Accounting for interactions between Sustainable Development Goals is essential for water pollution control in China

Mengru Wang,Jeanne Bazin,Maryna Strokal,Lin Ma,Annette B G Janssen,Carolien Kroeze

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-28351-3

Abstract

Meeting the United Nations’ (UN’s) 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has become a worldwide mission. How these SDGs interrelate, however, is not well known. We assess the interactions between SDGs for the case of water pollution by nutrients in China. The results show 319 interactions between SDGs for clean water (SDGs 6 and 14) and other SDGs, of which 286 are positive (synergies) and 33 are negative (tradeoffs) interactions. We analyze six scenarios in China accounting for the cobenefits of water pollution control using a large-scale water quality model. We consider scenarios that benefit from synergies and avoid tradeoffs. Our results show that effective pollution control requires accounting for the interactions between SDGs. For instance, combining improved nutrient management, efficient food consumption, and climate mitigation is effective for simultaneously meeting SDGs 6 and 14 as well as other SDGs for food, cities and climate. Our study serves as an example of assessing SDG interactions in environmental policies in China as well as in other regions of the world.

Highlights

Meeting the United Nations’ (UN’s) 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has become a worldwide mission
There is a limited understanding of SDG interactions[6]
We focus on SDGs 6 and 14 and four SDGs (2, 11, 12, and 13) that are highly relevant to the drivers of nutrient pollution

Summary

Introduction

Meeting the United Nations’ (UN’s) 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has become a worldwide mission. There is a limited understanding of SDG interactions[6] Ignoring these synergies and tradeoffs may lead to the enactment of policies that are ineffective for meeting these SDGs. The increasing amount of nutrients in rivers has deteriorated water quality worldwide[7–9]. Excessive nutrients in rivers are transported to seas, which caused approximately 500 episodes of harmful algae blooms in China’s coastal seas from 2006 to 2012, leading to adverse effects on human health and coastal ecosystems[14] This situation is expected to worsen in the future because of socioeconomic developments and climate change[7,15,16]. We analyze the interactions (synergies and tradeoffs) between the goals and targets of the SDGs for pollution control, exemplifying the case of water pollution by nutrients in China. Our analysis supports water pollution control as well as policies to achieve sustainable development and ensure a better future for all in China as well as in other regions of the world

Methods

Results

Conclusion