Abstract

This paper considers noise and its control in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainable development involves the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality, and social equity, and the UN SDGs describe the major development challenges in these pursuits. The SDG Framework comprises 17 broad goals, that cover a wide range of issues including poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, clean water, clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, climate, responsible consumption, and production, amongst others. Although noise and its management are not clearly identified in any of the 17 goals, this paper posits that noise is an issue cross-cutting through almost all of the goals. Through the lens of the SDGs, this paper summarizes how a failure to adequately address noise presents a significant challenge to the realization of sustainable development.

This paper considers noise and its control, in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainable development involves the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity, and the UN SDGs describe the major development challenges in these pursuits. The SDG Framework comprises of 17 broad goals, that cover a wide range of issues including poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, clean water, clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, climate, responsible consumption and production, amongst others. Although noise and its management are not clearly identified in any of the 17 goals, this paper posits that noise is an issue cross-cutting through almost all of the goals. Through the lens of the SDGs, this paper summarizes how a failure to address noise presents a significant challenge to the realization of these goals.