quote from Abhijeet’s presentation: “It is the environment around us that plays a very important role in our daily life. We depend on ecosystems and forests as they are essential in producing oxygen, recycling water, producing food, which means that every living thing matters. It’s time to act now, your actions can make a difference.”
Thank you!
We want to say a big thank you to our speakers for sharing their time and knowledge with us.
We also want to thank all of our attendees. We hope you found the webinar insightful and inspiring.
Webinar Preview
To pay for the full video, visit our webinar recordings page on our website.
Upcoming Webinars
Missed out on this webinar? Don’t worry we host these sustainability webinars focused on SDGs on the third Thursday of every month. Currently we have 4 upcoming webinars:
On Thursday 20th October 2022, we will be looking at SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.
On Thursday 17th November 2022, we will be looking at SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.
On Thursday 19th January 2023, we will be looking at SDG 2: Zero Hunger.
On Thursday 16th February 2023, we will be looking at SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being.
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Get Involved!
Are you interested in being a speaker or sponsoring these webinars? Please reach out to us!
We welcome all promotional or financial partnerships, and welcome speakers or organizations that want to showcase their sustainability knowledge.
For more information contact: project@environfocus.com
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