scholarly journals The emerging accountability regimes for the Sustainable Development Goals and policy integration: Friend or foe?

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 1371-1390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen ◽  
Arthur L Dahl ◽  
Åsa Persson
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
National Level ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
Good News ◽  
Policy Integration ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Policy Integration ◽  
Development Goals

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the full Agenda 2030 in which they are embedded are aspirational and intended to be both transformational and integrative in a number of ways. The need for integration across policy domains is stressed throughout the agenda. The Sustainable Development Goals are also accompanied by an emerging system for follow-up and review centered on a long list of indicators that are intended to enable countries to be accountable towards their citizens. There is, however, in the accountability literature indication that some accountability mechanisms can be counterproductive for integrative policies. This paper is centered around the question whether an accountability regime, and if so how, is compatible with a high degree of policy integration both conceptually and in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. We approach this question through looking both at the literature on integrative governance and some of the central concepts it covers such as (environmental) policy integration and mainstreaming, and the accountability literature. This enables us to provide an analytical framework for evaluating the potential of the emerging accountability regimes for the Sustainable Development Goals to enhance more integrated policy making and action. We conclude that there are little or no strong hierarchical elements of accountability relationships at the global level which can be good news for more integrative policies – but only if there is a strong sense of shared responsibility among actors at all levels, available information on the types of behavioural efforts that support integration, and accountholders that take an active interest in integration. At the national level, there may be hierarchical accountability mechanisms with sanction possibilities that may discourage integration. Here, those who hold actors to account can counteract this if they have deeper understanding of the underlying interlinkages among the goals and targets, and based on this, engage in accountability mechanisms.

scholarly journals Defining and Quantifying National-Level Targets, Indicators and Benchmarks for Management of Natural Resources to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Dickens ◽  
Vladimir Smakhtin ◽  
Matthew McCartney ◽  
Gordon O’Brien ◽  
Lula Dahir
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
National Level ◽  
Resource Quality ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Country Level ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Global Indicators

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are high on the agenda for most countries of the world. In its publication of the SDGs, the UN has provided the goals and target descriptions that, if implemented at a country level, would lead towards a sustainable future. The IAEG (InterAgency Expert Group of the SDGs) was tasked with disseminating indicators and methods to countries that can be used to gather data describing the global progress towards sustainability. However, 2030 Agenda leaves it to countries to adopt the targets with each government setting its own national targets guided by the global level of ambition but taking into account national circumstances. At present, guidance on how to go about this is scant but it is clear that the responsibility is with countries to implement and that it is actions at a country level that will determine the success of the SDGs. Reporting on SDGs by country takes on two forms: i) global reporting using prescribed indicator methods and data; ii) National Voluntary Reviews where a country reports on its own progress in more detail but is also able to present data that are more appropriate for the country. For the latter, countries need to be able to adapt the global indicators to fit national priorities and context, thus the global description of an indicator could be reduced to describe only what is relevant to the country. Countries may also, for the National Voluntary Review, use indicators that are unique to the country but nevertheless contribute to measurement of progress towards the global SDG target. Importantly, for those indicators that relate to the security of natural resources security (e.g., water) indicators, there are no prescribed numerical targets/standards or benchmarks. Rather countries will need to set their own benchmarks or standards against which performance can be evaluated. This paper presents a procedure that would enable a country to describe national targets with associated benchmarks that are appropriate for the country. The procedure builds on precedent set in other countries but in particular on a procedure developed for the setting of Resource Quality Objectives in South Africa. The procedure focusses on those SDG targets that are natural resource-security focused, for example, extent of water-related ecosystems (6.6), desertification (15.3) and so forth, because the selection of indicator methods and benchmarks is based on the location of natural resources, their use and present state and how they fit into national strategies.

scholarly journals Is Africa Capable of Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the 2020-2030 Decade of Programming?

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin Muswere
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Analytical Work ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
African Perspective ◽  
Desk Review

The capabilities, efficiency and effectiveness of the outcomes of the African Regional Forum on Sustainable Development demands a lot of analytical work from an  African perspective towards its commitment on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the 2020-2030 decade. This paper provides an analytical framework questioning the forum`s outcomes and the African capabilities. The framework interrogates the feasibility of the approaches of the forum used as alternatives towards the achievement of the 17 sustainable development goals, 169 targets and 304 indicators. The analysis is made together with the outlook of the African aspirations as defined in the Agenda 2063. An analytical framework based on advocacy research and desk review of literature available was used. The framework provided a balanced analysis of both the progress made so far and the challenges that Africa is facing today. Africa does not have effective strategies that make her ready to meet the sustainable development goals by 2030. Africa is recommended to prioritise on investment, build strong partnerships and coalitions as a critical discernment of the different African initiatives propagated through the 2030 Agenda and 2063 Agenda.

scholarly journals Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development Targets: A Possible Harmonisation? Insights from the European Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Petti ◽  
Claudia Trillo ◽  
Busisiwe Ncube Makore
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Agenda 2030 ◽  
Development Framework ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
National Databases

The Agenda 2030 includes a set of targets that need to be achieved by 2030. Although none of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focuses exclusively on cultural heritage, the resulting Agenda includes explicit reference to heritage in SDG 11.4 and indirect reference to other Goals. Achievement of international targets shall happen at local and national level, and therefore, it is crucial to understand how interventions on local heritage are monitored nationally, therefore feeding into the sustainable development framework. This paper is focused on gauging the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals with reference to cultural heritage, by interrogating the current way of classifying it (and consequently monitoring). In fact, there is no common dataset associated with monitoring SDGs, and the field of heritage is extremely complex and diversified. The purpose for the paper is to understand if the taxonomy used by different national databases allows consistency in the classification and valuing of the different assets categories. The European case study has been chosen as field of investigation, in order to pilot a methodology that can be expanded in further research. A cross-comparison of a selected sample of publicly accessible national cultural heritage databases has been conducted. As a result, this study confirms the existence of general harmonisation of data towards the achievement of the SDGs with a broad agreement of the conceptualisation of cultural heritage with international frameworks, thus confirming that consistency exists in the classification and valuing of the different assets categories. However, diverse challenges of achieving a consistent and coherent approach to integrating culture in sustainability remains problematic. The findings allow concluding that it could be possible to mainstream across different databases those indicators, which could lead to depicting the overall level of attainment of the Agenda 2030 targets on heritage. However, more research is needed in developing a robust correlation between national datasets and international targets.

scholarly journals Leaving no one behind? The influence of civil society participation on the Sustainable Development Goals

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 693-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carole-Anne Sénit
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
National Level ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Civil Society Participation ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Sustainability Governance ◽  
The Relationship

Spaces for civil society participation within intergovernmental negotiations on sustainability have multiplied since the 1992 Earth Summit. Such participatory spaces are often uncritically accepted as a remedy for an assumed democratic deficit of intergovernmental policymaking. I argue, however, that civil society’s capacity to democratize global sustainability governance is constrained by the limited influence of these spaces on policymaking. The article explores the relationship between the format of participatory spaces and their influence on the negotiations of the Sustainable Development Goals. It finds that civil society is more likely to influence within informal and exclusive participatory spaces, and when these spaces are provided early in the negotiating process, at international and national level. This reveals a democracy–influence paradox, as the actors with the capacities to engage repeatedly and informally with negotiators are seldom those that are most representative of global civil society.

Global Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development Goals

2020 ◽  
pp. 104-130
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
National Level ◽  
Global Poverty ◽  
Policy Options ◽  
Poverty Eradication ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
The World ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Research Centres

The chapter examines the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals and its approaches to poverty eradication beyond economic deprivation. Results from the analysis of existing statistics from United Nation's reports, research centres and institutes, and Bureau of Statistics show that extreme poverty still exists at the global, regional, and sub-national levels of the world. The chapter identifies the challenges facing global poverty eradication to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda of 2030 and suggests solutions on how to eradicate poverty and hunger in the world. The chapter, therefore, examines the global multi-dimension of poverty and extreme hunger and the multi-dimension of poverty in developed and developing countries at a regional and national level with a focus on Nigeria's experience. Also, the challenges and policy options for eradicating poverty and hunger by 2030 are examined.

scholarly journals How far are the metropolitan areas in Brazil from achieving the sustainable development goals? An analysis based on SDG dashboards

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernanda Silva Martinelli ◽  
André Lindner
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
National Level ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Implementation Challenges ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
And Gender

AbstractCities comprise the major challenges for sustainable development and are key contributors to sustainability indicators in a country. However, research assessing sustainability performance often focuses on the national level, overlooking the role of urban areas. To evaluate the city performance toward a sustainable pathway, this paper proposes the sustainable development goals (SDGs) Dashboard for Brazilian Cities, with a comprehensive assessment of their specific challenges based on the SDG Index methodology (UNSDSN). The 19 country’s most populous metropolitan areas (MAs) were considered, which comprises 41% of the population. From 17 SDGs, this paper evaluates 8 of the 12 SDGs defined with a social and environmental profile, covering data from 34 indicators. Results show that all MAs have a long way to achieve most of the analyzed SDGs, especially regarding inequalities (income and gender). Inequalities of performance are also observed among the country into a clear north–south distinction, where the GDP richest regions perform better toward the SDGs. However, cities with a good performance in education (SDG 4) are less unequal (SDG 10), indicating interrelations between SDGs. Despite the inequalities, MAs are doing relatively well in reducing poverty (SDG 1) and providing water and sanitation (SDG 6). The SDG Dashboards for Brazilian Cities can be used as a framework for action and help urban leaders address implementation challenges across cities.

scholarly journals Localizing and Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals at the National Level: Cases of Leadership

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatyana Lanshina ◽  
◽  
Vera Barinova ◽  
Arina Loginova ◽  
Evgeniy Lavrovskiy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals

scholarly journals Moving forward to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals: How do we secure sustainable investments for family planning?

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1531
Author(s):  
Gifty Addico ◽  
Jennie Greaney ◽  
Yann Lacayo
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Family Planning ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
National Level ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Sustainable Financing

Evidence demonstrates how rights-based family planning (FP) brings transformational benefits to women, families, communities and countries. Investing in FP is not only a human rights issue, but also a key catalytic factor for countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainable and equitable access to FP has a tremendous socioeconomic impact and boosts synergistic efforts to reduce poverty, achieve food security and improved nutrition, save lives and improve health and well-being, improve women’s and girls’ education, advance gender equality and empowerment, mitigate the effects of access to water and sanitation, reduce the impact on health of climate change, and contribute to economic growth and social inclusion. Nevertheless, while the benefits are realized across many other sectors, the burden of financing for FP is born predominantly by the health sector. Although there have been several attempts to integrate FP into other sectors’ initiatives, the results have not yet been fully systematized or scaled up. This open letter calls for a new approach to broaden the attention of different sectors to invest in FP as a catalytic intervention to achieve the SDGs. Using the UNFPA Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Financing for Family Planning, we will highlight elements to be considered by development actors in shaping national, regional and global actions. By exploring new funding sources and mechanisms to increase investments in FP, maximizing efficiency, and overall, revamping FP beyond the health sector, we intend to expand the reach of the discussions across non-traditional actors, underscoring the need to increase efforts towards guaranteeing universal health access for all as a main contributor to achieve the 2030 agenda. Further, we will detail experiences of how UNFPA and development partners have incorporated innovative approaches to secure sustainable financing for FP at the national level providing concrete examples on how to proceed in this area.

Conclusion: Key Challenges for Global Governance through Goals

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Biermann ◽  
Norichika Kanie
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Institutional Arrangement ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Policy Integration ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Setting Process ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Development Goals

This chapter summarizes some key findings of the book, discuss the challenges for, and opportunities of, the Sustainable Development Goals by identifying several conditions that might determine their successful implementation, and also suggest some possible avenues for further research. The approach of “global governance through goals”—and the Sustainable Development Goals as a prime example—is marked by a number of key characteristics, including its detachment from the international legal system, weak institutional arrangement, global inclusion and comprehensive goal-setting process, and granting much leeway to national choices and preferences. Those characteristics are reflected in the challenges for implementation, including those of developing indicators and institutional arrangements, tailoring implementation at national or stakeholder levels, and securing policy integration. Further research is needed in addressing these challenges, which requires inter- and transdisciplinary research development.

scholarly journals Nationality Versus Global Citizenship Towards the Realization of Sustainable Development Goals: Ahmadou Kourouma’s Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Kodah Mawuloe Koffi ◽  
Addo-Danquah Ofosu
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
The North ◽  
Globalizing World ◽  
Development Goals

In the face of the fast depletion of natural resources worldwide resulting from industrial and economic cannibalism, selfishness and marginalization are becoming more and more pronounced in a globalizing world. The phenomena of selfishness and marginalization are manifest in the introduction of stringent immigration laws by most industrialized countries in the North to ward off migrants from the less developed economies in the South; and also the reinforcement of existing laws by the latter to protect their citizens and natural resources in recent years. Issues of national identity, territorial integrity as against the centrality of humanity remain an Achilles heel toward the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As far as 1968, Ahmadou Kourouma, an Ivorian novelist, in his very first narrative text, “Les Soleils des Indépendances” later translated into English as The Suns of Independence, raised the tragic dilemma of national identity at the expense of ‘human identity’. In the absence of concrete steps to address the issues over the years, Liberia, Sierra Leone and La Côte d’Ivoire were engulfed in intestine civil strife over two decades later. The main causes of this strife are found in the irrational quest for self-identity in the name of nationality and ethnic superiority for greater access and control of “national” resources. This paper examines the upsurge of socioeconomic and political exclusion, and the potential threats they pose to the realization of the recently launched Sustainable Development Goals. It is done through a critical reading of Kourouma’s The Suns of Independence, Allah is not obliged and ‘Quand on refuse, on dit non’. The study is posited within the analytical framework of literary studies and sociocriticism

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