A reframing of sustainability and "sustainable" development: gender, Indigeneity, and the SDGs

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https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/82658056059

Meeting ID: 826 5805 6059

Passcode: research

Abstract

Sustainability has been a prevalent part of development discourse and environmentalism for decades but alternative worldviews that centre around sustainable ways of knowing and being have been largely overlooked such as those held by women and Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous Peoples and women are positioned to catalyze the transformative change required to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) laid out in the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. By way of critique and discussion of the SDGs through Indigenous and gendered lenses drawing from feminist and indigenous scholars, and frameworks like the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), it is found that these groups remain marginalized and at the periphery of development discourse yet are those the most deeply impacted. The recognition of Indigenous Peoples and women’s rights to self-determination and autonomy, their explicit and meaningful inclusion in development policymaking, as well as seriously valuing their contributions to labour and education, are critical to a holistic and inclusive reframing of sustainability. Only once Indigenous worldviews are uplifted and taken seriously, and women’s empowerment is recognized as fundamental to the achievement of all the SDGs, can the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda be fully realized.