Importance of Sustainable Development Goals
“We do not inherit the Earth from our forefathers, we borrow it from our children” -Lester Brown
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a call to action to integrally address global environmental, social, and economic challenges. As a part of the iGEM community, we have always strived to sustainably develop our idea which is targeted towards addressing a local challenge affecting us.
Although our project invariably impacts one or the other Sustainable development goal, we have centered our work on a few goals. Throughout our journey, we have interacted with various stakeholders whose inputs have significantly contributed towards making our solution cleaner, responsible and more effective in the long run.
Zero Hunger
Achieving Goal 2: To end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Impact of the problem
India is a global agricultural powerhouse—we are the largest producers of pulses and spices as well as the second largest producers of rice, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables, and tea [1]. Unsurprisingly, the principal source of livelihood for nearly 60 percent of India’s population of 1.3 billion people is agriculture [2]; it is one of the most critical sectors in India, contributing to 18% of India’s GDP. Agriculture is also the cornerstone of Maharashtra, a state in India where the IISER Pune iGEM team is from. Nearly 82% of the rural population depends on agriculture—comprising cash and food crops.
An estimation by UNDP, suggests that 840 million people will go hungry by 2030. In 2019, close to 750 million – or nearly one in ten people in the world – were exposed to severe levels of food insecurity. With an incredibly high number of mouths to feed, and an even higher number of malnourished people, the situation of providing food security for everyone has become a global concern.
Unfortunately, India has the rank of 71 on the Global Food Security Index (2021) out of 113 nations. Our food security depends on producing cereal crops, as well as increasing the production of fruits, vegetables, and milk to meet the demands of a growing population with rising incomes [3]. The considerable threat of climate change has increasingly been affecting food security, and more so does waterlogging—an aspect of climate change that is very rarely spoken about.
In the next 10-15 years, it is expected that 75 percent of primary agricultural production will come from Asia, South America and Africa. Efforts have to be made to protect crops from pre-planting to post-harvest for ensuring enough food is produced to feed the world. Thus, crop protection is a key component in guaranteeing food security.
Our Solution
Some of our team members interacted with the farmer community of a village in Maharashtra. This endeavor helped us to know more about the exact problems they face due to waterlogging, at what time of the year it occurs and whether they have any existing solutions or not. To know more about this, visit our Communications page.
Implementation of any idea, requires check of its efficiency at various stages. In this iGEM cycle, we aimed to provide proof of concepts at the lab level. We have also set up plans to first check our product at small fields and also develop prototypes for biofertilisers. To know more about this, visit our Proposed Implementations page.
References
[1] https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/05/17/india-agriculture-issues-priorities
[3] https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/05/17/india-agriculture-issues-priorities
Climate Change
Achieving Goal 13: To take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Impact of the Problem
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development identifies climate change as “one of the greatest challenges of our time”. With the increase in sea level, global temperature, carbon emissions - the effects of climate change have seeped heavily into our daily lives.
The Indian subcontinent is home to the high Himalayan ranges, the vast seas, the gigantic Gangetic Plains, the countless rivers and streams, the thick lush forests and great sandy deserts, all of which give rise to a plethora of climatic conditions. Despite this diversity, 2010-2019 was the warmest decade ever recorded, bringing with it massive wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, floods and other climate disasters across the region. With the advent of climate change, the effects of waterlogging have become more adverse, due to the unpredicted changes in rainfall patterns. Places that were previously drought-prone areas are caught unawares when they suddenly receive torrential rainfall [1].
Maharashtra is one of the worst affected states by waterlogging—the 2020-21 sugarcane crushing season had a hampered start as waterlogged fields made harvesting it very difficult [2]. News articles regaling the plight of farmers in Maharashtra as waterlogging ruined their crops and wreaked havoc on their lands, are commonplace. In 2021, a 1 billion USD compensation package was given to farmers in Maharashtra as their land was damaged by intense rainfall [3]; more than a million hectares of cropped land—comprising sugarcane, paddy, soybean, maize, and cotton—in Maharashtra was devastated due to flooding [4].
Our Solution
Our project Hydrazome, is centered around helping crops and the surrounding biota in the soil to survive the stress of this waterlogging brought about by these unpredicted rainfalls, thereby enabling the entire agricultural sector to withstand the losses due to it.
To make our project practical and feasible, we interacted with people from various backgrounds whose work is centered on environmental protection and sustainability. To know about this, visit our iHP section
A plan well begun, is well done. In order to have our idea scientifically sound at the proof of concept level, we discussed our idea with professors and academicians in both dry lab and wetlab. To know about this, visit our iHP subsection.
The foundation of any country is as strong as its education and in a country as large as India, an aware, responsible population could be its largest asset in the future. As part of our communication and outreach we tried to reach out to various groups and educate them on the urgent need for climate change mitigation. From physically going to government schools and conducting activity book sessions with them, to posting content about synthetic biology on social media in order to reach out to a larger audience, we used different platforms to enable for a more aware public. To know about this, visit our education page
References
Life on Land
Achieving Goal 15: To protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
Impact of the problem
Along with the problem of waterlogging, a number of other long standing issues also seep in. There are a number of changes affecting waterlogged soils which include physical, biological, and chemical changes. There are several toxic effects on microbes related to air scarcity in submerged soils, including degradation of organic compounds at a slow rate and through an inefficient way. This eventually causes the soil to be enriched in deposited salts. On the other hand, excessive rain or bad irrigation practices can also lead to depletion of the nutrients from the soil, through leaching. These two problems together cause the process of desertification to take over the nearby area.
According to data from ISRO, the second most significant process to cause desertification is vegetation degradation, leading to 82.64 milli hectares of land getting wasted.
When the land starts degrading, it does not become productive anymore in terms of agricultural outputs. Not only that, the natural surroundings and biota start to deteriorate. Soon the biodiversity, starts decreasing implying that there are fewer wild spaces to buffer zoonoses, such as COVID-19, and protect us from extreme weather events. We realised that combatting these issues through our project is both feasible and necessary.
Our Solution
Exopolysaccharides (EPS) are heteropolysaccharides secreted by many bacterial species such as Azospirillum brasilense itself. They are typically produced in response to extracellular environmental stressors. One of the properties of EPS ( exopolysaccharides) is its ability to absorb nutrients, water, and consolidate the soil. An issue such as waterlogging, where soil can be laden with water following which drought-like conditions are experienced, can be benefited by having such a polymer in its composition. In our project we plan on overexpressing the production of EPS. To know more, visit our Engineering page.
Much of land degradation can be prevented at an individual level itself, by being careful in our daily actions. For this, it is important for the general public to be aware of what desertification is, and how it is impacting lives around us. On the occasion of "World day to combat Desertification and Drought", we conducted a survey on this very topic, and analyzed the responses.To know more about this, visit our social media section.
References
[1] https://www.sac.gov.in/SACSITE/Desertification_Atlas_2016_SAC_ISRO.pdf
Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Achieving Goal 9: To build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
Our Contribution
For any innovation to be implemented at a larger scale, the setup of industries and infrastructure is very critical. We have chalked out a well devised plan on how to use existing infrastructure for the production and distribution of our genetically modified bio-fertiliser. Simultaneously, we have also come up with other innovative ideas to improvise on the existing product management plan so that with time our local solution could also be implemented throughout the world. To know more about how we plan on scaling it up to an industrial level, visit our proposed implementation page.
Partnership for the goals
Achieving Goal 17: To strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
Impact
Ever since globalization, the entire world has seen an incredible boom in technology and innovation. It has encouraged countries to specialize in production making the entire process of trading more efficient in terms of resources and time. However, put in the words of Pascal Lamy, “ Globalisation is incredibly efficient, but also so far incredibly unjust”. With the advent of globalization, inequality within and amongst countries has deepened. Not only that, the negative impact of technology onto the environment has also increased exponentially. Interaction with stakeholders across the globe in a sustainable, and mutually beneficial manner is something that we hoped to inculcate into our project.
Partnership is not something that is limited only at the level of countries complementing each other. It is extremely important for stakeholders in the local society itself to come together, to not just cooperate with each other, but also collaborate to pave the way for a sustainable living space.
Our Contribution
The need of the hour is to form “Global Partnerships”, where both developing and developed countries come together, and trade resources equitably, while being mindful of the impact onto the natural surroundings. We were extremely excited to form one such partnership, with the UBC iGEM team, where our interdependence was crucial to the success of both our iGEM projects! United with a common goal of enhancing food security by improving the management of climate change impact, we shared our expertise and resources on various aspects of our project.To know more about this, visit our partnership page.
In every aspect of iGEM, lies the opportunity of creating meaningful and impactful associations with other teams. We joined hands actively with many teams to increase awareness about the problems due to climate change, as well as the developing technologies in molecular biology that would aid us to mitigate them.To know more about this, visit our collaborations page.
This target, essentially summarises what we hope to achieve by carrying our project forward- which is to improvise our technologies of dealing with climate change in a sustainable manner, so that through the utilisation of existing resources, we could achieve a well nourished and progressive society in the future.
