What do we mean by Sustainable Communities?
Our vision for sustainable communities are ones that are economically thriving; environmentally healthy; and socially resilient. By taking an active role in the management and protection of your local amenities, groups like yours are actively contributing to improving well-being while promoting a clean environment and a prosperous future.
Dara Lynott, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), from ‘Sustainable Communities: a funding handbook for community-led groups’.
Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of international agreed goals that invite all people to ‘think globally and act locally’ to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and take action on climate change. There is enormous potential for communities to drive this agenda at a local level, by nurturing what is working already and growing new ideas through innovation. The Wheel is actively committed to working with, and through, our members and the wider sector to achieving the SDGs.
The Wheel is a member of Coalition 2030, an alliance of over 60 civil society organisations working together to ensure Ireland keeps its promise to achieve the SDGs. The coalition is made up of a broad range of organisations, including domestic charities, international NGOs, environmental groups, academics and trade unions.
This diverse partnership has come together in the belief that Agenda 2030 – the global development plan agreed in September 2015 at the United Nations – must be fully implemented and its promises kept. To learn more about the work of the coalition, visit www.ireland2030.org.
National Implementation Plan
The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (DCCAE) leads the implementation of the SDGs in Ireland. It has created a National Implementation Plan for the SDGs which sets out how Ireland will work to achieve the Goals, both domestically and internationally. Effective implementation of the Plan will require continued engagement by a range of stakeholders including civil society, business, local government and communities. Read the Plan here.
SDGs Activity
Make a list of the activities your organisation carries out or that you are involved with in your local community. Discuss how these activities link to the 17 SDGs. You may find that your work focuses on one goal or links to a number of them. Who else in the communities you work or volunteer in is working to achieve these goals? The National Youth Council of
Ireland has produced an excellent resource for exploring the SDGs and activism: www.youth.ie/documents/activism-the-sdgs-and-youth.
For a list of the 17 SDGs, visit: www.globalgoals.org.