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The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

In September 2015, the United Nations adopted the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The goals imply direct attention to issues of language.

  • AILA has had a longstanding relationship with UNESCO and therefore it is pertinent for AILA to highlight the role of applied linguists to the Sustainable Development Agenda.
  • As applied linguists we should ask ‘What does the field of applied linguistics have to contribute to the realization of the SDGs?’
  • Language is important for the formulation and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Applied linguists need to ask ‘What language related issues arise from the SDGs?’
  • To reach all levels of society, applied linguists must address the language used for dissemination and equal exchange of ideas. Currently, it is mainly English.
  • Applied linguists as a stakeholder in the engagement of issues arising from the SDGs. How can applied linguists complement the inputs of other stakeholders?
  • Applied linguists should venture into more practical and policy-engaged linguistic efforts that aim to contribute to achieving the SDGs.
  • Applied linguists should make their research relevant to national, regional and global policies and help facilitate collaborative research and funding.
  • Applied linguists should look at the relationship between indigenous languages, traditional knowledge and sustainability.
  • Applied linguists can highlight the importance of supporting the publishing of research in AL in other languages but English. Minority/indigenous/heritage languages cannot only be the object of research and/or sustainability actions, they also need to become the medium through which all this is shared.
  • Applied linguists should also work in a “grassroots” fashion, supporting language communities, promoting languages in the workplace, in education etc.

 

See the original document: https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E