The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are global goals created in 2015 to promote the prosperity and peace of the Earth and people. These are 17 objectives and 169 challenges that promote sustainability and were agreed upon and approved by the United Nations General Assembly for the Transformation of Our World: Agenda 2030 in the resolution on sustainable development. Since then, these approaches have been developed and have begun to appear in the day-to-day life of the administrations and institutions. It should be noted that one of the bases of the proposal is the combination of objectives, that is, if one of them is achieved, the other objectives are also advancing.

40% of the nearly 7,000 languages spoken today worldwide are in danger of extinction. The basic element of culture is language. Therefore, if the language is lost, it would be very difficult to guarantee the survival of a culture for a long time. Scarce mention of cultural diversity is made in the 2030 AGENDA, in particular the introductory expression of the agenda 8.artikuluan: “(...) we want a world that respects ethnic origin and cultural diversity (...)”. However, there is no mention of linguistic diversity, so languages have not been taken into account when formulating the Sustainable Development Goals. Language transmits identity to members who are part of a people and who are an element of social cohesion between them. If the intangible value of linguistic and cultural diversity is not taken into account, it can be concluded that sustainable development cannot be promoted.

Faced with this situation, with the UNESCO Chair of World Linguistic Heritage and Easo Politeknikoa, we have completed the 17+1 objective: to ensure cultural and linguistic diversity. To promote this proposal, at Politécnica Easo we are promoting various initiatives, such as, for example, with the participation of the IES Usandizaga center, we organize a drawing competition to illustrate the 17+1 objective and we organize an exhibition to socialize the 17+1 objectives. Furthermore, the GHI 17+1 objective observatory has been set up. In it, the students of the Education and Environmental Control cycle relate the news and the SDGs of the local newspapers, so that a link is made between the 2030 agenda and the reality of Euskal Herria. Finally, the students, in collaboration with the GARABIDE Association, organised a talk on linguistic diversity. The guests of the talk were the representative of the indigenous people Huni Kuuria, of the Brazilian Amazon of Hatxa Kucha, and Cristina Escue (representative of the indigenous people Nasa, of the Colombian region of Cauca, with mother tongue Nasa and mother tongue Nasa), and made known the situation of their mother tongue in these communities. Because of the pressure it generates, your language and your culture are in danger. That's why they're working to recover and boost the strength of the mother tongue in their communities. Faced with the need for languages to address this difficult situation, the UN General Assembly has proclaimed 2019 as the year of Indigenous Languages. We all have contradictions!

The situation of minority languages makes it increasingly important to revitalize minority languages. In the Basque Country, just as the Basque Country guarantees the identity and culture of a whole people, so does other languages and cultures of the world. As has been said, it will be difficult to maintain the strength of these languages in society, as “large” languages take precedence. However, it is in everyone’s hands to support and promote these minority languages. To this end, the importance of linguistic diversity in sustainability and development needs to be made visible and highlighted, and it is absolutely necessary to integrate linguistic diversity into the proposal of the Sustainable Development Goals.