Article written by Elsa Rodríguez (co-founder of Pueblos Remotos and specialist in sustainable tourism)

At Pueblos Remotos, one of the values ​​we have always championed, since we began designing this initiative, is sustainability —environmental, social, and economic. These three pillars must be present because otherwise, we cease to be sustainable. Furthermore, they must be aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda, which were agreed upon in 2015.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for those unfamiliar with them, are a global call to action to promote prosperity and protect the planet. These goals recognize that ending poverty must go hand in hand with strategies that generate economic growth and address social needs such as education, health, social protection, and employment opportunities, while simultaneously tackling climate change and environmental protection.

For each of the goals, specific targets and indicators are established to measure progress. In total, the 17 SDGs are defined in a list of 169 targets, and it is agreed that progress toward these goals will be measured by 232 unique indicators. For this reason, we always measure the impact we generate with the experiences we organize. You can read more about this in this article we published a few weeks ago: “Generating a Positive Impact in Rural Areas.”

Although the SDGs are a global agreement signed by 195 nations, not many people (including businesses, organizations, and public administrations) truly understand how they can contribute to most of them. In this blog post, we'll tell you how we, with Pueblos Remotos, contribute to several SDGs and show you how using practical examples. We hope this inspires you and helps us all become a little more sustainable, because every little bit helps.  

SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth

SDG 8 is arguably the goal to which we contribute most directly. It's important to keep in mind that a given action can align with several goals simultaneously, or directly with some and indirectly with others. Here, however, we'll explain it in general terms. 

Remote Villages demonstrates that developing a sustainable tourism model, distinct from the traditional mass tourism that has dominated the Canary Islands and other established destinations, is possible. We co-create everything we do with the local community, from design to implementation, and we believe that the well-being of the local population is always paramount. Therefore, we strive to generate a positive and lasting socio-economic impact in the areas where we operate (aligned with target 8.9).

To set up these experiences and attract remote workers to these rural areas, we conduct a preliminary analysis and select the municipality, accommodation, and local partners based on fairly strict criteria. These include a commitment to sustainability, and in the case of accommodation, it must have high-speed internet connectivity, common areas, and sufficient capacity to house between 8 and 12 remote workers (aligned with target 8.2).

One of our main objectives is to promote and support the rural entrepreneurs we pre-select for each edition. We collaborate with them in two ways:

1) By conducting activities. Through these, they demonstrate their businesses in a practical way, and in many cases, these activities turn out to be new tourism products and a new source of income for them, which they had not previously considered. For example, an activity could be conducting a workshop on sustainable seedbeds using local seeds or producing handcrafted wallets (aligned with target 8.9).

2) Solving challenges. We help them address some of their needs, which can be more technical, such as improving their website or designing a marketing and communication strategy, or more practical, such as preparing a plot of land for planting vines (aligned with goal 8.3).

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

Our experiences invite participants to leave urban centers and experience remote work and rural living for 21 days, specifically designed to foster connections between people from both worlds. Therefore, with our core motto, "Connected Rurality," we encourage remote workers to connect with rural entrepreneurs, and for both groups to connect with each other. This creates bonds and synergies that extend far beyond those three weeks and continue over time (aligned with goal 11.a).

SDG 12: Responsible production and consumption

All the activities we carry out within our experiences aim to showcase both locally produced goods and the traditions and culture of the area we are visiting. Activities with key local stakeholders always include refreshments at the end, featuring local products or items representative of the business in question. Similarly, secondary activities (e.g., hiking trails, cultural talks, food tours) also incorporate these same values ​​of promoting the natural environment, culture, and traditions (aligned with target 12.b).

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

The involvement of the public sector in initiatives like ours is extremely important because it ensures the continuity of our work and also fosters confidence in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of this rural area. We always work jointly with the island councils (Cabildos) and local authorities (Ayuntamientos), with universities, and with the private sector, through collaborators and the rural entrepreneurs themselves (aligned with target 17.17).

"Due to its cross-sectoral nature, tourism has the capacity to strengthen public-private partnerships and engage multiple stakeholders – international, national, regional and local – to work together to achieve the SDGs and other common goals." World Tourism Organization 

This last SDG is perhaps the most important and the one most present in our daily lives. We, as a social enterprise and as citizens, know that we have our share of responsibility within society to achieve all 17 SDGs. Therefore, we will continue to focus on being as sustainable as possible in all our actions and will demand the same from both our suppliers and our customers.