National Sustainable Development Strategies (NSDS)

National Sustainable Development Strategies (NSDS) form a fundamental pillar in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs were designed with a universal scope, yet their realization heavily relies on national and local action. This is where NSDS come into play, translating the global vision into local reality.

NSDS are strategic, comprehensive policy frameworks that countries develop and implement to promote sustainable development at the national level. They reflect the economic, social, and environmental realities of each country, taking into account their unique challenges, opportunities, and resources. Thus, NSDS allows each country to tailor the SDGs to its own context, ensuring they address the most pressing issues.

The process of creating and implementing NSDS also encourages stakeholder participation and promotes cooperation across different sectors. It fosters a sense of ownership and commitment among stakeholders, vital for the successful realization of the SDGs. For instance, NSDS might call for collaboration between the private sector, civil society, and government to tackle SDG 13, "Climate Action," by reducing carbon emissions or investing in renewable energy sources.

Moreover, NSDS often include mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating progress towards sustainable development. This aligns with SDG 17, "Partnership for the Goals," which emphasizes the importance of accountability and data-driven decision-making in achieving the SDGs. Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms embedded within NSDS ensure continuous learning and adjustment, which is crucial in addressing the dynamic and complex nature of sustainable development.

The Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, as the two biggest climate action initiatives, address the need to shift towards a fully sustainable energy system. The deployment of renewable energy, especially solar and wind power, decreases carbon dioxide emissions, but presents issues of resource intermittency. In this study, a cost-optimised 100% renewable energy based system is analysed and quantified for the Americas for the reference year 2030 using high spatially and temporally resolved weather data.
This viewpoint reviews key assessments from the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C and examines the implications for the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR). Disaster risks are expected to be higher at 1.5 °C and continue to increase at 2 °C. Current and future disaster risk management particularly those that deal with the impacts of coastal flooding, heat-related health impacts, sea level rise, and forest fires are to be strengthened, particularly the Arctic, Caribbean, SIDS and low-lying coastal areas are particularly at risk.
The UN has adopted the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030; SFDRR) in March 2015 and the member countries agreed to shift from disaster management to disaster risk management. The SFDRR is in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; September 2015). In 2016, the UNISDR together with partner organizations has prepared roadmap for mainstreaming Science and Technology in SFDRR. Out of four priority areas, this paper focuses on the appraisal of challenges in SFDRR priority 1 “understanding disaster risk” through the lens of science, technology and innovations.

The “build back better” (BBB) approach to disaster recovery was first introduced in 2006 by the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, former US President William Clinton. In 2015, BBB became the second half of Priority 4 of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, in recognition of its widespread use and adoption among disaster risk management practitioners, policy-makers, and researchers.

There is a metabolic rift running through our economy and culture, and it is distracting our attention from care for the biosphere. To heal this rift, the diverse groups of people that make up humankind need a shared purpose that everyone can relate to and support. A strong candidate for that shared purpose is care for the bioregion—bioregioning—as an activity that creates value.

Elsevier,

Coasts and Estuaries: The Future, Volume , 31 January 2019

Bivalve habitats were once a dominant ecosystem in temperate and subtropical estuaries worldwide. While bivalve habitats are greatly reduced from their former abundance, remnant, and restored populations have been shown to provide a suite of important ecosystems services including improving water quality, coastal protection, and providing fisheries nursery habitat, in addition to providing a direct food value.

Contributing to SDGs 1 and 8, this report discusses how the adoption of pro-growth policies tends to result in lower levels of poverty, especially through opportunities for job creation. In particular, it calls for policies that promote greater access to credit and the protection of minority investors in order to reduce such levels of poverty. 
This guide explores the role of corporate finance and investments in scaling finance for the SDGs, including how FDI, financial intermediation and public-private partnerships can be a source of finance for less liquid SDG investments that cannot be invested directly by portfolio or institutional investors. This includes providing access to finance in countries with less developed financial markets or for SDG solutions that are too small or illiquid to attract portfolio investors. The report contributes to SDGs 8, 16 and 17.
Elsevier,

Marine Mammal Ecotoxicology, Impacts of Multiple Stressors on Population Health, 2018, Pages 291-320

This book chapter advances SDGs 13 and 14 by explaining how in the past, marine mammal genetic and transcriptional studies have been restricted due to the lack of reference genomes. But the advance of high-throughput sequencing is revolutionizing the life sciences technologies.
A Commission, in support of SDGs 3 and 17, assessing the future of the HIV response in the context of a more integrated approach to health.

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