Sustainability
Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a global framework for equity, justice, and sustainability, all of which hold deep significance for First Nations peoples. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, these goals are more than targets; they reflect ongoing struggles for self-determination, cultural survival, and systemic change.
Prioritising goals like good health, quality education, gender equality, economic justice, and climate action is essential to addressing the impacts of colonisation and supporting thriving, self-governed communities. For First Nations people, sustainability is not a new concept. It is grounded in thousands of years of caring for Country, kin, and culture. Embedding the SDGs in our work is a way to honour that legacy while shaping a just future led by Indigenous voice.
Barmal Bijiril has identified the following sustainable development goals as a priority in our work.
10 out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals:
1 - No Poverty
3 - Good Health and Well-being
4 - Quality Education
5 - Gender Equality
8 - Decent work and economic growth
9 - Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10 - Reduced inequalities
13 - Climate Action
16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
17 - Partnerships for the goals
Cultural Sustainability
Cultural sustainability is at the heart of Barmal Bijiril’s work and vision. For First Nations peoples, culture is not separate from life — it is central to identity, community, governance, and wellbeing. Sustaining culture means protecting language, knowledge systems, kinship structures, and connections to Country, while also ensuring they are passed on to future generations. At Barmal Bijiril, cultural sustainability guides how we lead, work, and walk with community. It strengthens our capacity for self-determination, shapes how we engage with philanthropy and systems change, and ensures that all our work is grounded in the strength, resilience, and brilliance of Blak ways of knowing and being.
© 2024
Barmal Bijirl would like to pay respect to the traditional custodians of the land on which we work. We pay respect to elders past present and emerging and recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded
Barmal Bijiril is a registered charity with the ACNC, DGR 1 Status. ACN : 663 280 019