In 2015, all Member States of the United Nations (UN) adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which lays out a common blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet now and in the future. At its core are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), committed to ending poverty and other deprivation that must go hand in hand with strategies to improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth, while tackling climate change and working to protect our oceans and forests. As a future leader in synthetic biology research and innovation, we also has a responsibility to participate in the global conversation to help shape solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Since the severe climate change over the world, soil erosions have occured consistently. Soil erosion is the process of soil particles being carried away or eroded by water or wind. This phenomenon has brought serious harm to the environment and human society and it has negative effects on soil quality and ecosystem health. This year, we are working alongside:

  • Goal 1 No Poverty
  • Goal 2 No Hunger
  • Goal 6 Clean Water and Senitation
  • Goal 13 Climate Action
  • Goal 15 Life on Land
  • Goal 17 Partnerships for the Goals
Events Goal 1 Goal 2 Goal 6 Goal 13 Goal 15 Goal 17
Public welfare education activities on soil erosion in Shenzhen communities ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Carbon footprint measurement ✅ ✅
Talk to Dr Dorian from Tufts University for advices ✅ ✅
Interview investors for cooperation opportunities ✅
Visiting countryside farm ✅ ✅
Creating Recycling Club ✅ ✅ ✅
Figure 1 Team members were listening to farm managers talking

After 4 years of COVID-19, the total number of poverty increased extremely in the world. The pandemic pushed more than 8 million workers into poverty according to the United Nations (UN). Nowadays, nearly 1.2 billion people are living on less than $1.25 (extreme poverty) a day. We visited a countryside farm and interview the manager for some question about the condition of farm operation and revenue after pandemic. Goal 1 aims to end extreme poverty by ensuring that men and women of all ages, especially the poor and vulnerable, have access to economic resources and basic services, the ability to withstand and recover from all forms of shocks and crises, and the support to do so. The application of IAA in plants can enhance root development to improve crop yield and quality. Also, our IAA plant hormones have stronger root sytem and can adopt in many hazard environments.

By reducing soil erosion losses and maintaining soil fertility and water storage capacity, farmers can achieve higher crop yields in order to obtain sustainable benefits. Our programmes may also increase local employment opportunities, for example in seed distribution, land restoration and subsequent agricultural activities.

Figure 2 Number of people living on less than $1.90 a day, 2015-2018, 2019-2020 projection before and after COVID-19 (millions)

According to the Global Network, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and frequent conflicts will make the number of hungry people in the world reach 783 million in 2023, an increase of more than 122 million people compared to 2019, mainly in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and less in Europe. Our trangenosis E. coli seeds can increase the yield of produce, and help people to acquire more food. Our product can also improve the quantity of food produce, and decrease the percentage of the spoiled crops.

Figure 3 The diagram shows the increase of world hunger
Figure 4 Students collect recyclings and throw into the big reycling bin

Soil erosion often leads to the loss of land's original water holding capacity, which in turn affects groundwater reserves and river supplies. By managing this loss, the water holding capacity of the land can be increased, thus contributing to regional water management. Land degradation and soil erosion can lead to contamination of water sources, such as pollutants carried by sediment. Managing this degradation helps to maintain and improve water quality. Goal 6 focuses on sustainable water management and sanitation. Our recycling club helps community to collect recyclable things, like cardboard, books, and papers. This can decrease the landfill of garbages, and help to protect the underground water. By tackling soil erosion, our projects can contribute to land restoration and improve its water holding capacity, thereby positively impacting water resource management.

Figure 5 Team members were educating people about protecting climate change

The climate resilience can be applied through our system. Land degradation and desertification enhance the effects of climate change, so addressing these issues is part of the response to climate change. Goal 13 focuses on combating climate change and its impacts, encouraging all countries to take the actions required to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions under the United Nations Framework Convention. Promoting the growing conditions of plants can improve the survival rate and increase the absorption of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, surfur dioxide, ozone, etc. Meanwhile, we hold some community science popularization activities to strengthen environmental protection awareness and increase understanding of climate change.

https://2023.igem.wiki/thinker-sc/human-practices

Figure 6 Carbon dioxide emissions from combustion and industrial processess, 1900-2021 (gigatons of CO2)
Figure 7 The left poster is about helping to protecting environment from soil erosion; the right-side poster is about the introduction about our project

Our project aims to use transgenosis E. coli to enhance the germination of plant seeds, thereby helping to combat soil erosion and desertification. The aim of our technology is to increase the germination rate of seeds, thereby speeding up the regrowth of grasslands or forests and helping to restore degraded or near-desertification land. Stable soils and regenerated vegetation can provide habitat for other organisms, indirectly contributing to the restoration and conservation of biodiversity.

Figure 8 Our members in entrepreneurship part sent emails to the potential business partner

Goal 17 emphasizes building effective partnerships, mobilizing resources, and sharing knowledge, technology, and expertise to achieve all the Sustainable Development Goals. This goal focuses on cooperation with different organizations and countries and the sharing of resources and technologies. Our projects involve the use of biotechnology to solve environmental and agricultural problems, which requires sharing and disseminating this innovative technology and may require collaboration with more experienced entities. To achieve the goals of the project, we build partnerships with schools, local communities, government agencies, ngos or other relevant entities.

https://2023.igem.wiki/thinker-sc/entrepreneurship

Reference

[1]. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/goal-01/ (Poverty)

[2]. https://www.who.int/news/item/12-07-2023-122-million-more-people-pushed-into-hunger-since-2019-due-to-multiple-crises--reveals-un-report(Hunger)

[3]. https://www.statista.com/chart/15477/the-number-of-malnourished-people-worldwide/(goal 13)