Korea's Economic Development and Sustainable Development Goals

Korea's remarkable development offers crucial lessons for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals globally.

### Sustainable Development: Lessons from Korea's Economic Journey
* 🌍 Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, emphasizes the **importance of sustainable development** in achieving the **Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)** globally.
* 📅 The concept of **sustainable development** was highlighted by the Brundtland Commission in 1987, focusing on **meeting human needs for both current and future generations**.
* 🌱 The Rio Earth Summit in 1992 resulted in significant treaties aimed at environmental protection, but it became clear that **international law alone was not enough** to ensure sustainable development.
* 📝 In 2015, the United Nations adopted the **2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development**, which includes **17 SDGs** that aim for **economic prosperity**, **social fairness**, and **environmental sustainability**.
* 📊 Korea's experience with goal-setting positions it well to contribute to the SDGs, although it still faces challenges in **social inclusion and environmental sustainability**.
* ⚖ While Korea has made significant strides in economic growth and education, issues such as **gender inequality** and **reliance on fossil fuels** present ongoing challenges for sustainable development.
* 🌱 To achieve SDG 13, which targets greenhouse gas emissions, Korea must transition towards **green growth**, highlighting the **universal nature of the sustainable development challenge**.
* 🤝 Sachs believes that Korea's successful development experience can provide **valuable lessons** for both itself and other countries in the pursuit of the **SDGs from 2016 to 2030**.

Hello, I'm Jeffrey Sachs. I'm director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and also very lucky to serve as Special Advisor to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Sustainable Development Goals. In that capacity, I also direct a

global knowledge network called the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, or SDSN, that aims to help countries achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals. It's in this capacity that I'm really deeply honored to be part of KDI's series on how Korea's remarkable economic development can

contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals worldwide; what we can learn from Korea's economic experience, its history, its efforts, its strategies, its organization and institutions, and how these can be important lessons for not only Korea's own future but also for developments in many other countries around the world.

I have the pleasure in this chapter to talk about what is sustainable development and why it is important. This is a prelude to the whole question of how countries can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Well, sustainable development is a concept that has been with us now for more than a quarter century,

almost 30 years, since it was really put center stage by a commission in the mid-1980s headed by the Norwegian Prime Minister at the time, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland. And the core idea of sustainable development was that we need to make sure that our

economic development really meets human needs, not only for the people alive today but also for future generations. And the big challenge that Dr. Brundtland and her commission faced when they issued their report back in 1987 is the fact that continues till today.

That the way that economic growth is proceeding in the world poses some very deep challenges, even crises—environmental crises and social crises—that mean that even when economies are expanding, they're not necessarily meeting human needs or keeping the world safe and secure for future generations. So the

idea of sustainable development was brought to the world's attention in the Brundtland Commission report in 1987, and then it became a centerpiece of a very important meeting in 1992, the Rio Earth Summit. That was the time when the world

first agreed on a climate treaty, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change; the world agreed on a treaty to protect biodiversity, the Convention on Biological Diversity; the world agreed to fight the spread of deserts, or desertification, in the U.N. Convention

to Combat Desertification. All three treaties were adopted at the Rio Earth Summit and they became the essence of sustainable development. But alas, that was 25 years ago, and we learned a painful lesson that having international law, having these treaties, was not sufficient

to actually put the world on a course of sustainable development. So, on the 20th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit, which again took place in Rio in June 2012, the world's governments said, "We really need to make sustainable development not just a slogan, but a

reality for the world." And at that time, the governments said, "We'll do that by adopting a new global agenda, a new development agenda, and we will include in that agenda Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs." Well, it took three years to negotiate that new agenda and the sustainable

Development Goals. They were finally adopted on September 25th, 2015, unanimously by the 193 countries of the United Nations. It was really an exciting day; I was there. Ban Ki-moon was presiding; he had done so much to make this possible, and the world adopted the 2030 Agenda

on Sustainable Development, and it adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. So what does sustainable development mean for us? The way that it is now interpreted by the member states of the United Nations is that sustainable development means having three big objectives for society: economic prosperity,

that one we're used to; social fairness or social inclusion is the second big objective; and the third, environmental sustainability. So sometimes the sustainable development agenda is defined as having a triple bottom line: an economic, a social, and an environmental bottom line for society; or to put it another way,

that society has to aim for three things: not just the growth of the gross domestic product, but prosperity, including economic growth, but also social inclusion or social fairness, so that everybody can share in those benefits of economic growth; and environmental sustainability, so that as the

economy expands, it doesn't destroy the land, it doesn't poison the air and the water, it doesn't change the climate in dangerous ways. In other words, economic growth must be compatible with a safe environment, guarding against human-made climate change, guarding against the destruction of other species. So this triple bottom

line, embodied in the so-called 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, is now the world's globally agreed framework for cooperation. It is the strategy of all of the member states of the United Nations. It has a set period: 2016

to 2030. And one of the aspects that makes these Sustainable Development Goals so interesting and potentially so important is that these goals have timelines, milestones, and quantitative targets. We're supposed to reach certain outcomes by the year 2030. Now, Korea is a country that has a lot of

experience with goal-setting and achieving those goals, and taking very big national objectives and then being successful at achieving them. And that's what makes it exciting to ask the question of how Korea's economic development history and experience can help inform the success of the

Sustainable Development Goals. I do want to emphasize Korea has its own work to do; it's not the end of the story for Korea. Though Korea is a high-income success story, admired around the world—a country that was impoverished, one of the poorest in the world a half

century ago, and now is one of the richest in the world; a country that stands at the top of the charts in educational achievement; that is a highly competitive economy at the cutting edge of technology—uh, in advanced information technology and consumer electronics, in the mobile broadband

in the cutting-edge sectors of the modern economy. Korea's there, but it doesn't mean that Korea is without its own challenges. Because when you think about sustainable development, always think about the three pillars: economic—I'd say Korea has done an absolutely spectacular job;

social—pretty good, but with some room for improvement. Because Korea is, uh, broadly speaking, a country with shared prosperity, but there still are challenges in making sure that women are well represented in national life, at the top of the business circles, in politics. Of course, you have a woman

President, and we see advances, but there is still an indication that Korea has a gap in income distribution and gender inequalities, and some other well-known social challenges in the Korean context. But on the third pillar, environmental sustainability...

This is a challenge for Korea, as it is for all high-income countries. Korea is a country, for example, that is heavily dependent on fossil fuels—coal, oil, and gas—and Korea's power generation is predominantly fossil fuel-based.

That means that Korea is a major emitter of greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change. This means that, in order for Korea to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular SDG 13, which calls on every country to take action to eliminate...

the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to human-made climate change, Korea has major work to do: green growth as opposed to simply growth in the years ahead. So I believe firmly that Korea's development experience, which has been spectacular, is a basis for other countries to make...

significant advances in the Sustainable Development Goals. But I also believe that Korea's own development experience gives lessons for Korea as well on how Korea should achieve the SDGs in the period 2016 to 2030, because this is a universal challenge.

It's a universal commitment; it's a challenge for Korea as well as the rest of the world.

[MOOC] Jeffrey D. Sachs - Challenge of Sustainable Development for Developing Countries

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Introduction and context of sustainable development

Jeffrey Sachs' introduction and role in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Focus on Korea's economic development's contribution to global SDGs.

Discussion on the meaning and importance of sustainable development.

Origin of sustainable development concept and its core idea.

Challenges of economic growth and its impact on human needs and future generations.

Historical context of sustainable development agreements

The Rio Earth Summit (1992) and its significant treaties.

Shortcomings of international law in achieving sustainable development.

The 2012 Rio+20 summit and the shift towards a new global agenda.

Adoption of the 2030 Agenda and 17 SDGs in 2015.

Definition of sustainable development encompassing economic prosperity, social fairness, and environmental sustainability.

The triple bottom line concept: economic, social, and environmental.

Importance of balancing economic growth with social inclusion and environmental protection.

The 2030 Agenda as a globally agreed framework with timelines and targets.

Korea's role and challenges in achieving SDGs

Korea's experience in goal-setting and its potential contribution to SDGs.

Korea's economic success and its remaining challenges.

Assessment of Korea's progress across the three pillars of sustainable development.

Social challenges in Korea: gender inequality and income distribution.

Environmental challenges: reliance on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions.

Conclusion: Lessons and future directions

Korea's development experience as a model for other countries.

Importance of Korea addressing its own SDG challenges.

Universal commitment and challenges in achieving SDGs.