Applying the Sustainable Development Goals in Marinas

Back in 2015 all United Nations Member States adopted the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.  At the centre of this are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that provide a framework for countries to increase peace and prosperity both now and in the future.  Although the SDGs are primarily aimed at what steps governments can take, there are many things that we can do both at an individual level and at a business level to contribute to a better world. 

Below are some of the ways that marinas can make a positive contribution to the SDGs.

Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Target 5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.

Indicator 5.5.2 Proportion of women in managerial positions

What you can do:

• Prioritise attracting, developing, and promoting women into senior and managerial roles, ensuring all appointments follow an equitable and inclusive process.
• Make sure that women are able to develop their careers while working at your organisation.
• If you have a Board of Advisory Committee, make sure that it includes members who are women.

Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

Target 6.3 By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.

Indicator 6.3.1 Proportion of domestic and industrial wastewater flows safely treated.

Indicator 6.3.2 Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality.

What you can do

• Assess your organisation’s water footprint.  What steps can you take to lower this?
• Make sure you have appropriate measures in place to prevent water pollution.

Target 6.4 By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity.

Indicator 6.4.1 Change in water-use efficiency over time.

Indicator 6.4.2 Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources.

What you can do

• Take steps to achieve/ improve water efficiency, including making sure that water isn’t wasted.  Fix leaky pipes and other infrastructure. 
• Make sure that you have appropriate waste and hazardous materials management so that surface and groundwater are not contaminated. 
• Take steps to minimise water use where possible. 
• Recycle your wastewater if possible. 

Target 6.5 By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate.

Indicator 6.5.1 Degree of integrated water resources management

What you can do

• Make sure that you have appropriate water resource management in place.  This should be reviewed periodically to assess if improvements can be made. 

Target 6.6 By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes.

Indicator 6.6.1 Change in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time

What you can do

• Assess what steps you can take to improve the water-related ecosystem that you use.  Are you drawing freshwater from the local ecosystem?  If so, what are you doing to ensure that the ecosystem does not suffer as a result, and what steps are you taking to make sure that the ecosystem improves?

Goal 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Target 8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value.

Indicator 8.5.1 Average hourly earnings of employees, by sex, age, occupation and persons with disabilities.

What you can do

• Conduct a comprehensive pay review and determine whether or not there are any discrepancies in pay between those who with disabilities and those without, or gender pay differences, or other pay differences that should not be present. Check like for like.  For instance, determine what employees’ hourly rates or pay are, and then compare those.  (That is, don’t compare the pay of someone who works part-time with someone who works full-time without adjusting the pay rates accordingly.  Working out what an employee’s hourly rate of pay is may be the easiest way to do this.)  If there are any discrepancies, correct the pay rates so that these discrepancies are removed.

Target 8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment.

Indicator 8.8.1 Fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 workers, by sex and migrant status.

Indicator 8.8.2 Level of national compliance with labour rights (freedom of association and collective bargaining) based on International Labour Organization (ILO) textual sources and national legislation, by sex and migrant status.

What you can do

• Create and implement a Code of Conduct which aims to prevent forced labour, child labour, and modern slavery in your supply chains.
• Make sure you have appropriate health and safety policies and procedures in place.
• Monitor major and minor health and safety incidents.
• Reduce the risk of health and safety incidents. 
• Remember to think about the mental health of your workers as well as their physical health. 

Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.

Target 11.2 By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons.

Indicator 11.2.1 Proportion of population that has convenient access to public transport, by sex, age and persons with disabilities.

What you can do

• Try to obtain a public transport stop at your marina
• If your marina is used by water-borne public transport (e.g. water taxis etc.), review how accessible these are.  Where not fully accessible, take steps to increase accessibility. 

Goal 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Target 12.2 By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.

Indicator 12.2.1 Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP

What you can do

• Track your hazardous waste throughout your business lifecycle (i.e. at construction, during projects, when decommissioning infrastructure). 
• Engage with your suppliers so that you reduce the amount of waste produced on site (e.g. when materials and supplies are delivered). 
• Increase recycling.
• Reduce waste production.
• Monitor your ecological impacts and aim to reduce this where possible.
• Take steps to integrate a circular economic model into your business practices. 
• Buy your materials from responsible suppliers.
• Monitor and assess your supply chain to manage the risks associated with the use of materials that are in short supply. 
• Instal infrastructure that produces sustainable, renewable electricity e.g. wind power, solar panels etc.

Goal 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Target 13.2 Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning.

Indicator 13.2.2 Total greenhouse gas emissions per year.

What you can do

• Monitor your greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 
• Aim to reduce these year by year.  This could be by doing things such as reducing your energy consumption, by being more energy efficient, and/or by sourcing your energy needs from renewable sources.
• Create a roadmap to net zero.
• Review the roadmap at least every three years.

Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

Target 14.1 By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution.

Indicator 14.1.1 (a) Index of coastal eutrophication; and (b) plastic debris density

What you can do

• Measure and assess the level of eutrophication.  (Eutrophication occurs when there are excessive nutrients in a body of water.  This normally happens if there is a runoff from land-based activities.  Eutrophication can cause excessive growth such as algal blooms, which in turn, can adversely affect marine animals.)  Take steps to ensure that runoff from the land is reduced or eliminated.
• Measure the density of plastic debris in the water and coastal region used by the marina.  Take steps to reduce or eliminate future plastic pollution, and remove any current plastic pollution. 

Target 14.2 By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take action for their restoration in order to achieve healthy and productive oceans.

Indicator 14.2.1 Number of countries using ecosystem-based approaches to managing marine areas.

What you can do

• Develop an ecosystem-based approach to managing the marine area where your marina is located.
• If your country does not have an ecosystem-based approach to managing its marine areas, try to reach out to conservation groups or university studies to establish one.

Goal 15. Protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

Target 15.3 By 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world.

Indicator 15.3.1 Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area.

What you can do

• Measure the amount of land around your marina that has degraded soil or has been affected by drought or floods.  Take steps to improve the environment and then calculate the area that has been improved. 

These are just some of the steps that marina operators can take to align with the Sustainable Development Goals.  Reviewing your progress annually will help you remain on course and highlight the improvements you have achieved

More information about the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals can be found here: https://sdgs.un.org/goals