Vancouver Island University & the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: A Review & 3-year Roadmap Prepared by: Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute January, 2019 i Acknowledgements The Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI) at Vancouver Island University (VIU) conducted all of the primary research and report writing for this project. This research has been conducted under the supervision and guidance of MABRRI Research Director, Dr. Pamela Shaw PhD MCIP RPP FRCGS, and was supported by Graham Sakaki MCP, MABRRI Research and Community Engagement Coordinator, and Larissa Thelin, MABRRI Assistant Research and Community Engagement Coordinator. We would first like to thank Dr. Ralph Nilson, President and Vice-Chancellor of Vancouver Island University, for the opportunity to work on this project and his support throughout the process. We would also like to thank both Robin McLay, Senior Advisor to the President, and Patrick Brennan, Special Advisor to the President, for their advice and support. We also wish to thank Mark Holland and Rebecca Mellett for presenting at our symposium on October 18, 2018. Finally, we would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all the faculty and staff of Vancouver Island University that generously volunteered their time to meet with us and to provide valuable information for this study, for the faculty, staff, and students that attended the symposium and provided recommendations for this report, and for the volunteers who helped to facilitate that event. ii MABRRI Research Project Team Contributing Authors Courtney Vaugeois, Community Engagement Projects Coordinator Larissa Thelin, Assistant Research & Community Engagement Coordinator Jessica Pyett, Senior Research Assistant Kidston Short, Senior Research Assistant Graham Sakaki, Research & Community Engagement Coordinator Other Staff Involved The following lists other members of the MABRRI team that were involved in this project. They contributed by helping to facilitate meetings with faculty and staff and by assisting with the facilitation of the symposium hosted on October 18. Names are listed alphabetically by last name. Carson Anderson, Research Assistant Alan Cavin, Research Assistant Cassidy Funk, Research Assistant Kayla Harris, Research Assistant Lindsay Malbon, Research Assistant Chrissy Schellenberg, Research Assistant Ashley Van Acken, Former Coordinator of the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Ariel Verhoeks, GIS & Remote Sensing Specialist iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ii MABRRI Research Team iii Table of Contents iv List of Figures & Tables v Introduction 1 – 3 The United Nations & the Sustainable Development Goals 1 Methodology 3 – 6 Preliminary Measures 3 VIU Website Review 4 Meetings with VIU Faculty and Staff 4 Analysis of Other Initiatives 5 Symposium 5 Data Analysis 6 The Sustainable Development Goals & VIU 7 – 56 Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere 7 Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote 10 sustainable agriculture Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages 13 Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong 17 learning opportunities for all Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 21 Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all 24 Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all 27 Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and 29 productive employment and decent work for all Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable 32 industrialization and foster innovation Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries 35 Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable 37 Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns 40 Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts 44 Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for 46 sustainable development Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, 48 sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, 51 provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global 54 partnership for sustainable development Limitations 56 – 57 Recommendations 57 – 60 iv References 61 – 84 Appendices 85 – 151 Appendix A: Data collection methodology for the review of the VIU website 85 Appendix B: Meetings with VIU faculty and staff 86 Appendix C: Example interview questions: Department of Global Studies 87 Appendix D: Compiled data for Goal 1: No poverty 89 Appendix E: Compiled data for Goal 2: Zero hunger 92 Appendix F: Compiled data for Goal 3: Good health and well-being 96 Appendix G: Compiled data for Goal 4: Quality education 103 Appendix H: Compiled data for Goal 5: Gender equality 108 Appendix I: Compiled data for Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation 112 Appendix J: Compiled data for Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy 115 Appendix K: Compiled data for Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth 117 Appendix L: Compiled data for Goal 9: Industry, innovation, and infrastructure 121 Appendix M: Compiled data for Goal 10: Reduced inequalities 124 Appendix N: Compiled data for Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities 126 Appendix O: Compiled data for Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production 130 Appendix P: Compiled data for Goal 13: Climate action 135 Appendix Q: Compiled data for Goal 14: Life below water 137 Appendix R: Compiled data for Goal 15: Life on land 140 Appendix S: Compiled data for Goal 16: Peace, justice, and strong institutions 144 Appendix T: Compiled data for Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals 149 List of Figures & Tables Figure 1: The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2 Table 1: Table topics at the UN SDGs & VIU Symposium HOSTED ON October 18, 2018 5 Figure 2: An example of the posters presented at the UN SDGs & VIU Symposium: 6 Table 1 (Goals 1 & 2) Table 2: Demographic statistics for Vancouver Island University for the academic 18 year of 2016/17 Table 3: Three-year roadmap to assist VIU in meeting the SDGs 58 Table 4: Recommendations from the VIU community related to how VIU can achieve 59 each of the 17 SDGs v Introduction Vancouver Island University (VIU) was established in 1936 when Jack Mcready started an automotive training program with eight students in his garage: two years later, the Dominion-Provincial Youth Training Centre was formed (Vancouver Island University [VIU], 2018-a). Over the years as new courses were added the institution was renamed as Malaspina College, and then as Malaspina University-College in recognition of new abilities to offer degree programs (VIU, 2018-b). The institution was renamed as Vancouver Island University in 2008 (VIU, 2018-a; VIU, 2018-b). Today, the University consists of four campuses located on the west coast of British Columbia (BC). Three campuses, Nanaimo, Parksville- Qualicum, and Cowichan, are located on the east coast of Vancouver Island, and the fourth is located on mainland BC in Powell River (VIU, 2018-c). VIU campuses are located within the unceded territories of Coast Salish First Nations – Powell River, within Tla’amin First Nation territory (Tla’amin Nation, 2018), Parksville-Qualicum Centre within the Snaw-naw-as First Nation territory (VIU, 2018-b), Cowichan within Cowichan Tribes territories, and Nanaimo, VIU’s main campus, within Snuneymuxw First Nation territory (VIU, 2018-c). VIU prides itself in being a place that contributes to stronger and healthier communities through fair access, the provision of regionally-relevant programming, and a focus on student and staff achievement (VIU, 2018-b). In order to realize this, VIU is constantly reviewing its current sustainability status and seeking ways to continually improve, ever increasing the view of VIU as a desirable place to work and learn (VIU, 2018-e, Policy 11.02). The United Nations & the Sustainable Development Goals The United Nations (UN) was established in 1945 and is an international organization comprised of 193 member states (United Nations, 2018-a). The work of the UN is guided by its founding charter, which outlines how the UN will take action on global issues relating to sustainability, human rights, climate change, and food production (United Nations, 2018-a). In 2000, the UN developed eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were intended to be globally achieved by 2015 (World Health Organization [WHO], 2018-a). The purpose of the MDGs was to commit “world leaders to [combating] poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women” (United Nations, 2018-b, para. 1). In 2015, the UN gathered at a 3- day summit to update the MDGs in an effort to “call for action by all countries, poor, rich and middle- income to promote prosperity while protecting the planet” (United Nations, 2018-c, para. 3). The summit was held at the UN headquarters in New York City and was considered a historic opportunity, bringing together over 150 world leaders to collaborate on the development of new goals that would improve the quality of life for all people (WHO, 2018-b). These new Goals