sustainable development goals vs. radical alternatives

Sustainable Development Goals vs.

Radical Well-being Alternatives

Ashish KothariKalpavriksh

Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030

Major improvement over Millennium Development Goals• Sustainability as cross-cutting• Urgent need to tackle inequality

Preamble: “We envisage a world of universal respect for human rights and human dignity, the rule of law, justice, equality and non-discrimination … A world in which consumption and production patterns and use of all natural resources are sustainable. One in which humanity lives in harmony with nature and in which wildlife and other living species are protected.”

But unlikely to achieve this vision…

Fundamentally flawed on many counts

… violence against nature, cultures, communities, and individuals!

‘Development’ = economic growth at all costs

Eradicating poverty, tackling inequality?

• ‘Economic growth’ will take >100 years to ‘lift’ 2 billion people out of poverty

• With 12-fold increase in size of global economy … sustainability out of the window!

• No radical redistribution of resources, no target to reduce wealth/consumption by super-rich

Better governance?

• SDGs: more accountable governments, public participation … good, but

• No radical redistribution of power towards people / communities

• Continued reliance on nation-states• No space for governance by indigenous

peoples / local communities

False or partial solutions: Technofixes, market solutions, green growth, REDD/REDD+, CDM, geoengineering, climate-start agriculture … green economy

Need radical alternatives …

India: alternative initiatives for well-being

Water

CraftsShelter

Food

Energy

Governance

LivelihoodsConservation

Village revitalisation

Urban sustainability

Learning

Health

Producer companies

www.alternativesindia.orgwww.vikalpsangam.org

Eco-swaraj: Radical ecological democracy

(Radical = going to the roots, challenging the conventional)

• achieving human well-being, through: – empowering all citizens & communities to participate in

decision-making– ensuring socio-economic equity & justice – respecting the limits of the earth

Community (at various levels) as basic unit of organisation, not state or private corporation

Worldviews from elsewhere … • Indigenous peoples’ territorial struggles and notions of

well-being– buen vivir: sumak kawsay (Andes), suma qamana

(Bolivia), kume mongen (Chile)– ubuntu (S. Africa), umuntu (Uganda), ukama

(Zimbabwe), eti uwem (W. Africa)

• Europe’s degrowth movement

• Diversity and pluralism (of ideas, knowledge, ecologies, economies, polities, cultures…)

• Self-reliance for basics (swavalamban)• Cooperation, collectivity, and ‘commons’ • Rights with responsibilities/duties• Dignity of labour• Respect for subsistence • Qualitative pursuit of happiness• Equity / equality (gender, caste, class, ethnic, generational)• Simplicity, enoughness, sufficiency (aparigraha)• Decision-making access to all• Respect for all life forms • Ecological sustainability

Many radical pathways, common values & principles?

Towards a sustainable and equitable society … 5 pillars

•Ecological sustainability–Conservation of nature, sustainable use of resources

•Social well-being & justice–Equality between men/women, classes, castes, etc

•Direct / radical democracy–Decision-making by citizens, accountable govt

•Economic democracy–Means of production in hands of producers, localised self-sufficiency, economy of caring/sharing

•Cultural and knowledge diversity–Knowledge as public resource, respecting cultural/ethnic diversity

So what to do with SDGs? Use positive goals / targets to push policy changes / hold govts accountable … but

Continue community level resistance and reconstruction, indigenous visions and practices to build a future we want

‘when people lead, the leaders follow’

• www.kalpavriksh.org

• www.vikalpsangam.org

• chikikothari@gmail.com

For more information….