558
W. Leal Filho
community (Noguchi et al. 2015). It is therefore vital to ensure that suitable community projects are set up to help members of society to understand the concept of
sustainable development and their role in achieving it (Chaichana et al. 2017; Franco
and Tracey 2019).
Social interaction has been seen to promote sustainability within society. An
example of such practice occurs in Germany where members of some communities
are encouraged to actively participate in community gardening projects. This has
many ecological and economic benefits for the participating members (Rogge et al.
2018). In other instances it is noted that voluntary groups have the ability to boost
public participation, influence opinions, and channel resources. Furthermore, they are
able to link the community participation to the local administrations. This ensures that
the community receives the necessary support required to engage in more sustainable
practices (Fu and Ma 2020).
A critical analysis of sustainable development across societies shows that indigenous knowledge is, unfortunately, often disregarded. However, the dissemination of
knowledge between the various generations of a society allows for indigenous knowledge to be preserved and incorporated into modern practices. This often enhances
sustainability, and is known to be cost effective in the long run. This is often achieved
through lifelong learning, where members of the community are educated on sustainability issues related to everyday living such as farming and fishing (Noguchi et al.
2015), outside of institutional settings.
The practice of lifelong learning is especially beneficial to societies where formal
educational training is unavailable and the bulk of knowledge is attained through
people sharing experiences and social interactions (Wilson et al. 2018).
In all these occasions, the influence of higher education institutions may occur
at various levels, and can be direct or indirect. Although we now know well what
needs to be done and changed in many areas to foster sustainable development across
society, the changes needed are not progressing fast enough and in some cases are not
yet being implemented on a broad scale. That is why we need to look more intensively
at the paths to successful change, where the role of society is better considered. This is
an important prerequisite for further developing an effective model of sustainability,
which is more firmly anchored in political and social practice. Apart from academia,
this process of change includes the contributions of individuals and social groups,
states, companies and the international community.
3 Conclusions
The current ecological, economic, health and political challenges, many of which
have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, make a comprehensive social
change towards sustainability necessary. It is also now clear that setting goals,
scenarios, or instruments for the implementation of the SDGs is not enough: we
need concrete measures and indicators, which may allow progress to be measured.
W. Leal Filho
community (Noguchi et al. 2015). It is therefore vital to ensure that suitable community projects are set up to help members of society to understand the concept of
sustainable development and their role in achieving it (Chaichana et al. 2017; Franco
and Tracey 2019).
Social interaction has been seen to promote sustainability within society. An
example of such practice occurs in Germany where members of some communities
are encouraged to actively participate in community gardening projects. This has
many ecological and economic benefits for the participating members (Rogge et al.
2018). In other instances it is noted that voluntary groups have the ability to boost
public participation, influence opinions, and channel resources. Furthermore, they are
able to link the community participation to the local administrations. This ensures that
the community receives the necessary support required to engage in more sustainable
practices (Fu and Ma 2020).
A critical analysis of sustainable development across societies shows that indigenous knowledge is, unfortunately, often disregarded. However, the dissemination of
knowledge between the various generations of a society allows for indigenous knowledge to be preserved and incorporated into modern practices. This often enhances
sustainability, and is known to be cost effective in the long run. This is often achieved
through lifelong learning, where members of the community are educated on sustainability issues related to everyday living such as farming and fishing (Noguchi et al.
2015), outside of institutional settings.
The practice of lifelong learning is especially beneficial to societies where formal
educational training is unavailable and the bulk of knowledge is attained through
people sharing experiences and social interactions (Wilson et al. 2018).
In all these occasions, the influence of higher education institutions may occur
at various levels, and can be direct or indirect. Although we now know well what
needs to be done and changed in many areas to foster sustainable development across
society, the changes needed are not progressing fast enough and in some cases are not
yet being implemented on a broad scale. That is why we need to look more intensively
at the paths to successful change, where the role of society is better considered. This is
an important prerequisite for further developing an effective model of sustainability,
which is more firmly anchored in political and social practice. Apart from academia,
this process of change includes the contributions of individuals and social groups,
states, companies and the international community.
3 Conclusions
The current ecological, economic, health and political challenges, many of which
have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, make a comprehensive social
change towards sustainability necessary. It is also now clear that setting goals,
scenarios, or instruments for the implementation of the SDGs is not enough: we
need concrete measures and indicators, which may allow progress to be measured.