Targets proposed in the thirteenth SDG:

Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries

Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning

Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning

Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible

Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities

Climate change has had a major impact on the concentration of water that is held in this planet. From 1901-2010, the global average sea level rose by nineteen centimeters as oceans expanded due to warming and ice melted. The Arctic’s sea ice extent has shrunk in every successive decade since 1979, with 1.07 million square kilometers of ice loss each decade. In addition, rising temperatures are melting glacial ice at an unexpected rate. Countries that are suffering the most from this include Bolivia and its bordering nation -Peru.

The Andean nation of Bolivia highly depends on glaciers from its mountains to provide most of its water; but since the effects of climate change begun to be experienced in the country, its water supplies have been at risk. Tourism has also been impacted by this -for example- the mountain of Chacaltaya was home to the world’s highest ski lift for half a century, but after years of loss, the Chacaltaya glacier disappeared in the year 2009. In the land of Peru, the largest expanse of glaciers in the tropical belt (as of the 1970s) have been disappearing at the rate of about ten percent per decade. Quechua-speaking farmers struggle to understand the events that are altering their livelihood, since they rely solely on water sourced from the glaciers to water their crops. Ben Orlove -an anthropologist at the University of California at Davis- explains the viewpoint of Andean farmers concerning the recent changes. He claims that some say the mountains are turning black because they are angry or sad; while others blame pollution.

The most relevant actions in the thirteenth SDG regarding this issue would be: the first one (see top of document), and the second one. In such situations i.e. ones that are affecting people’s livelihoods and require immediate solutions in order to keep lives running as normal; resilience or adaptation (when it comes to issues that cannot be reversed) are key. The integration of climate change measures into the laws of countries facing such issues would also go a long way in dealing with them correctly.

An extremely important area that failed to be mentioned in SDG #13 is the security/ safeguarding of marine life. The living beings underwater which provide us with food, protect our coral reefs and remain significant in food chains have sadly not been concentrated on. The “beasts” that roam the earth have also been neglected. They should also be taken into account. These are the two elements I would include if I had the opportunity to come up with an additional action plan to the already existent ones. This would be able to cover indigenous and non-indigenous communities that depend on marine life as well as wildlife and other animals for various activities in life such as: provision of income, tourism, entertainment, security, culture e.t.c

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