Reframing the sustainable development goals to achieve sustainability in the Anthropocene — A systems approach

Griggs et al. (2013) redefine sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present while safeguarding Earth’s life-support system, on which the welfare of current and future generations depend.” We recommend this as the end goal that the United Nations sustainable development...

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Main Authors: LIM, Michelle Mei Ling, SOGAARD JORGENSEN, Peter, WYBORN, Carina
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Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2018
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4119
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/6077/viewcontent/Reframing_the_sustainable_development_goals_to_achieve_sustainable_development_in_the_Anthropocene_a_systems_approach.pdf
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spelling sg-smu-ink.sol_research-60772023-02-23T08:55:38Z Reframing the sustainable development goals to achieve sustainability in the Anthropocene — A systems approach LIM, Michelle Mei Ling SOGAARD JORGENSEN, Peter WYBORN, Carina Griggs et al. (2013) redefine sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present while safeguarding Earth’s life-support system, on which the welfare of current and future generations depend.” We recommend this as the end goal that the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) should strive to achieve. Integration across the SDGs is less than what is required from a science perspective. Effective implementation of the SDGs will require States to attend to trade-offs and overlaps. We argue that continuous failure to address integration within the SDGs will jeopardize realization of this ultimate end goal. Therefore, we adopt a systems approach to identify gaps and connections across the goals and targets of the SDGs as well as leverage points for effective intervention. We triangulate across methods of critical analysis, conceptual modeling, and keyword network analysis to draw out seven “overarching directions” that could provide a prioritization framework to enhance efficient implementation of the SDGs. Our results identify main gaps as exclusion of key actors (e.g., corporations) and issues (e.g., intergenerational equity and population); inadequate reconciliation of economic growth with maintaining the Earth system; and deficient consideration of the relationship with international law. Conceptual mapping identifies education and innovation; governance and implementation; sustainable consumption and production; and addressing the key drivers of climate change as key leverage points. The keyword analysis highlights greater integration within the SDGs than what appears at face value. Keywords “access,” “women,” “resources,” and “finance” feature across the SDGs and provide further leverage points. Targeting these issues will facilitate realization of a high proportion of SDGs and correspondingly could have a disproportional impact on effective SDG implementation. We conclude that the success of the SDGs needs to be evaluated by the extent to which it contributes to human development while advancing protection of “planetary must-haves” for current and future generations. 2018-10-01T07:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4119 info:doi/10.5751/ES-10182-230322 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/6077/viewcontent/Reframing_the_sustainable_development_goals_to_achieve_sustainable_development_in_the_Anthropocene_a_systems_approach.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University implementation sustainable development goals systems approach Biodiversity Environmental Law
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic implementation
sustainable development goals
systems approach
Biodiversity
Environmental Law
spellingShingle implementation
sustainable development goals
systems approach
Biodiversity
Environmental Law
LIM, Michelle Mei Ling
SOGAARD JORGENSEN, Peter
WYBORN, Carina
Reframing the sustainable development goals to achieve sustainability in the Anthropocene — A systems approach
description Griggs et al. (2013) redefine sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present while safeguarding Earth’s life-support system, on which the welfare of current and future generations depend.” We recommend this as the end goal that the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) should strive to achieve. Integration across the SDGs is less than what is required from a science perspective. Effective implementation of the SDGs will require States to attend to trade-offs and overlaps. We argue that continuous failure to address integration within the SDGs will jeopardize realization of this ultimate end goal. Therefore, we adopt a systems approach to identify gaps and connections across the goals and targets of the SDGs as well as leverage points for effective intervention. We triangulate across methods of critical analysis, conceptual modeling, and keyword network analysis to draw out seven “overarching directions” that could provide a prioritization framework to enhance efficient implementation of the SDGs. Our results identify main gaps as exclusion of key actors (e.g., corporations) and issues (e.g., intergenerational equity and population); inadequate reconciliation of economic growth with maintaining the Earth system; and deficient consideration of the relationship with international law. Conceptual mapping identifies education and innovation; governance and implementation; sustainable consumption and production; and addressing the key drivers of climate change as key leverage points. The keyword analysis highlights greater integration within the SDGs than what appears at face value. Keywords “access,” “women,” “resources,” and “finance” feature across the SDGs and provide further leverage points. Targeting these issues will facilitate realization of a high proportion of SDGs and correspondingly could have a disproportional impact on effective SDG implementation. We conclude that the success of the SDGs needs to be evaluated by the extent to which it contributes to human development while advancing protection of “planetary must-haves” for current and future generations.
format text
author LIM, Michelle Mei Ling
SOGAARD JORGENSEN, Peter
WYBORN, Carina
author_facet LIM, Michelle Mei Ling
SOGAARD JORGENSEN, Peter
WYBORN, Carina
author_sort LIM, Michelle Mei Ling
title Reframing the sustainable development goals to achieve sustainability in the Anthropocene — A systems approach
title_short Reframing the sustainable development goals to achieve sustainability in the Anthropocene — A systems approach
title_full Reframing the sustainable development goals to achieve sustainability in the Anthropocene — A systems approach
title_fullStr Reframing the sustainable development goals to achieve sustainability in the Anthropocene — A systems approach
title_full_unstemmed Reframing the sustainable development goals to achieve sustainability in the Anthropocene — A systems approach
title_sort reframing the sustainable development goals to achieve sustainability in the anthropocene — a systems approach
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2018
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4119
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/6077/viewcontent/Reframing_the_sustainable_development_goals_to_achieve_sustainable_development_in_the_Anthropocene_a_systems_approach.pdf
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