Information for integrated Decision-Making & Participation

Integrated Decision-Making & Participation (IDMP) has rapidly emerged as a potent strategic tool for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a blueprint established by the United Nations for attaining global peace, prosperity, and protection of our planet. Fundamentally, IDMP weaves together diverse threads of information from a myriad of sources, fostering a collaborative environment that facilitates participatory decision-making. This comprehensive approach harnesses the power of information to drive robust, evidence-based strategies for sustainable development, thereby underpinning the realization of the 17 SDGs.

In the complex realm of sustainability, information forms the bedrock of any successful strategy. The more diverse and accurate the data, the better informed the strategies, and by extension, the more likely they are to succeed. IDMP, by centralizing the collection, analysis, and dissemination of relevant information, offers an efficient mechanism for transforming raw data into actionable intelligence. Decision-makers in governments, NGOs, or private sectors can therefore engage in efficient, informed policy-making, tailoring their strategies to local, regional, and global contexts.

Participation, on the other hand, infuses these data-driven decisions with a crucial human touch. It ensures that the voices of stakeholders at all levels – from grassroots communities to international organizations – are heard and factored into decision-making processes. This collaborative approach fosters a sense of ownership among stakeholders, facilitates the resolution of conflicts of interest, and ultimately, leads to more sustainable and acceptable outcomes.

The synergy of information and participation through IDMP directly contributes to the implementation of SDGs. Whether it's improving health and education (SDGs 3 and 4), promoting economic growth and decent work (SDGs 8 and 9), or tackling climate change (SDG 13), IDMP helps guide policy and practice towards sustainable outcomes by empowering stakeholders with the right information and ensuring their active participation in decision-making processes.

By mapping the intricate web of interdependencies between various SDGs, IDMP can also illuminate hidden opportunities for synergies and highlight potential pitfalls of trade-offs. The promotion of gender equality (SDG 5), for instance, not only stands as an objective in its own right but also catalyzes progress towards other SDGs such as quality education, reduced inequalities, and sustainable communities.

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International Water Summit 2017, 16-19 January 2017

The International Water Summit (IWS) is a global platform for promoting water sustainability in arid regions by bringing together world leaders, field experts, academics and business innovators to accelerate the development of new sustainable strategies and technologies. Videos from the 2017 summit cover a wide range of technologies and innovations which support SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation and SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Although it is one of the poorest countries in the world, devastated by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and heavily aid-dependent, Rwanda has achieved most of its Millennium Development targets for health. This article discusses how it managed this, when many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa failed to achieve theirs, and assesses the sustainability of its solutions.
The process of decision making can be critical in various ways. In particular, because it determines the path towards or away from sustainable development. In this context, the present study examined the relationship between rationalities for decisions making processes and sustainable development in order to gain a better understanding of how to promote a more sustainable development model.

Reducing large-scale deforestation in commodity frontiers remains a key challenge for climate change mitigation and the conservation of biodiversity. Public and private anti-deforestation policies have been shown to effectively reduce forest loss, but the conditions under which such policies get adopted are rarely examined. Here we propose a set of conditions that we expect to be associated with the adoption of effective anti-deforestation policies in commodity frontiers.

Elsevier, Telematics and Informatics, Volume 34, 1 February 2017
This article analyzes the way in which the convergence of green attributes in multifunctional technological products influences consumers' purchase intentions. Due to the recent growth in convergent products, technology users and consumers must choose among numerous different applications that can be perceived as either utilitarian or hedonic. This article suggests that new products launched on the market include attributes that are connected to sustainability and provide added value to consumers in their process of decision making.
Uncertainties in evaluating bioenergy projects have lead policymakers to adopt a restrictive approach or even refuse to evaluate projects when the available information is limited or a clear perception of its benefits and impact is lacking. Indeed, despite its potential advantages, a bioenergy system poses several conceptual and operational challenges for academic as well as practical scrutiny because the inherent relationship and the intersection of areas related to energy production and agricultural activity requires a deeply integrated assessment.
Linking to Goal 17, this handbook examines practical aspects and conceptual issues of international organizations and their relationship with nation-states and international authority.
HPCC training
HPCC Systems offers free introductory online training classes for anyone wanting to learn the basics of the ECL programming language and the open source HPCC Systems platform. Included in the training are self-paced lessons, lab exercises and a moderated Q&A forum to increase proficiency for solving Big Data problems. HPCC Systems training advances SDG 4 Quality education and SDG 9.B to support domestic technology development, research and innovation in developing countries.

Despite a significant increase in research and practise linking corporate social responsibility (CSR) and human resource management (HRM), a comprehensive examination of the relationship between these two constructs has yet to be undertaken. Scholars associating CSR and HRM rarely explicate their understanding of the connection between CSR and HRM (CSR–HRM) or the assumptions they make when exploring this relationship. Thus, we argue that a comprehensive review of the literature of the CSR–HRM nexus is relevant and necessary.

Elsevier,

Research Intelligence, August 2016

Cancer Moonshot Report
With this report, Elsevier aims to benchmark and map out the global landscape of cancer research to provide helpful new insights. Along with other materials, this benchmark report will offer the research community, pubic, policymakers and research funding organizations information on the current state of cancer related research. We hope this report will be used to inform the development of new operational approaches, priorities, policies and funding strategies to produce new knowledge that will address key challenges related to cancer in the most effective, efficient and impactful way possible.

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