SDGs
University of Hyogo SDGs Declaration
The University of Hyogo hereby issues the SDGs Declaration to contribute to the realization of a safe and peaceful society and the happiness and welfare of the entire world and pledges to promote humanistic education and research rooted in respect for life and to strive toward their achievement by bringing together the wisdom of various fields.
As human activities drastically change the global environment, realizing a sustainable society has become a pressing issue for the entire world. Anthropogenic climate change intensifies, causing widespread adverse effects and losses to ecosystems and humans. The UN Summit on Sustainable Development was held in 2015, where universal goals for the international community, namely the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), were unanimously adopted. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is based on the basic principle of "Leave no one behind" and calls for global citizen awareness and participation.
As a comprehensive public university, the University of Hyogo promotes education and research that emphasizes the integration of different fields and aims to develop human resources who can contribute to realizing the SDGs. That is, "human resources with creativity and independence equipped with rich humanity, public spirit, ability to explore issues, and global literacy and who can play an active role in local and international communities. However, changes in social conditions and the environment, such as new infectious disease pandemics and climate change, have far exceeded our imagination. As a result, environmental, economic, and social sustainability is now at stake in various regions worldwide. Therefore, the University of Hyogo decided to deepen and develop the education and research practices of all its members within the framework of the SDGs and to mobilize their collective efforts to achieve the SDGs further.
The University of Hyogo will work toward solutions to the following issues by leveraging its cutting-edge research infrastructure based on the fusion of different disciplines, especially in energy, Green Transformation (GX), biodiversity, and disaster mitigation, and collaborating with researchers in these fields.
Energy issues are at the core of the challenges facing the world. Employment, food production, security, water resources, and even climate change are tied to energy sustainability. To solve these energy problems, we promote research to build an economic and social system toward carbon neutrality that fully uses GX. In addition, the global environment is supported by the blessings (ecosystem services) derived from ecosystems based on biodiversity. We regard the health of all living organisms and ecosystems, including humans, as "one health" and work for the conservation of biodiversity. And the University of Hyogo has been seriously engaged in research on disaster mitigation and recovery based on the lessons learned from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995. The University of Hyogo will further develop the results of these efforts into a university-wide collaboration on environmental and policy issues to realize a safer and more secure life for people.
The key to advancing these efforts is a partnership, as stated in Goal 17 of the SDGs. Therefore, the University of Hyogo will contribute to solving social issues in collaboration with local people, academic organizations, government agencies, and businesses worldwide.
March 23, 2022
University of Hyogo