UNSDG 15 - Life On Land

What Is It?

Life on Land is concerned with the preservation of all life species and their diversity that live above the sea. This goal, for those in Greenome, focuses on sustainable habits for the environment and ecosystem. The question for us is how exactly this can be achieved, or if not, how can the loss be mitigated by restaurants. This goal is based on the criteria of maintaining current ecosystems and environments. There are many examples, but the main concerns to us greenomers are the protection of endangered species, such as hunting sharks for shark fin soup, and sustaining a clean environment to prevent destruction of natural habitats from unsustainable use of garbage and food waste.

To measure restaurants on this SDG, you can maintain a critical eye of their energy consumption and general waste production and management. Additionally, a keen eye on the products they sell and, if possible, their supply chain.

It is very difficult to reduce loss of habitats and ecosystems, but the preservation of nature and life is important and must be maintained. Furthermore, not just the preservation, but the restoration of natural habitats must be emphasized, and this can only be achieved when more than just the restaurant portion of markets change to sustainable methods of production, reducing environment and species loss. 

How Does It Relate to Sustainability?

Sustainability refers to the usage of resources which satisfy present needs while also leaving enough for future generations, not compromising the needs for them. One criteria is

to end deforestation and restore degraded forests. Trees are the major source of oxygen, and they also help absorb carbon dioxide to release oxygen by photosynthesis. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and CSC are major contributors to global warming, which makes global temperatures warmer, ocean levels rise, ice caps melting and more violent natural disasters. Planting more trees helps slow down the pace of global warming and maintain sustainability. Other criterias such as eliminating poaching and trafficking of protected species help conserve the ecosystem and prevent certain animals from going extinct, triggering a butterfly effect on different species. We know that sustainability requires more effort, and more effort means more costs. The UNSDGs are here to guide us, and we all can put effort into making the world more sustainable for our future generations. 

What Can You Do?

Rehabilitation and conservation are primary methods of preserving the environment in response to the environmental impact concerned with modernization. While secondary methods can relate to advocacy and raising awareness can also be indirect influences in contributing to a change, having consumers be aware of the environmental liability they hold could create consumer awareness which influences purchasing power and create a small impact on the industry. The average person consumes 34.1kg of meat and has an environmental impact and produces 19 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year. 

Author’s Notes:

The UNSDGs are a set of goals that hope to be achieved by 2030. However, some goals are still quite a long way to go. As we have seen by the increasing amount of natural disasters occuring in each part of the world, climate change is an issue that cannot be denied and needs to be addressed. Life on land basically discusses the issues that humans have done to the land environment and what needs to be done to hopefully alleviate or reverse the change. Rainforests and animals are a big part of our planet, and we should put our efforts to stop habitats and species from getting damaged. 

Progress: Currently, as of 2024 November 27th, only Namibia, Belarus and Poland have achieved the requirements of the SDG, while most countries are still in “major challenges remain”. This is because either the mean percentage area of key biodiversity areas are low, or the change in aggregate extinction rate across a group of species is decreasing, or other reasons.

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Source: Goal 15: Life on land. The Global Goals. (2024, January 23). https://www.globalgoals.org/goals/15-life-on-land/