SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

SDG 9 aims to promote the idea of decent work to the development of infrastructure, such as transport, irrigation, energy and information and communication technology, to achieve sustainable development and community empowerment around the world. Infrastructure is made up of two dimensions – the physical assets themselves and the services needed to maintain them. Project development and funding is strengthened when public and private groups work together to provide solutions. Investing in the research and development of technological progress, education and the empowerment of marginalized communities can help us achieve our environmental objectives of renewable resources and energy-efficiency. Given the role of infrastructure and industrial development as core drivers of a global development agenda, failure to improve this domain will make achieving the other goals more difficult. In late February 2023, there were three drinking water advisories in Saskatchewan and 28 advisories cross Canada due to inadequate infrastructure.

You might also be able to align your teaching to this SDG if you want your students to be able to:

  • Depict the concepts of sustainable infrastructure and industrialization.
  • Analyze the local, national and global challenges to achieving resilient infrastructure and industrialization.
  • Identify opportunities in their own culture and nation for greener and more resilient infrastructure, understanding their risks and overall benefits.
  • Investigate examples of unsustainable development .

 

You might consider having your students reflect, share, act in some of these ways:

  • Find ways that students can engage with stakeholders like non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments, businesses and community members.
  • Design projects which allow students to fairly critique government policies or processes, to address gaps in policies or processes, or develop innovative solutions to existing problems.
  • Innovation comes from collaboration, so look for ways for students to learn, share and think critically with people in your community, or on the other side of the world, such as through COIL.

Some curricular connections and questions for students might be:

Media – How can media keep industries accountable to their social, economic and environmental impact?Environment – What are the essential qualities of sustainable development regarding environmental protection?Poverty, wealth, and power – How can industrialization or innovation help end the poverty cycle?

Indigenous Peoples – How can infrastructure development and industrialization be more inclusive of Indigenous perspectives and rights?

Peace and conflict – How is industrial development impacted during times of conflict?

Oppression and genocide – How might government corruption affect infrastructure development and industrialization?

Gender politics – How can we ensure spaces for women in innovative technological sectors?

Social justice and human rights – What would happen if access to Internet became a human right? What would it look like?

Health and biotechnology – How can we ensure healthy working conditions amidst economic development?

 

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Embedding Sustainable Development Goals in Teaching and Learning Copyright © by Aditi Garg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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