Sustainable Development Goal 6

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Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6 or SDG 6) is one of 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the UN in 2016 and aims for clean drinking water and sanitation for everyone everywhere. The official wording of this goal is to: "Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all." The goal has eight targets which are to be achieved either by the year 2030 or already in 2020. The progress towards the targets will be measured by using indicators.

SDG6 is closely linked with many of the other 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The other SDGs cover a broad range of social issues like poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender equality and social justice.

Video Sustainable Development Goal 6

Targets

SDG6 has eight targets. Six of them are to be achieved by the year 2030, one by the year 2020 and one has no target year. Each of the targets also has one or two indicators which will be used to measure progress. In total there are 11 indicators for SDG6.

The first three targets relate to drinking water supply and sanitation. Safe drinking water and hygienic toilets protect people from disease and enable societies to be more productive economically. Attending school and work without disruption supports education and employment, both of which are the foundation of alleviating poverty. Therefore, toilets at school and at the work place are included in the second target ("achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all"). Equitable sanitation and hygiene solutions address the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations, such as the elderly or people with disabilities.

Water sources are better preserved if open defecation is ended and sustainable sanitation systems are implemented. Preserving natural sources of water is important to achieve universal access to safe and affordable drinking water. Therefore, one target aims to reduce water pollution by eliminating dumping and minimizing the release of hazardous chemicals and untreated wastewater. The potential for recycling and safe reuse of wastewater is also mentioned.

Maps Sustainable Development Goal 6

Indicators

The main indicator for the sanitation target is the "Proportion of population using safely managed sanitation services, including a hand-washing facility with soap and water". The current statistic in the 2017 baseline estimate by the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) is that 4.5 billion people currently do not have safely managed sanitation. The JMP is a joint program of UNICEF and WHO and compiles data to monitor SDG6 progress.

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Links with other SDGs

The SDGs are all interlinked. WASH experts have stated that without progress on Goal 6, the other goals and targets cannot be achieved. In other words, accomplishing the other SDGs will require assuring clean water and sanitation for all as stated in SDG6.

Sanitation systems with a resource recovery and reuse focus are getting increased attention and can contribute to achieving at least fourteen of the SDGs, especially in an urban context.

Recovering the resources embedded in excreta and wastewater (like nutrients, water and energy) contributes to achieving Goal 12 (sustainable consumption and production) and Goal 2 (end hunger).

Ensuring adequate sanitation and wastewater management along the entire value chain in cities contributes to Goal 11 (sustainable cities and communities), Goal 1 (no poverty) and Goal 8 (decent work and economic growth).

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Organizations

The Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) works on sanitation issues as a global network of 9000 individuals and 300 partner organizations. Global organizations such as Oxfam, UNICEF, WaterAid and many small NGOs as well as universities, research centres, private enterprises, government-owned entities etc. are all part of SuSanA and are dedicated to achieving SDG6.

Ending open defecation will require provision of toilets and sanitation for 2.6 billion people as well as behavior change of the population. This will require cooperation between governments, civil society and the private sector.

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See also

• Water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH)

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References

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External links

• Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform

Source of the article : Wikipedia