The justification and rationale for sustainable development challenges in the Salisbury region are:

SDG 13 – Climate Action
The first focuses on Sustainable Development (SDG) Goal 13 - Climate Action. The core area in the region constitutes the “shore counties” or those that reside either within or on the Chesapeake Bay (watershed) and along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. This includes all of the counties in Delaware, all of Maryland and (especially thirteen of its the twenty-four counties), in Maryland and nineteen of the forty counties in Virginia. These physical locations are being subjected to the quickest increases in climate change activities and the poorest residents in these locales will experience severe detrimental impact on the quality of life. These shoreline counties are also part of the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay watershed areas, all of which have low geographical elevations so the climate change impacts are being felt here first and hardest. The wetlands along the Eastern Shore are likely to be lost if the sea rises two feet, while wetlands in Dorchester County are already being submerged by rising sea level. Dr. Michael Scott, Dean of the Henson School of Science and Technology at Salisbury University, writes: “Over 60% of Dorchester County lies within the 100-year floodplain. Our analysis, done on behalf of the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, shows that current sea-level in inundating properties when combined with higher-than-normal tides. Our conservative sea-level predictions put 1000's of homes and businesses in DoCo [Dorchester County] with wet foundations on a regular basis. There are chunks of the DoCo coastline eroding at 10-15 ft...per year. [clarification added]. Beaches also are eroding as the sea level rises. The United States Geological Survey estimates that Assateague Island is likely to be broken up by new inlets or lost to erosion if sea level rises two feet by the year 2100.

SDG 4 – Quality Education
Secondly, the citizens of the Delmarva Peninsula, by and large, have lower levels of educational attainment and lower incomes. The fourth SDG - Quality Education -RCE Salisbury will focus in part on communities in these areas that experience the highest high school dropout rates where the social reproduction of poverty is endemic. In particular, even with an emphasis on attaining basic vocational skills, unemployment is still high in these areas. Rates of success in achieving higher education of any kind in postgraduate institutions (community colleges and or universities) in these communities is a long-standing issue.

SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
The most vulnerable members of this region are in the crosshairs of climate change and educational disadvantage. Both will lead to increased social conflict and with limited resources and limited planning the consequences are dire. This leads to the last rationale and justification for establishing an RCE in Salisbury; a focus on Sustainable Development GoalSDG 16 - - will be critical to any effective regional response to the disproportionate impact of climate change and educational advancement.

For Chihuahua:
The Migrant caravan
SDG 1 - No Poverty
SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities

SDG 1’s Content and Intent United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 1: No Poverty (SDG 1) aims to eradicate all forms of poverty everywhere on the planet by the year 2030. In addition to insufficient income, ‘poverty’ includes other challenges, such as the lack of economic, social and educational opportunities; insufficient or non-existent basic services, hunger, exclusion, social discrimination and a lack of voice in decision making processes that impact on people’s lives.
A further cause of poverty is found in uneven wealth distribution between the rich and the poor within countries while, in the global arena, developing nations may remain locked into the subordinate role of providing raw materials and cheap labor for transnational industries, whose products flood local markets and whose profits are repatriated to the countries from which the finance capital has emerged. Corruption creates an ‘internal hemorrhage’ of sorts where wealth is redirected from its intended purpose into the hands of powerful actors, and of everyday swindlers who may overcharge, or fail to provide the quality of goods and services for which they have charged a client or a customer. The ongoing misuse of wealth and its misappropriation from its intended purpose weakens the overall economy within nations and localities, as well as harming the standard of living and the wellbeing of families whose lives are affected by the corrupt practices of others.

Summary of SDG 10’s Content and Intent United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10) aims to reduce inequalities that continue to widen among various sections of the society and the community. The gap between the rich and the poor, the advantaged and the disadvantaged with regard to education, availability of resources and access to opportunities is widening in spite of urbanization, developments in science and technology, knowledge generation and the information explosion. In developing countries, inequality has increased by eleven percent if we take into account population growth. Sound policies are required to reduce inequalities and to empower the lower percentile of disadvantaged segments of local, national and global society.