Page 8 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 3

Introduction

he era, we are in, is an extremely chaotic period, where there are changes
Tand transformations that may change the course of the history, as well as
the increasing vulnerabilities. In such a period when we feel the pains of a new
world being reborn; competitive restrictions in global trade, wars, conflicts and
crises experienced at the regional and local levels, pandemics, disasters related
to the climate crisis threaten all humanity and societies as a source of chaos
and crisis. Refugees, asylum seekers and people under temporary protection,
whose numbers reach millions due to wars and climate change, stand out
as the main problems on the agenda of the whole world. Cities, nature and
man are among the worst victims of this process. The gradually increasing
problems make the pressure on humanity and the world, our common home
even more, and this pressure necessitates searching the solutions at the local,
national and global levels. As a result of these searches at the global level,
numerous summits and conferences have been held, agreements and contracts
have been prepared, and significant scientific studies have been conducted
in the 50-year period since the Stockholm Summit, which was organized for
the first time under the leadership of the United Nations in 1972. In addition,
environmentalist movements and non-governmental organizations have
gained corporate identity and extended over the base level. Although very
important steps have been taken in certain areas, it is unfortunate that, many
problems, especially climate change, have not yet been adequately solved. As
a consequence of these studies, sustainable development has become perhaps
one of the most popular concepts of recent years. This concept, at its core,
embodies an understanding of development that prioritizes the protection of
the environment as well as an intergenerational justice based on the fact that the
world is a trust which is, indeed, handed down to us by our future generations.
Thus, the Sustainable Development Goals, consisting of 17 targets, which were
determined by world leaders together at the UN in 2015, have been one of the

Year 2 / Issue 3 / January 2023 VII