scholarly journals “The Asian Century”: The Transformational Potential of Asian-Led Development Cooperation

2020 ◽  
pp. 519-541
Author(s):  
Anthea Mulakala
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Profound Impact ◽  
China And India ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
Policies And Practices

AbstractAsia’s rise is having a profound impact on the policies and practices of development and South-South cooperation (SSC). This chapter describes the contours of these trends in relation to the sustainable development agenda. China and India are dominant players with their large-scale connectivity schemes, increasing multilateralism, and diversified partnerships. The author discusses the controversy, contestation, and opportunities these approaches generate. Finally, this chapter offers a set of recommendations for improving the effectiveness of Asian SSC to deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

scholarly journals China’s Belt and Road Initiative 2.0

2019 ◽  
Vol 05 (02) ◽  
pp. 233-248
Author(s):  
Jiahan Cao
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
International Development ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
Developmental Needs ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Development Goals

As China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) quickly evolves into an updated version for realizing high-quality development, its long-term success will increasingly depend on how well it can earn international legitimacy and credibility. Since sustainability is a critical source of credibility for the BRI, it is necessary to move the BRI forward by amplifying its role as a development agenda and tapping its potential to support global sustainable development and facilitate implementation of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) through delivering more public goods to other developing countries. The BRI projects designed to strengthen infrastructure inter-connectivity can greatly fit the developmental needs of countries along the routes and expedite their achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs), both explicitly and implicitly. Besides, the growing alignment between the BRI and the 2030 Agenda will generate more strengths and opportunities for China to be recognized as an indispensable player in international development cooperation, enhance the capacity of the BRI to manage environmental, social and governance risks in host countries, promote social cohesion and inclusiveness along the routes, and ultimately transcend short-term economic and political interests for China to win the hearts and minds of other stakeholders involved in the BRI.

Reflecting on Our Times: Valuing Transformative Leadership in Real-World “Living Systems”

2021 ◽  
pp. 109821402098207
Author(s):  
John Atkinson ◽  
Florence Lasbennes ◽  
David Nabarro
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Transformative Leadership ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
The World ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Key Aspects

We present this brief reflection on key aspects of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the implications of the worldwide focus on achieving the sustainable development goals as external observers of the evaluation endeavor around the world. We have conducted and participated in evaluations, but it is not our primary field of work and we are not engaged in the global community of evaluation specialists. However, we believe that the urgency of the challenges confronting the world today should inspire those influencing and shaping evaluation internationally to focus much more fiercely on the value of evaluation and its implications for leadership at all levels and in all fields of work. We propose that evaluation as practice should support and help inspire, value, and evaluate the type of leadership that the world needs now—dynamic and purposeful “living systems” leaders working toward large-scale, drastic change.

scholarly journals China’s Embrace of the UN Post-2015 Development Agenda

2016 ◽  
Vol 02 (02) ◽  
pp. 153-168
Author(s):  
Dandan Zhu ◽  
Qiyuan Xu
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Global Development ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Global Partnerships ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
Push Forward ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Opening Up

Since the 1990s, the United Nations has issued three agendas for global development cooperation. China’s attitude toward these agendas has also undergone three phases: from cautious passivity at first, to active yet restrained involvement, and to fully embracing them. On January 1, 2016, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) replaced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the primary goals for global development cooperation in the next 15 years. But there are substantial differences between the SDGs and MDGs, which will inevitably exert significant impacts on China’s domestic development and its involvement in international cooperation. In its response, China should carefully examine its strengths and constraints before making a comprehensive national strategy for sustainable development, so as to advance domestic structural reforms and facilitate its commitment to the implementation of the SDGs. Meanwhile, China should actively push forward international collaboration in line with its opening-up policy, including South-South and South-North cooperation, as well as new mechanisms for trilateral cooperation. All these efforts will contribute to the establishment of new global partnerships for common development and the fulfillment of the SDGs.

Achieving the sustainable development agenda: The governance – conflict nexus

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Håvard Mokleiv Nygård
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Governance System ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
Current Perspective ◽  
Peace And Justice ◽  
Development Goals

In September 2015, the international community agreed on 17 new sustainable development goals (SDG) as part of the new sustainable development agenda. This current perspective article discusses development cooperation under the new SDG agenda with a special focus on Norway’s efforts. It provides background on the governance system for development cooperation and discusses particular issues and topics present policy focuses on, and strategies and policies for achieving the SDG agenda for Norway, both at home and abroad. The role of education as a core part of development cooperation is highlighted and discussed throughout. A recurring theme is the role of conflict, stability and fragility for Norwegian development cooperation in particular. As discussed, Norway has a long-standing tradition of involvement in peacebuilding across the globe. Both the explicit link made by the new SDG agenda between peace and justice, through SDG 16, and its other goals bring the UN’s priorities in line with what has been a guiding principle for Norwegian development cooperation for several decades already.

scholarly journals The Untapped Functions of International Cooperation in the Age of Sustainable Development

2020 ◽  
pp. 127-163
Author(s):  
Adolf Kloke-Lesch
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Functional Approach ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
Development Goals

AbstractUniversality is one of the key novel characteristics of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. By applying a functional approach to external policies, this chapter challenges traditional notions of development cooperation and shows that the agenda’s means of implementation as well as their application are lopsided towards so-called developing countries. However, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals critically depends on the agenda’s implementation also within the so-called developed countries as well as between them. Therefore, the function of development cooperation to shape conditions within other countries by using cooperative and promotional instruments should be exerted also vis-à-vis “developed countries”. International cooperation for sustainable development needs to become universal, multimodal, mutual, and transformative if it wants to deliver change, not aid.

scholarly journals Defining and Quantifying National-Level Targets, Indicators and Benchmarks for Management of Natural Resources to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Dickens ◽  
Vladimir Smakhtin ◽  
Matthew McCartney ◽  
Gordon O’Brien ◽  
Lula Dahir
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
National Level ◽  
Resource Quality ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Country Level ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Global Indicators

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are high on the agenda for most countries of the world. In its publication of the SDGs, the UN has provided the goals and target descriptions that, if implemented at a country level, would lead towards a sustainable future. The IAEG (InterAgency Expert Group of the SDGs) was tasked with disseminating indicators and methods to countries that can be used to gather data describing the global progress towards sustainability. However, 2030 Agenda leaves it to countries to adopt the targets with each government setting its own national targets guided by the global level of ambition but taking into account national circumstances. At present, guidance on how to go about this is scant but it is clear that the responsibility is with countries to implement and that it is actions at a country level that will determine the success of the SDGs. Reporting on SDGs by country takes on two forms: i) global reporting using prescribed indicator methods and data; ii) National Voluntary Reviews where a country reports on its own progress in more detail but is also able to present data that are more appropriate for the country. For the latter, countries need to be able to adapt the global indicators to fit national priorities and context, thus the global description of an indicator could be reduced to describe only what is relevant to the country. Countries may also, for the National Voluntary Review, use indicators that are unique to the country but nevertheless contribute to measurement of progress towards the global SDG target. Importantly, for those indicators that relate to the security of natural resources security (e.g., water) indicators, there are no prescribed numerical targets/standards or benchmarks. Rather countries will need to set their own benchmarks or standards against which performance can be evaluated. This paper presents a procedure that would enable a country to describe national targets with associated benchmarks that are appropriate for the country. The procedure builds on precedent set in other countries but in particular on a procedure developed for the setting of Resource Quality Objectives in South Africa. The procedure focusses on those SDG targets that are natural resource-security focused, for example, extent of water-related ecosystems (6.6), desertification (15.3) and so forth, because the selection of indicator methods and benchmarks is based on the location of natural resources, their use and present state and how they fit into national strategies.

scholarly journals Financial Institutions’ Risk Profile and Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7738
Author(s):  
Nicolás Gambetta ◽  
Fernando Azcárate-Llanes ◽  
Laura Sierra-García ◽  
María Antonia García-Benau
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Risk Profile ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Corporate Reporting ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Impact

This study analyses the impact of Spanish financial institutions’ risk profile on their contribution to the 2030 Agenda. Financial institutions play a significant role in ensuring financial inclusion and sustainable economic growth and usually incorporate environmental and social considerations into their risk management systems. The results show that financial institutions with less capital risk, with lower management efficiency and with higher market risk usually make higher contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to their sustainability reports. The novel aspect of the present study is that it identifies the risk profile of financial institutions that incorporate sustainability into their business operations and measure the impact generated in the environment and in society. The study findings have important implications for shareholders, investors and analysts, according to the view that sustainability reporting is a vehicle that financial institutions use to express their commitment to the 2030 Agenda and to higher quality corporate reporting.

Leveraging Bogotá: Sustainable development, global philanthropy and the rise of urban solutionism

Urban Studies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 57 (11) ◽  
pp. 2263-2281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Montero
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
International Development ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Global Development ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
Policy Solutions

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is marked by the consolidation of sustainability as a key guiding principle and an emphasis on cities as a potential solution to global development problems. However, in the absence of an agreement on how to implement sustainable development in cities, a set of urban policy solutions and ‘best practices’ became the vehicles through which the sustainable development agenda is spreading worldwide. This article shows that the rapid circulation of Bogotá as a model of sustainable transport since the 2000s reflects an increasing focus of the international development apparatus on urban policy solutions as an arena to achieve global development impacts, what I call the ‘leveraging cities’ logic in this article. This logic emerges at a particular historical conjuncture characterised by: (1) the rising power of global philanthropy to set development agendas; (2) the generalisation of solutionism as a strategy of action among development and philanthropic organisations; and (3) the increasing attention on cities as solutions for global development problems, particularly around sustainability and climate change. By connecting urban policy mobilities debates with development studies this article seeks to unpack the emergence, and the limits, of ‘leveraging cities’ as a proliferating global development practice. These urban policy solutions are far from being a clear framework of action. Rather, their circulation becomes a ‘quick fix’ to frame the problem of sustainable development given the unwillingness of development and philanthropic organisations to intervene in the structural factors and multiple scales that produce environmental degradation and climate change.

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