Like with every SDG, there are particular targets and indicators set to help achieve a specific goal within the estimated period. In this case, the UN strategic development goals are to be achieved by 2030, however, with the red flag alert that is tagged on climate change, this one requires a quicker turnover than any other. Truthfully the damage has been done, as human beings we have mishandled our resources. This however does not mean that it’s too late for us to make a significant impact. 

Climate change currently affects every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives, costing people, communities and countries dearly every day. The impact on climate is as simple as the greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. To address climate change, countries adopted the Paris Agreement in December 2015. In the agreement, all countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius but strive for 1.5 degrees Celsius. With this knowledge, we must take action.

Below are the targets and their respective indicators:

A. To strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries. 

• The number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population.

• The number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies is in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.

• The proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies is in line with national disaster risk reduction strategies.

B. To integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning.

• The number of countries with nationally determined contributions, long-term strategies, national adaptation plans and adaptation communications, as reported to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

• The total greenhouse gas emissions per year

C. To improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning. 

• The extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment

D. To implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible.

• The amounts provided and mobilized in United States dollars per year to the continued existing collective mobilization goal of the $100 billion commitment through 2025.

E. To promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in the least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities.

• The number of least developed countries and small island developing States with nationally determined contributions, long-term strategies, national adaptation plans and adaptation communications, as reported to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

It’s our prayer that for the sake of our planet and human existence as a whole, we will be able to implement all that has been set before us to save our planet as quickly as possible. 

” We must work closely together to make this year a year of global action, one that will be remembered as the dawn of a new era of sustainable development.”