Lecture 1: 2030 Agenda and the SDGs Prof. Mario Tabucanon (UNU-IAS) 2018 ProSPER.Net Young Researchers' School 5 March 2018

1. ProSPER.Net Young Researchers’ School
“Sustainable Urban Development for the World’s Megacities”
4-11 March 2018, Kanagawa, Japan
2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development
Goals – Research Implications
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Mario T. Tabucanon
Visiting Professor and Senior Research Fellow
UNU-IAS

2. Historical Perspective
2002
• World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg
• Ubuntu Alliance, Ubuntu Declaration –
“Strengthen S&T Education for SD”
• UN General Assembly adopted UN DESD 2005-
2014
• UN DESD Thrust on HE: Reorienting existing
education/research programmes; Capacity
building

3. 3
Rio +20 Commitment to Sustainable Practices of Higher Education Institutions
Higher education institution signatories commit to:
1) Teach sustainable development concepts, ensuring that they form a
part of the core curriculum across all disciplines.
2) Encourage research on sustainable development issues, to improve
scientific understanding through exchanges of scientific and
technological knowledge.
3) Green their campuses by: i) reducing the environmental footprint; ii)
adopting sustainable procurement practices; iii) providing sustainable
mobility options for students and faculty; iv) adopting effective
programmes for waste minimization, recycling and reuse, and v)
encouraging more sustainable lifestyles.
4) Support sustainability efforts in the communities in which they reside.
Higher Education Sustainability Initiative
(HESI)

4. 4
• “A Process of empowerment and
transformational change for creating
sustainable societies”
• Empowerment: Doing the right things.
• Change: Bringing the present state
(unsustainable) into a desired future state
(sustainable).

5. • We can analyze to understand the past and the
present (Learning).
(Capacity building)
• But we have to design a desired future (Visioning).
(SDGs @ global/national/local
levels)
• We have to transformative figures in this process
of change (Transforming)
(Methodologies; Decision-making and
Implementation tools)
5

6. We are living on ever decreasing natural capital
As a planet, the human race now consumes 30% more biological
resources than the earth can produce in one year
Source: http://www.globalfootprintnetwork.org/
Earth’s
Sustainability
We are here
now!

7. We are consuming more and more, faster
and faster… what is the outcome?

8. As we Consume More… More Species Go Extinct
The Living Planet
Index of
biosphere health
fell by about
40% from 1970
to 2000, a period
of just 30 years.
What will happen in
the next 30 years?
Source: State of the World 2004: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a
Sustainable Society, Linda Starke et al, Norton, NY, 2004, 245 pp.

9. Doubling world population and increasing level of
consumption would lead to
• multi-fold increase in food consumption,
increase in energy production, and increase in
resource utilization in general
 To sustain life, we need more than one planet
Earth

10. 1900 21002002 2050
Rio: If we go on with current consumption & consumption
patterns, two planets are needed by 2050
At World ESD Conference, Nagoya, 10 November 2014: “There
is no plan B, because there is no planet B” – Ban Ki-moon, UN
Secretary General

12. The Age of Sustainable Development
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• Vision – To have a transformed world
• Economic development that is socially
inclusive, and environmentally
sustainable

13. Framework for sustainability
A B C
‘Triple-bottom line’ model ‘Hierarchical ’ model
Source: Image adapted from Lowe, I. (1996), Towards Ecological Sustainability
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14. 3/13/2018 14

15. Core Elements of SD –
People, Prosperity, Planet, Peace, Partnership
• People – To end poverty and fight inequalities- SDGs
1,2,10; To ensure healthy lives, knowledge and the
inclusion of women and children - SDGs 3,4,5
• Prosperity - To grow a strong, inclusive and
transformative economy -SDGs 6,7,8,9,11,12
• Planet - To protect our ecosystems for all societies
and our children - SDGs 13,14,15
• Peace - To promote safe and peaceful societies and
strong institutions - SDG 16
• Partnership - To catalyze global solidarity for
sustainable development - SDG 17
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16. Why SDG 11 is Critical?
• Half of humanity – 3.5+ billion people – live in cities
today
• By 2030, almost 60 per cent of the world’s
population will live in urban areas
• 95 per cent of urban expansion in the next decades
will take place in developing world
• The world’s cities occupy just 3 per cent of the
Earth’s land, but account for 60-80 per cent of energy
consumption and 75 per cent of carbon emissions
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17. Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and
Communities
• (11.1) By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and
affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums
• (11.2) By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible
and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road
safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special
attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations,
women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons
• (11.3) By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable
urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and
sustainable human settlement planning and management in
all countries

18. • (11.4) Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s
cultural and natural heritage
• (11.5) By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and
the number of people affected and substantially decrease the
direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic
product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters,
with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable
situations
• (11.6) By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental
impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air
quality and municipal and other waste management
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19. • (11.7) By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible,
green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older
persons and persons with disabilities
• (11.a) Support positive economic, social and environmental links between
urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional
development planning
• (11.b) By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human
settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans
towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to
climate change, resilience to disasters, and develop and implement, in line
with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, holistic
disaster risk management at all levels
• (11.c) Support least developed countries, including through financial and
technical assistance, in building sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing
local materials
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20. What’s with the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
1. Universal – for all countries
2. 17 goals, 169 targets, 230 indicators
3. SDG framework “an indivisible whole”
4. There are interactions between all SDG goals
and targets
5. If countries ignore the overlaps they risk
missing the potential synergies
6. Multi-stakeholder partnerships are key to
successful implementation of the SDGs
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21. DESA WORKING PAPER, LEBLANC,
MARCH 2015
UN DESA Working Paper No. 141, March 2015
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22. Kinds of interactions between
SDG goals/targets
Positive causation
• Inseparable – Inextricable linked to each other
• Reinforcing – Aiding each other’s achievement
• Enabling – Creates conditions furthering each other’s
achievements
Neutral – No significant interactions
Negative causation
• Constraining – Limits option on each other
• Counteracting – Clashes each other’s satisfaction
• Cancelling – Makes it impossible to reach each other’s
achievement
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23. Satisfaction of one impairs or precludes the
satisfaction of others
Sustainable development means to balance
a variety of needs and goals. Approach –
turn conflicting into non-conflicting situation
(e.g. Green Economy, I=PAT)

24. Examples
Positive, inseparable causation
• Ending all forms of discrimination against women
(SDG 5.1) is inseparable from ensuring women’s
full and effective participation and equal
opportunities for leadership (SDG 5.5)
Positive, reinforcing causation
• Providing access to electricity (SDG 7.1)
reinforces water-pumping and irrigation systems
(SDG 2.3). Strengthening the capacity to adapt to
climate-related hazards (SDG 13.1) reduces loses
caused by disasters (SDG 2.4)

25. Examples (continued)
Positive, enabling causation
• Providing electricity access in rural homes (SDG
7.1) enable education (SDG4.7 and other SDG
4.0), because it makes it possible to do
homework at night.
Neutral
• Ensuring education for all (SDGs 4.1, 4.2, 4.3) may
not interact significantly with infrastructure
development (SDG 9.1) or conservation of ocean
ecosystems (SDG 14.5).

26. Examples (continued)
Negative, cancelling causation
• Full protection of natural reserves (SDGs 15.1,
15.4) excludes public access for recreation.
Negative, counteracting causation
• Boosting consumption for growth (SDG 8.4)
can counteract waste reduction (SDG 12.5)
and climate mitigation (13.3)

27. Examples (continued)
Negative, constraining
• Improved water efficiency (SDG 6.4) can
constrain agricultural irrigation (SDGs 2.3, 2.4).
Reducing climate change (SDG13.1) can
constrain the options for energy access (SDG
7.1)

28. Some caveat on SDG interlinkages
• Some negative interactions may just be poor
governance
• Interlinkages may vary from place to place, or
location specific
• Some interactions take effect in real time,
some may have time lags
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29. Prioritizing the SDGs
• Different countries have different national
contexts and different priorities
• SDGs should be prioritized at the national and
local levels
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30. Research Potentials on SDGs
Interlinkages
• Systems Analysis on the Interlinkages of the SDGs and
Targets
The SDGs and their targets can be viewed as a network in
which linkages among goals exist through targets that
refer to multiple goals. A research objective could be to
develop a practical methodology for analyzing these
interactions in a systems fashion. The expected outcomes
would be determining the levels of intensities (positive,
negative or neutral) of the interconnections across goals
and targets as well as recommendations on possible
policy interventions and prioritizing resource
mobilization.
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31. • Investigation of Interlinkages of SDGs and
Targets in Specific Countries/Cities.
The methodology developed in Research Area 1,
above, can then be applied to specific countries
for all or a cluster of goals. The expected
research outcomes would be country-specific
clusters of priority goals/targets/actions which
can be useful for policymaking.
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32. • Development of Country (City)-Specific
Indicators of SDGs and Targets.
Because the context of SDGs are usually
country-specific, the general indicators
accompanying the SDGs and targets may be
taken as merely indicative. More definitive
indicators in relation to the results of Research
Agenda 1&2, above, could be developed.
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33. • Research on Governance: Develop a Multi-
Stakeholder Partnership Methodology for
Implementation of SDGs.
• Although Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships (MSP) is
a goal in its own right (SDG 17), it may be seen as
an essential approach to implementing other
SDGs. MSP is context-specific and in this sense it
would be useful to develop context-specific MSP
methodologies in specific countries. The
outcomes can be useful in determining policy
interventions to motivate stakeholders to work
together.
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34. Potential topics for research on
“Sustainable Cities & Communities”
• Need for shelter, safety and inclusiveness
(human needs, contextualizing different
individual and collective wants and needs
according to gender, age, income and ability)
• Management and use of natural resources
(renewables and non-renewables)
• Sustainable energy (residential energy use,
renewable energies, community energy
schemes) and transportation
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35. Research potentials
• Sustainable food (urban organic agriculture, food
processing, dietary choices and habits, waste
generation)
• Urban ecology and how wildlife is adapting to
humanity’s settlements
• Sustainable resilient buildings and spatial
planning (building materials, energy saving,
planning processes)
• Waste generation and management (prevention,
reduction, recycling, reuse)
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36. Research potentials
• Communities and their dynamics (decision-making,
governance, planning, conflict resolution, alternative
communities, healthy communities, inclusive
communities, ecovillages, transition towns)
• Water cycle and restoring ground water through urban
design (green roofs, rainwater harvesting, daylighting
old river beds, sustainable urban drainage)
• Disaster preparedness and resilience, resilience to
weather problems and in the future and a culture of
prevention and preparedness
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37. Governance and sustainability landscape
Sustainable Development
Challenges
(social, environmental,
economic): urban, water,
energy...
LOCAL/National
Government
Civil Society
Private Sector
REGIONAL
Regional
alliances
Civil Society
Private Sector
GLOBAL
International
Organizations
Civil Society
Private Sector
Multiple Levels, Multiple
Stakeholders
Implementation
and accountability
Cross-sectoral
initiatives
Network
approach

38. GGG
38
Policy -
DECISION MAKING
Practice -
IMPLEMENTATION

39. Copyright M.T. Tabucanon, 2007
Policy Development-Implementation
Model
Agenda
setting
Policy
formulation Implementation
Results/Outcomes/Impacts
Policy evaluation
Indicators
Analyze
deviation
causes
Feedback
Take corrective
actions

40. Sustainable
Development
Health
Peace and
Security
Climate
Change
Water
Networked governance approach
- “Governance through Goals”

41. Governance through Indicators
• Implementation of SDGs require evidence-
based quantitative indicators.
• There are silo’ed indicators, meaning they
measure progress of a single goal/target
• There are integrated indicators, meaning
those that measures multiple thematic
achievements
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42. Sustainable Development
SDG 2 SDG NSDG 1
Policy/Program/
Project 1
SDGs Hierarchical ModelSPMconcent
Target 1 Target 2 Target 3 Target 4
ArableLand
ForestArea
ThreatenedBirds
CO
2
Emissions
SO
2
Emissions
NOxEmissions
SafeSanitation
WaterAvailability
ForestCoverChange
Threatened
Mammals
Wetlandsof
International
Importance
Population
PovertyForecast
InfantMortalityRate
LifeExpectancyat
Birth
GDPGrowth
GrossNationalIncome
NationalIncomePer
Capita
EnergyConsumptionPer
Capita
Policy/Program/
Project 2
Policy/Program/
Project 3
SO
2
concent
NOxconcent
BODlevel
SafeWater
ThreatenedPlants
ProtectedArea
HumanDevelopment
Index
Income
GDPComparison

43. Example of Integrative Indicators
Theme: Food Waste
Priority indicator - % of food loss and waste from
food production to consumption and % of food
waste recycled.
Goals/Targets focused: 11.6, 12.3, 12.4, 12.5
Rationale: 1/3 of global food production is
wasted, goes uneaten, and is responsible for 7%
GHG emissions
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44. Impacts:
Social – Food waste undermines food and
nutrition security, health inequality
Environmental – Inefficient use of resources and
contribution GHG emissions
Economic – Impacts the economic sustainability
of food systems. Economic loss amounts to
US$750b annually and felt at all stages of the
food value chain
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45. Traditionally
• Focus on learning the scientific discipline
• Academic or scientific disciplines are
viewed in silos
• Then look for a problem to apply

46. In the Age of
Sustainable Development
• Focus on the problem towards creating
sustainable solutions
• Academic and scientific disciplines are viewed
in transdisciplinary and holistic fashion
• All relevant sciences are invoked

47. • Future Earth: New global platform for
sustainability research launched at
Rio+20
• Future Earth is the global research
platform providing the knowledge and
support to accelerate our
transformations to a sustainable world.

48. Future Earth Vision
The vision of Future Earth is for people to thrive in a
sustainable and equitable world.
This requires contributions from a new type of science
that links disciplines, knowledge systems and societal
partners to support a more agile global innovation
system.
48
Transdisciplinarity
Natural
Science
Social
Science
Engineering Practice
stakeholders

49. Thank you
For more information, please visit:
http://prospernet.ias.unu.edu/