August 8, 2021 By Taryn Hopkins Digital Content Creator and Editor for the SDGs NZ Master of Public Policy at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington Lockdown in 2020 was a dark and difficult time for many. The disruption of everyday life and the isolation from others had everyone, especially children and young people, feeling scared, lonely and completely lost. Entering back into our bubbles now in 2021, will we see the same issues arise?  Image retrieved from stuff.co.nz (click for link) Our national issues surrounding youth and poor mental health have predated t ..read more

By Taryn Hopkins Digital Content Creator and Editor for the SDGs NZ Masters of Public Policy at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington Addressing child poverty and working to eradicate extreme poverty for all kiwi kids is crucial for the health of our future generations. New Zealand’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) means we must work towards reaching SGD 1: ‘No Poverty’, which pushes the nation to reduce – at least by half – the proportion of children of all ages living in poverty by 2030. Fernworth Wharekura Primary school kid Arlie H ..read more

By Dr. Gillian Greer Former Assistant Vice Chancellor Equity and Human Resources (Victoria University of Wellington) Co-editor of "The People's Report" [Pictured: Gill - Mother, Grandmother & Sustainability Advocate] I began this Blog in April, with the words, “It’s so long since I wrote a blog that I’m sitting at my unusually tidy desk thinking, “But where do I begin?” It was a golden autumn day, in the middle of a pandemic. Waves larger than I have ever seen here were pounding the beach nearby. The UN was urging countries to work together to defeat Covid-19, but the US President was ..read more

By Rosalind McIntosh United Nations Association Ambassador on the Civil Society Voice on Agenda 2030 Inclusion, respect and cooperation are the values underpinning the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to 2030 (UN SDGs or UN Agenda 2030). Virtually the whole world (193 nations) signed agreement to these values and goals in September 2015, including New Zealand. Balance of the three indivisible essentials for sustainability — the natural world, human society, and the economy — is the aim of the seventeen goals. Each nation determines its own priorities and procedures. The SDGs e ..read more

By Sylvie McLean Our role in enhancing biodiversity outside of “protected areas.” In any discussion of environmental issues it is important to step back and look at the bigger picture, to consider what values you hold and what your priorities are, and make robust, considered discussions. What does biodiversity mean to you? Is it national parks and the wilderness within them? Or is it your back garden, the trees that line the streets or the plants you have in your bedroom? Is it the stream that runs through your local park or the ocean of the harbour? What is it that you value and connect with ..read more

By Mike Joy and Sylvie Mclean Biodiversity is a term that means different things to different people. Its use has exploded with people’s increased appreciation of the magnitude of the decline and the importance of diverse biotas to the human future. Popularly biodiversity is understood as the number of species in a given country or ecosystem. To scientists it is a deeper concept that includes genetic and ecosystem diversity and has crucial components like endemicity (species found nowhere else), native diversity (the proportion of native species) and keystone species (species that are crucial ..read more

By Girol Karacaoglu After quoting Thomas Jefferson (”The care of human life and happiness […] is the only legitimate object of good government”), Layard and O’Donnell (2015) go on to write: “What should be the goal of public policy? We agree with Thomas Jefferson. What matters is the quality of life, as people themselves experience it. And the best judge of each person’s life is that same person. Is she happy with her life; is she satisfied? In a democracy that should be the criterion for good policy” (p. 77). Needless to say, there are numerous other possible philosophical perspectives and et ..read more