Community Engagement - Geoweek 2018: Introducing Dundrum Brownie Guides to the Sustainable Development Goals
Tuesday, 20 November, 2018
Past News
Community Engagement - Geoweek 2018: Introducing Dundrum Brownie Guides to the Sustainable Development Goals
Tuesday, 20 November, 2018
This year our national GeoWeek (Geography Awareness Week) runs from November 19th-25th and focuses on the role and potential of geography and geographers, academic and in practice, in delivering on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) This UN initiative aims to build on the Millennium Development Goals by creating a plan of action for the people, our planet and it's prosperity. There are 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets which have been adopted by 193 UN member states. The goals are integrated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental.
The Irish government has developed a (opens in a new window)National Implementation Plan for the achievement of the SDGs which is centred on raising awareness, ensuring participation, supporting public contributions and aligning public policy. Geography and geographers have an important role to play.
One of our School initiatives has been to introduce the Sustainable Development Goals to Dundrum Brownie Guides, ranging in age from 7-10 years old. Over two weeks, Assoc. Prof. Niamh Moore-Cherry worked with the Brownie unit to introduce the goals and to consider the actions that we can all take to make progress towards achieving the goals. The girls generated a very clear sense of the kind of world they would like to live in by 2030 and came up with some excellent suggestions for how they could put the global goals into action in their own communities and families. As a result of their hard work, the girls all earned their Environmental Awareness Badge and received official Global Goals certificates of participation.
This initiative was part of the UCD School of Geography activities for Geoweek which also included a guest lecture to first years on Monday November 19th by Prof Enda Murphy on Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. For more information on Geoweek and the range of activities: see (opens in a new window)http://www.geographicalsocietyireland.ie/geoweek.html.
