United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda Research Articles

Práticas tradicionais e desenvolvimento sustentável: indicadores locais de sustentabilidade entre caiçaras e quilombolas da Bocaina

Abstract This article presents the methodology and findings of a study that proposed a set of local indicators for monitoring progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 in caiçara and quilombola communities in the territory of Bocaina in the municipalities of Paraty (Rio de Janeiro) and Ubatuba (São Paulo). The objective was to adapt a global and Brazilian national agenda to the territory level and to construct specific indicators to reflect that “localisation”. To begin with, 40 goals of Agenda 2030 were selected and adapted to conditions in the territory. Then a qualitative study of quilombolas and caiçaras identified local problems in achieving sustainable development and the alternative solutions developed to address those problems. On the basis of that study and secondary data from socioeconomic, environmental and public service information on those populations, 87 local indicators were constructed for the purpose of monitoring progress towards Agenda 2030 targets and goals in the territory.

The UN Sustainable Development Agenda and Rule of Law: Global Governance Failures Require Democratic and Judicial Restraints

The 2030 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Agenda defines its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG S) in terms of human rights and multilevel governance of related public goods. The global health pandemics, environmental crises, and geopolitical trade wars reveal governance failures and related ‘constitutional failures’ to protect human and constitutional rights effectively by democratic legislation, administrative and judicial remedies of citizens, and transnational rule of law. The SDG S require stronger, multilevel legal restraints on ‘market failures’ (like environmental pollution), ‘governance failures’ (like insufficient remedies against abuses of executive powers) and ‘constitutional failures’ (like neglect for transnational rule of law and the ‘Anthropocene’). Democratic legislation and citizen-driven, administrative, and judicial remedies must strengthen accountability of governments for decarbonizing economies and protecting human rights (e.g., environmental and public health protection). Worldwide protection of the SDG S requires reforming multilevel governance beyond Europe’s multilevel constitutionalism in order to prevent policy conflicts through transnational rule of law and ‘constitutional embedding’ of UN/World Trade Organization (WTO) governance.

Modelling and simulation of a four-group evolutionary game model for green innovation stakeholders: Contextual evidence in lens of sustainable development

Sustainable development goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda in 2015 guide coordinated socio-economic development of all countries. They highlight the importance of environmental protection and renewable energy. Here, evolutionary game theory was used to build green technology innovation activities of the government, public, polluting enterprises, and non-polluting enterprises of a four-group evolutionary game model under environmental regulations to discuss and analyze the strategic stability of each game subject and the influence mechanism of strategic selections. Long-term impact of green technology progress on renewable energy consumption was investigated by simulation. The evolutionary trajectory of the game system of these stakeholders was studied through simulation analysis. Under different environmental regulations, polluting and non-polluting enterprises selected different strategies. Non-polluting enterprises easily accepted environmental regulations and conducted green technological innovation to promote SDGs. The effects of command-and-control and incentive environmental regulations were better in the short- and long-term, respectively. When the compensation intensity of an enterprise to the public was low or medium, the public selected supervision. Further, establishing public participation supervision mechanism could control non-green behavior and increase the renewable energy demand of polluting and non-polluting enterprises. Finally, suggestions were provided to promote green innovation and sustainable development from the perspectives of environmental regulation and collaborative innovation.

Philanthropic Foundations as Agents of Justice in Global Sustainability Governance

AbstractPrivate philanthropic foundations—nongovernmental, nonprofit organizations with assets provided by donors for socially useful purposes—have become key political actors in global sustainability governance. Their collective efforts amount to over USD 112 billion for the implementation of the United Nations (UNs)’s ambitious plan to deliver on seventeen interconnected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This corresponds to about a quarter of governmental contribution through official development assistance for the same purposes. Many of these foundations implicitly or explicitly aim to foster global justice, through, for example, empowering women, reducing inequalities, and promoting democracy. They thus act as justice agents shaping the substance and practice of justice in global sustainability governance. But what does this direction of private money into supporting global justice norms really mean? This question deserves scrutiny, especially against a context of diverse and contested meanings of justice and because philanthropy—beyond an act of giving—is often an exercise of power. Using critical discourse analysis of texts produced by selected foundations that are key funders of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda, this paper examines how private foundations frame global justice and with what implications for sustainability governance.

Facets of justice in education: a petroleum nation addressing United Nations sustainable development agenda

ABSTRACT Norway has a complex, even paradoxical, relationship to the United Nations Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. It makes considerable financial contributions to the United Nations and has strongly supported the establishment of the sustainability agenda aimed at promoting global equity and mitigating the ecological and climate crises. Norway is also a prominent petroleum-producing nation. The Norwegian position is explored using an approach that emphasizes justice and education in the sustainability agenda. Three key texts are studied. The first is the objectives clause in the Education Act, the second is an address by then prime minister Erna Solberg at the annual conference of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise, and the third are educational assignments published by the Norwegian Petroleum Museum addressing sustainability and climate change. What is decisive is how specific facets of justice are emphasized in ways that detach Norway from tensions, contradictions, and dilemmas involved.

What is Right and What is Wrong in the Environmental Governance Model? Environmental Regulations for Improving Environmental Sustainability Ratings

The improper allocation of economic and environmental resources damages the United Nations sustainable development Agenda, which remains a challenge for policymakers to stop the rot through efficient governance mechanisms. The study designed an efficient environmental governance framework by extending the different governance factors linked to the environmental sustainability ratings in the cross-section of 67 countries. The results of the two-regime based estimator show that environmental corruption (regime-1), environmental politics (regime-2), and environmental laws (regime-2) negatively correlated with the environmental sustainability rating, whereas environmental democracy (regime-1 & 2) positively correlated with the environmental sustainability agenda across countries. The government effectiveness and the country’s per capita income both escalates environmental sustainability ratings. The results align with the Demopolis theory, the effective regulatory theory, and the theory of law and politics. The causality estimates show that environmental corruption and government effectiveness causes environmental politics and economic growth. In contrast, environmental democracy and environmental regulations cause a country’s per capita income. The bidirectional causality is found between environmental regulations and environmental corruption on the one hand, while environmental regulations and environmental politics Granger cause each other on the other hand. The results show the importance of environmental regulations in managing ecological corruption and politics across countries. The variance decomposition analysis suggested that environmental politics likely influenced the environmental sustainability agenda, followed by government effectiveness and environmental democracy for the next ten years. The study emphasized the need to design an efficient environmental governance framework that minimizes environmental corruption and enables them to move towards environmental democracy, stringent environmental laws, and regulations. Government effectiveness would mainly be linked to reducing corruption and political instability to achieve clean, green and sustainable development.

The phenomenon of human organ trafficking in light of the United Nations sustainable development agenda with special emphasis on cultural offences in Republic of Kosovo

The article concerns the issues related to the illegal trade in human tools in the light of the theoretical structure of sustainable development created by the United Nations (UN). The text consists of several parts. The work aims to show the following research areas: – axiological and legal assumptions of sustainable development in the context of a triple win: social, economic and environmental, – the criminological profile and picture of organized crime in the Republic of Kosovo – trafficking in human organs in the territory of the Republic of Kosovo, – information on traditional customary law (Kanun) in Albanian culture – analysis of the phenomenon of harvesting human organs in Kosovo. The last part of the article presents the economic, social and criminological problems of Kosovo in the context of the Sustainable Development Agenda.The analysis contained in the text proves that the youngest European country (2008) struggles with many problems of a legal, economic and social nature. These problems are not only a consequence of the recent post-Slavic armed conflicts but also result from the specific Albanian legal culture (Kanun rules), which still affects the functioning of this society (especially in the provinces). Therefore, these customs still determine the level of crime in this country, both common and related to the activities of organized crime groups (with particular emphasis on trafficking in human organs). Therefore, it is recommended to successively implement the legal solutions contained in the Agenda for Sustainable Development, to stabilize not only this country but the entire region.

Circular economy and six approaches to improve potassium life cycle for global crop production

The United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 calls for a transformative action to eradicate hunger and poverty and is particularly important for food production in developing countries (see SDG 1 Zero Hunger). Farmers in developing countries apply less potassium fertiliser than those in developed countries due to the high cost of imports and unavailability of domestic supplies. A circular economy approach can improve the efficient use of potassium resources throughout their life cycle from “mine to mouth” by identifying problem areas and assisting in designing supply strategies that help address the needs of farmers. As a nutrient, potassium conventionally follows a linear life cycle from mining. Using secondary data sources and literature, we analyse global demand and supply of potassium to quantify and illustrate the major supply shortages in the Global South.This study identifies six options to improve potassium availability: (1) expanding conventional potassium mining and distribution systems serves those who can afford globally-traded fertiliser products; (2) seeking alternative sources of potassium, such as remineralisers, that provide a local source that is accessible to poorer farmers, and in many cases helps the circular economy of local mining operations that focus on other products; (3) improving markets by supporting trade and mitigating some of the disadvantages encountered in developing countries, such as transport and small scale of purchasing; (4) increasing the use of organic fertilisers, such as sewage and manures; (5) reusing crop residues and other farm wastes as sources of potassium, regarding a farm unit as a closed system as far as is practicable; and (6) recycling food waste so that nutrients return to the land, rather than to discard. Existing restrictions and practices mean that there is no single solution to enhance food production in the Global South using the circular economy principles. However, if these circular economy principles and policies are considered at farm to country scale progress can be made.

Evaluation of Government Programs & Policies to Eradicate Gender Disparities in Pakistan

Like many other developing nations, Pakistan is also facing a gender gap in its socio-cultural spheres. Since independence, many programs and policies have been made in public and private sector domains to eradicate these gender disparities. This paper aims to evaluate these programs and policies by encountering their salient features and how far these programs and policies proved to be fruitful in bridging this gap. The evaluation is done majorly through a desk review of the secondary data drawn from reports published by different government and local organizations. Mainly, the qualitative methods of content and thematic analyses were employed for exploring the gender-based disparities, and how these are affecting the pace of development in Pakistan. Moreover, an assessment of strategies and policies addressing the problem of the gender gap has also been done. Based on the study findings, this paper presents some policy recommendations to reduce gender base disparities which is one of the many prerequisites for the promotion of sustainable development agenda as gender equality is the 5th goal of the United Nations sustainable development agenda.

B2N Partnerships – Nested Systems of Transformation and Interaction: A Systematic Literature Review

As different sectors possess distinct and idiosyncratic resources, partnerships between business and nonprofit organizations (B2N) allow solutions to be found to challenges that are too complex to be handled alone. Accordingly, such partnerships form an integral part of the United Nations sustainable development agenda and have resulted in a series of research projects over the last decade that now requires to be systematized. For this reason, the present paper reviews the existing literature concerning B2N partnerships and aims at developing an integrated research agenda. The review's focus is to identify the determinants enabling a successful partnership between for-profit and nonprofit actors. To this end, we develop a dyadic framework, postulating that B2N partnerships are nested systems of transformation and interaction. The transformation-based perspective allows us to consider the partnership process and the associated transformation of inputs into outputs. By complementing this view with an interaction-based perspective, we shed light on the interrelationships between the institutional, organizational, individual, and partnership levels. Such a comprehensive, integrated analysis enables us to holistically capture the B2N’s manifold challenges and success factors. Accordingly, the article concludes by delineating a theory-grounded framework combining the critical determinants to build and maintain an alliance on diverse analysis levels.

The strategic diagnosis of the potassium fertilizer industry in Brazil

Fertilizers and crop nutrition play a key role in fulfilling the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda. Brazil is the world’s fourth largest consumer of fertilizers. Between 1998 and 2018, the apparent consumption of potash fertilizers (in terms of K2O content) almost tripled, while the production of potassium chloride decreased in Brazil. Two important projects (Carnalita and Autazes) are still in the design phase, and there is considerable uncertainty surrounding them. Potassium producers located in Canada, Russia and Belarus have competitive advantages when compared to Brazil. The aim of this paper is to make a strategic diagnosis of the potassium fertilizer industry. The major variables that characterize the status of the Brazilian fertilizer industry could be identified, on the basis of data collected from annual business reports, reports from consulting firms, government websites, books, newspaper articles, sectoral studies and scientific articles. This paper concluded that, after detection of the current fragility of this sector, which is essential to the agribusiness production chain, public policies have to be formulated with a view to boosting this industry, based on the competitive advantages related to proximity to the Brazilian consumer market. However, there are disadvantages, namely, access to raw material, the need for infrastructure development and entry barriers caused by factors of scale and idle installed capacity in the major global players.

Female Students Participation in Technical Vocational Education and Training in West Pokot County, Kenya

Quality and affordable technical vocational education and training are one of the United Nations Sustainable Development agenda items for ensuring equal access to education for all women and men by the year 2030. This means that all women in the country need to have relevant skills for employment, job creation and entrepreneurship. Data from West Pokot County, Kenya department of technical and vocational education show the number of female students being admitted in vocational training centres for the past five years has remained low. Whereas the government of Kenya has viewed TVET as a critical element of attaining Sustainable Development Goal and Kenya’s Vision 2030 goals, the number of female students graduating from vocational training and being absorbed in the job market remains low. This study looks at enrolment trends for female students in vocational training centres and further examines factors discouraging female students from joining vocational training institutions (VTCs). To collect data, interviews and documentary evidence were used. The respondents for the study involve managers of selected VTCs in West Pokot County. Analysis of data was done through qualitative and quantitative methods. The study found out that the distribution of students in all public VTCs in West Pokot County favoured the male gender over female students. For women enrolled in various programmes, only 45.0% fully completed their programme. It was found out that courses offered in VTCs tend to attract more male students compared to female ones. The distribution of the teaching workforce in VTCs was found to be male-dominated and therefore, female students did not have role models to look up to. The research also found out that majority of girls who were unable to proceed to secondary and tertiary education were not aware of the opportunities available in VTCs in the county. The paper concludes that social-cultural factors, lack of role models and poverty were some of the barriers affecting female students’ participation in vocational education and training. The paper suggests more work needs to be done by all stakeholders to ensure that courses offered in VTCs are attractive to female students, remove social, cultural and physical barriers which prevent female students from enrolling and completing vocational training in West Pokot County, Kenya.

Women's empowerment and tourism development: A cross-country study

Women's empowerment has become a crucial component of sustainable tourism development in tourist destinations. Meanwhile, achieving gender equality and empowering women constitutes the fifth goal of the United Nations sustainable development agenda (UN-SDGs). The present study aims to investigate the influence of women's empowerment on tourism development across three different Arab countries: Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. With partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) employed to analyse the perceptions of 784 respondents across the three countries, the findings reveal that perceptions of women's work in tourism and women's entrepreneurship are significant predictors of women's empowerment in the tourism sector. Furthermore, the results show significantly different effects of women's empowerment on tourism development in the three countries. Among the three Arab countries included in the current study, the United Arab Emirates ranks first for the impact of women's empowerment on tourism development, followed by Egypt and then Oman. The findings hold significant implications for women's empowerment in Arab and Muslim countries. Limitations and directions for future research are also addressed.

Mountain Biodiversity Is Central to Sustainable Development in Mountains and Beyond

Rich biological diversity in mountains provides ample benefits to people locally and beyond. However, mountain biodiversity is decreasing rapidly, often as a result of geographically distant demands. We can achieve the transition to sustainable development only by accounting for the drivers and benefits of mountain biodiversity from a local to global level.

Measuring early child development in low and middle income countries: Investigating the validity of the early Human Capability Index.

Inclusion of early child development in the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda raises issues of how this goal should be monitored, particularly in low resource settings. The aim of this paper was to explore the validity of the early Human Capability Index (eHCI); a population measure designed to capture the holistic development of children aged 3–5 years. Convergent, divergent, discriminant and concurrent validity were examined by exploring the associations between eHCI domains and child (sex, age, stunting status, preschool attendance) and family (maternal education, home learning environment) characteristics. Analyses were repeated using data from seven low and middle income countries: Brazil (n = 1810), China (n = 11421), Kiribati (n = 8339), Lao PDR (n = 7493), Samoa (n = 12191), Tonga (n = 6214), and Tuvalu (n = 549). Correlations and linear regressions provide evidence that within these country samples, the tool is capturing the aspects of early child development that it was designed to measure. Although the tool was intended to measure development of children aged 3–5 years, results suggest it can be validly applied to children aged 2–6 years. The eHCI is free, requires minimal implementation resources, captures development across domains and abilities, and is designed to allow cultural and contextual concepts to be included. The eHCI appears psychometrically robust in diverse country contexts and could enable evaluation of early years policies and programs, as well as monitoring of children's development to track progress towards the Sustainable Development Agenda.

A proposal of a balanced scorecard to the water, energy and food nexus approach: Brazilian food policies in the context of sustainable development goals

Water, energy and food are strategic resources in maintaining human security. The interconnections between them emerge as new important aspects in the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda, especially in a context of population growth and increasing pressure on resources. As a consequence of Brazil’s relevance in worldwide food production, this country has established several food policies in the last two decades, resulting in pressure on water and energy resources. Therefore, this article analyzes Brazilian food policies and its interconnections, overlaps and potential clashes with water and energy resources, as well as its alignment to sustainable development goals. In addition, the words with higher incidence in policies were analyzed in order to identify patterns and trends in food production management. As a result, through an analysis and review of seventeen Brazilian policies, programs and projects for food within a perspective of sustainability, this article innovatively proposed a Balanced Scorecard in the water, energy and food Nexus approach. This assessment can provide a directional suggestion for future development policies.

Assessing the environmental impacts of halving food loss and waste along the food supply chain

Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) is widely recognized as an important lever for lowering the environmental impacts of food systems. The United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda includes a goal to reduce FLW by 50% by 2030. Given differences in resource inputs along the food supply chain (FSC), the environmental benefits of FLW reduction will vary by stage of the FSC. Here, we identify the points along the supply chain where a 50% FLW reduction could yield the largest potential environmental benefits, assuming that decreases in consumption propagate back up the supply chain to reduce production. We use an environmentally extended input-output (EEIO) model combined with data on rates of FLW to calculate the scale of the total environmental impacts of the U.S. food system resulting from lost or wasted food. We evaluate the maximum potential environmental benefit resulting from 50% FLW reduction at all possible combinations of six supply chain stages (agricultural production, food processing, distribution/retail, restaurant foodservice, institutional foodservice, and households).We find that FLW reduction efforts should target the foodservice (restaurant) sector, food processing sector, and household consumption. Halving FLW in the foodservice sector has the highest potential to reduce greenhouse gas output and energy use. Halving FLW in the food processing sector could reduce the most land use and eutrophication potential, and reducing household consumption waste could avert the most water consumption. In contrast, FLW reduction at the retail, institutional foodservice, and farm level averts less environmental impact. Our findings may help determine optimal investment in FLW reduction strategies.

Management of various socio-economic factors under the United Nations sustainable development agenda

The objective of the study is to assess the United Nation's healthcare sustainable development agenda by controlling the number of socio-economic and environmental factors, including carbon emissions, particulate emission damages, natural resource depletion, communicable diseases, and per capita income in a panel of 40 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. The study covered a time period of 2000–2016 for robust inferences. The pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimator is used to controlled possible heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. The results confirmed the inverted U-shaped relationship between per capita income and natural resource depletion, while the U-shaped relationship is found between communicable disease and per capita income. The long-run results confirmed that communicable diseases and particulate emission damages both negatively linked with the country's per capita income, while there is a direct association between per capita income and carbon emissions across countries. The results further reveal that particulate emission damages and high mass carbon emissions largely associated with the communicable diseases that need sustainable healthcare policies to delimit carbon-particulate emissions growth in a panel of SSA countries. The undeniable health losses and low adaptability of environmental sustainability reforms lag behind the SSA countries from the assigned target of United Nation's sustainable development goals, which need national and international collaborations to designed better healthcare policies to prevent from infectious diseases that lead towards sustained global healthcare infrastructure.

Management of natural resources and material pricing: Global evidence

Material pricing is the viable sustainable policy instrument through which the United Nations sustainable development agenda, COP24 agreement and Paris protocol for convention of climate change largely be achieved with advancement in clean energy technologies. This study is in line with the stated theme and examined the role of material pricing, ores & metal exports, and natural resource rents in the environmental sustainability agenda for low (L), middle (M), high (H) income countries, and world (W) aggregated countries data set, for a period of 1975–2017. The study further assessed the role of material pricing in mitigation of carbon emissions, achieving energy efficiency and amplify World per capita income for the next 10 years time period. This would be helpful to devise resource conservation policies across the globe. The results show that material pricing increases carbon emissions and decreases energy efficiency that negatively effect on World income, while ores & metal exports achieved energy efficiency via the channel of mitigating global carbon emissions. Mineral rents, oil rents, and natural gas rents verified the ‘carbon-resource curse’ hypothesis under materials pricing. The income per capita, FDI inflows, and trade liberalization policies support to achieve energy efficiency on the cost of high carbon emissions, which verified the ‘pollution haven’ hypothesis across the globe. The study verified the long-run and inter-temporal relationship between the candidate variables for the next 10 years time period. The study concludes that material pricing and emissions trading system both policies are imperative in resource constraint environment to mitigate carbon emissions stock. The advancement in clean energy technologies is the key to regulate environmental policies for promoting sustainable production and consumption across the globe.

National Qualifications Framework and TVET teacher competence frameworks: A neglected dimension of qualifications reforms?

AbstractThis article examines the interplay between qualification systems reforms and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) teachers' competences and qualifications in the context of the future of work and learning, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda. The article reviews international standards and trends and examines a range of country case studies. The concluding section focuses on future scenarios for TVET Teachers Competence frameworks.