Sustainable Development Goals Perspectives

Elsevier, 23rd July 2020

The new 2030 sustainable development agenda is likely to dominate policy and academic debates at both national and international levels over next 15 years and beyond. It is, therefore, a crucial time to critically reflect how the SDGs are likely to shape - and be shaped by - the wider research community. Each peer-reviewed paper will address the common question of: “how is the SDG agenda influencing scholarly debates in different research areas, and vice-versa?”. We foresee these papers and the special issue providing disciplinary and trans-disciplinary perspectives, and provoking discussion and debate to inform the policy-science interface around the SDGs and the broader 2030 sustainable development agenda.

The sustainable development goals: The bumpy road ahead

Elsevier,

World Development, Volume 127, 2020,104770, ISSN 0305-750X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104770.

This special issue of World Development is part of the SDG Perspectives Series, a collaborative, interdisciplinary endeavour whose aim is to interrogate the gap between academic and policy discourses underpinning the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The articles offer rich overviews on key goals, and provide examples, research evidence, and empirical data that illustrate important challenges and new lines of enquiry. By narrowing down the discussion on specific aspects of the SDGs that deserve particular attention, the special issue offers a nuanced perspective on the potential and limitations of the 2030 Agenda.
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SDG:

Goal 1: No poverty; Goal 2: Zero hunger; Goal 3: Good health and well-being; Goal 4: Quality education; Goal 5: Gender equality; Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation; Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy; Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth; Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure; Goal 10: Reduced inequalities; Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities; Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production; Goal 13: Climate action; Goal 14: Life below water; Goal 15: Life on land; Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions; Goal 17: Partnership for the goals

Tags:

Information for integrated Decision-Making & Participation, Global

Development pathways toward “zero hunger”

Elsevier,

World Development, Volume 118, 2019, Pages 1-14, ISSN 0305-750X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.02.004.

The paper presents an integrated literature review organised around three disciplinary perspectives central to realizing SDG 2: ecology and agricultural sciences; nutrition and public health; and political economy and policy science. It argues that the pathway to achieving Zero Hunger should centre on place-based, adaptive and participatory solutions that simultaneously attend to local institutional capacities, agroecosystem diversification and ecological management, and the quality of local diets.
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SDG:

Goal 2: Zero hunger

Tags:

Health and wellbeing; Food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture, Global

The politics of quality reforms and the challenges for SDGs in education

Elsevier,

World Development, Volume 118, 2019, Pages 27-38, ISSN 0305-750X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.02.008.

This paper contributes to goal 4 by calling for a careful assessment of the politics of education reform, particularly teacher policy reforms. It identifies three special challenges linked to these reforms: they are generally contentious, often threatening the institutional interests of well-organized and politically powerful teacher unions; their implementation is opaque, as impact depends on classroom-level change that is difficult for reformers to monitor; and benefits are long-term, usually well beyond the political tenure of reform champions.
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SDG:

Goal 4: Quality education

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Education, South America

SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth – A gendered analysis

Elsevier,

World Development, Volume 113, 2019, Pages 368-380, ISSN 0305-750X

This paper unpacks the tensions embedded within SDG 8, particularly how its focus on GDP and per capita growth is problematic because it excludes much of social reproductive work. It argues that both gender and labour rights have to underpin SDG 8 if its promise of inclusive, sustainable and decent work is to be realised.
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SDG:

Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth

Tags:

Employment decent work for all and social protection; Gender equality and women's empowerment, Global

The ‘New’ national development planning and global development goals: Processes and partnerships

Elsevier,

World Development, Volume 120, 2019, Pages 76-89, ISSN 0305-750X

The number of countries with a national development plan has more than doubled, from about 62 in 2006 to 134 in 2018. This paper analyses the resurgence of national development planning, identifies the types and content of the plans, and their implications and interactions with the SDGs and the global development agenda.
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SDG:

Goal 1: No poverty; Goal 2: Zero hunger; Goal 3: Good health and well-being; Goal 4: Quality education; Goal 5: Gender equality; Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation; Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy; Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth; Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure; Goal 10: Reduced inequalities; Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities; Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production; Goal 13: Climate action; Goal 14: Life below water; Goal 15: Life on land; Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions; Goal 17: Partnership for the goals

Tags:

National Sustainable Development Strategies (NSDS); Multi-stakeholder partnerships, Global

Mobility equity in a globalized world: Reducing inequalities in the sustainable development agenda

Elsevier,

World Development, Volume 112, 2018, Pages 150-162, ISSN 0305-750X

Drawing on major research evidence and key debates, this review article proposes a framework of mobility equity as part of SDG 10, which foresees the reduction of inequalities within and among countries by 2030. The main question addressed is how forms of social, human and digital mobility, including migration, can contribute to reduced inequalities and positive development outcomes.
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SDG:

Goal 10: Reduced inequalities

Tags:

Human rights; Diversity and inclusion; Capacity-building, Global

The Southern origins of sustainable development goals: Ideas, actors, aspirations

Elsevier,

World Development, Volume 126, 2020, 104706, ISSN 0305-750X

This paper contributes to the debate on the agency of the South in shaping global norms by focusing on the adoption of sustainable development as the consensus framework for the SDGs. Based on documentary and archival research, interviews with stakeholders, and direct participant observation of the SDG negotiations and consultations, the paper chronicles the ideas originating from the South in the emergence and subsequent evolution of the sustainable development concept and the adoption of the SDG.
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SDG:

Goal 1: No poverty; Goal 2: Zero hunger; Goal 3: Good health and well-being; Goal 4: Quality education; Goal 5: Gender equality; Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation; Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy; Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth; Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure; Goal 10: Reduced inequalities; Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities; Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production; Goal 13: Climate action; Goal 14: Life below water; Goal 15: Life on land; Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions; Goal 17: Partnership for the goals

Tags:

Multi-stakeholder partnerships; National Sustainable Development Strategies (NSDS), Global

Reconciling global aspirations and local realities: Challenges facing the Sustainable Development Goals for water and sanitation

Elsevier,

World Development, Volume 118, 2019, Pages 106-117, ISSN 0305-750X

This article assesses governance challenges at the local level associated with SDG 6, which pledges to ensure sustainable water and sanitation for all. It reviews prior shortcomings in global monitoring efforts, as well as local governance challenges and potential barriers to implementation facing SDG 6.
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SDG:

Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation

Tags:

Water and sanitation; Multi-stakeholder partnerships, Asia, South America
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