Republican seminar "Sustainable Development Goals in Geographical Education"

On October 20, 2023, the republican training seminar "Sustainable Development Goals in Geographical Education" was completed at Abai KazNPU. For four days in a row, invited speakers, as well as teachers of the Department of Geography and Ecology of the Institute of Natural Sciences and Geography conducted a detailed analysis of all 17 Sustainable Development Goals and gave recommendations on their implementation in the educational process in the lessons of the subject. On the fifth day, the game "Mission 2030" was held, the purpose of which is to identify priorities for sustainable development, as well as to increase awareness of SDG issues. This business game was developed according to the methodology of the UNDP by the Institute of Economic Research under the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Institute is the Secretariat of the National Commission on SDGs. Leading experts of the SDG Secretariat Nurzhanova M.B. and Abuov A.Zh. were specially invited to conduct the game.

The game was played offline, but the rest of the audience could follow the process of the game online. 5 teams of 6 people participated in the game. They were teachers of Almaty and Talgar schools, teachers of the Institute of Natural Sciences and Geography, students, undergraduates and doctoral students of the Department of Geography and Ecology. Each team chose one SDG, and then one task from the selected goal. At the end of the Mission 2030 game, one participant from each team spoke and answered the questions, which goal out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals they had chosen, what proposals they had for achieving it in Kazakhstan and why it was so important to them.

"In the training seminar on the SDGs, I chose Goal 15 and task 15.3: to combat desertification and restore degraded lands by 2030. This problem is acute all over the world, and our Kazakhstan is no exception. To solve the problem, we must use modern technologies, for example, the technology of calling artificial rains. This experience is widespread in Arab countries. And I believe that this technology will help us solve the problem of desertification and land degradation," said R.E. Espaev, geography teacher of the private school "Elite School KZ" (Tuzdybastau village of Talgar district of Almaty region).

"At the Mission 2030 business game, we chose SDG 9 and Task 9.4: modernize infrastructure and industrial enterprises for sustainable development. By 2030, modernize infrastructure and re-equip industrial enterprises, making them sustainable by increasing the efficiency of resource use and wider use of clean and environmentally friendly technologies and industrial processes, with the participation of all countries in accordance with their individual capabilities. Because this is the most important aspect of development. By regulating these problems, it is possible to achieve fundamental changes in development and minimize harm to people and the environment," said E.A. Mirzaev, geography teacher at Talgar Private Boarding School No. 1.

"I chose SDG-16: peace, justice and building effective institutions. I believe that it is necessary to take into account the opinion of developing countries when solving global problems of humanity," added A.Zheken, geography teacher of the private school "Elite School KZ" (village of Tuzdybastau, Talgar district).

Students of the 4th year of the educational program "6B01516-Geography-History" have chosen SDG-1 - The fight against poverty. "Who wants to live in poverty? Poverty is the most acute problem today! We have considered this issue at the state level. In order to raise the welfare of the country and join the ranks of developed countries, we need to be educated, increase financial literacy among the population, and also eradicate corruption. We want every person in our country to live debt-free and feel free. I hope that by 2030 we will join the ranks of developed countries and solve existing problems," Soltangazina A.S. team leader expressed her opinion.

"We chose SDG-6 - clean water and sanitation, because it is now relevant and global and it will take a long time to solve this problem. How can it be solved in our republic? I think we need to invest in a new startup. For example, for the sake of experiment, we will choose 1 residential complex in all cities and connect a new water meter. If people exceed the limit in a month, then the meter screen will show how much water they spent in the form of liter bottles. This will make people think about saving money and help preserve the water resources of our planet," shared her idea, the leader of the 5th team Nasipkalieva A.M., a 4th-year student of the educational program "6B01516-Geography-History".

The game was very active and interesting. Problems and solutions to the selected SDGs were discussed at each table. The debate lasted 4.5 hours. Thus, the theoretical knowledge about the 17 SDGs obtained during the first 4 days of the training seminar found solutions during the game "Mission -2030". The participants offered their methods of using the acquired knowledge in geography lessons at school and at university. Thanks to brainstorming, generating various creative ideas, the players realized that the SDGs are easy, that as a result of our daily actions we can easily achieve these sustainable development goals.