UNESCO: Promoting engineering capacities vital for achieving SDGs

05 / 03 / 2021

By Marwa Nassar - -

The second UNESCO Engineering Report underlined the importance of promoting engineering capacities, especially in Africa, to realize the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The report – entitled Despite high demand for engineering – was released on the World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development which falls on March 4.

The report pointed to currently insufficient engineering capacities to achieve the internationally agreed SDGs, and highlighted the lack of diversity in the field. It demonstrated how equal opportunity for all is key to ensuring an inclusive and gender balanced profession able to realize its full potential.

The report further noted that “the unprecedented situation presented by the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the interconnected nature of societies and how scientific innovations, through the effective implementation of engineering, can increase resilience.”

The report presented a snapshot of engineering innovations and actions that are contributing to meeting the SDGs, with contributions from authors from every region of the world. It highlights the crucial role of engineering in achieving each of the 17 SDGs, and explains why it is crucial to engage the engineering profession.

The report also demonstrated how engineering innovations and new technologies, especially those using information and communication technologies and data, are transforming our world for the better. Most importantly, it demonstrates how engineering is vital to solving the critical issues of today, including climate change, urbanization and preserving the health of our oceans and forests, for example.

“Engineering itself needs to transform to become more innovative, inclusive, cooperative and responsible,” according to the Report. A new paradigm for engineering is thus urgently needed, one that bridges traditional divisions between disciplines and that is inter- and multidisciplinary in its approach, enabling engineering to address complex issues such as climate change. Furthermore, engineers need to understand and shoulder their social responsibility by contributing to a more sustainable, resilient and equitable world for all people.

The report was prepared in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the International Centre for Engineering Education (ICEE), based at Tsinghua University, the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) and other international engineering organizations.