scholarly journals Population, Ecological Footprint and the Sustainable Development Goals

Author(s):  
Partha Dasgupta ◽  
Aisha Dasgupta ◽  
Scott Barrett

AbstractThe Anthropocene can be read as being the era when the demand humanity makes on the biosphere’s goods and services—humanity’s ‘ecological footprint’—vastly exceeds its ability to supply it on a sustainable basis. Because the ‘ecological’ gap is met by a diminution of the biosphere, the inequality is increasing. We deploy estimates of the ecological gap, global GDP and its growth rates in recent years, and the rate at which natural capital has declined, to study three questions: (1) at what rate must efficiency at which Nature’s services are converted into GDP rise if the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for year 2030 are to be sustainable; (2) what would a sustainable figure for world population be if global living standard is to be maintained at an acceptably high level? (3) What living standard could we aspire to if world population was to attain the UN’s near lower-end projection for 2100 of 9 billion? While we take a global perspective, the reasoning we deploy may also be applied on a smaller scale. The base year we adopt for our computations is the pre-pandemic 2019.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yung-Jaan Lee ◽  
Lei Chai ◽  
Po-Shu Wu

AbstractThis study examines Taiwan’s ecological footprint (EF) and its Overshoot Day from 2000 to 2018. The latest EF calculation method is used to determine the conversion rates and equivalent factors of bioproductive lands in each year to establish a database of Taiwan’s EF in that period. The results reveal that Taiwan’s EF was 7.69 gha/person in 2000, dropping steadily to 6.46 gha/person in 2018. Taiwan’s carbon footprint accounted for about 61% of Taiwan’s total EF, slightly higher than the world average (60%). The carbon footprint as a proportion of the total EF has been increasing annually. This study adopts social communication tools, such as the overshoot day and the earth clock, to promote sustainable development goals and climate change policy initiatives. Global Footprint Network (GFN) updates the overshoot day of each country in its database yearly, based on each country’s EF and biocapacity. Since Taiwan is not included in GFN, this study adopts the same method and finds out that Taiwan's Overshoot Day in 2018 was March 14th, meaning that on March 14th, 2018, Taiwan exhausted all of the biological resources that its bioproductive lands can regenerate in the year. If the global population lived like Taiwanese, four Earths would be required to provide the resources used. This result not only reflects the consumption of natural resources in Taiwan, but also indicates that Taiwan should focus on sustainable development and reduce that consumption.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3736
Author(s):  
Nan Lu ◽  
Jiwei Zhu ◽  
Hui Chi ◽  
Bing Wang ◽  
Lu Chen

To achieve the sustainable development goals established by the United Nations in 2015, China has adopted a series of measures to promote the modernization of water conservancy. However, its construction in China is imbalanced across regions as the endowment of water resources and economic development are distinct. Consequently, it is important to assess the progress of and analyze the spatial heterogeneity of water conservancy modernization construction in China from the perspective of sustainable development goals (SDGs). In this study, 31 regions in China were selected, and data on water conservancy construction in these sampled regions (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) were collected in 2018. The results show that there exists an imbalanced development in terms of the overall level and the index level. About 60% of the regions scored below the overall average score for China’s current modernization of water conservancy. The eastern areas presented a high level of modernization, while the central, northeast, and western areas showed comparable modernization of water conservancy, all of which lag behind eastern areas of China. Furthermore, China’s water conservancy modernization also presented a strong spatial autocorrelation, and there was at least one deficiency in 55% of the regions, with the rate of deficiencies emerging in the West being much higher than in other regions. In a nutshell, this study provides a novel framework that can be extended to evaluate the SDGs and the effectiveness of water governance in other countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 295 ◽  
pp. 05003
Author(s):  
Konstantin Maltsev ◽  
Larisa Binkovskaya ◽  
Anni Maltseva

The relevance of linking the concept of sustainable development and the security discourse reveals the possibility of believing that education is a prerequisite for ensuring that “sustainable development” goals become a reality. The university has a twofold task: first, to produce knowledge that meets the demands of our time, i.e. technical knowledge, and second, to form human capital, to train specialists capable of the practical application of instrumental knowledge. The initial orientation of the concept of “sustainable development” towards a global perspective: the representation of reality in an economic paradigm, i.e., totally determined by the “logic of capital”, “monocausal economic logic”, determines the criteria by which the quality of human capital, its price, and efficiency of production of a standardized product are evaluated, the production of which is undertaken by the university-corporation that has replaced the classical “university of reason”, whose ontic foundations - the “Hegelian science”, the romantic “education of humanity” - are no longer valid in what is called modernity. The article demonstrates how modernity, constituted concerning a certain self-representation of the New European subject and presented in the liberal economic paradigm, predetermines both the goal-setting in determined by its representation of the development and the content and methods of the reform of the university. It is concluded that “sustainable development”, “security” and “university-corporation” are essentially connected with the representation of reality in the liberal version of the economic paradigm.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-44
Author(s):  
Maria Hellenikapoulos ◽  
Intiyas Utami

The high level and trend of corruption in Indonesia Province could hinder the goal of Sustainable Development Goals point 16. This study aims to identify disclosures of integrity through websites and classify the Indonesia Provinces into 3 categories, namely high, medium, and low based on the integrity disclosure index using institutional theory. The data is based on content analysis to analyze practices through disclosure of integrity on 34 Indonesian Province websites using the Integrity Framework Disclosure Index instrument. The findings indicate that Indonesia has disclosed 775 items (48%). The items of vision, mission, and integrity report are the biggest disclosed items among other items that show Indonesia’s effort to create a “good image” in the public eyes. Several Provinces are in the moderate category because of a strategic issue in the field of education. Local governments still have to review the increase in integrity disclosure on websites and their real-life implementation to improve integrity and fight corruption in Indonesia.


2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (50) ◽  
pp. 14294-14299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy J. Abel ◽  
Bilal Barakat ◽  
Samir KC ◽  
Wolfgang Lutz

Here we show the extent to which the expected world population growth could be lowered by successfully implementing the recently agreed-upon Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs include specific quantitative targets on mortality, reproductive health, and education for all girls by 2030, measures that will directly and indirectly affect future demographic trends. Based on a multidimensional model of population dynamics that stratifies national populations by age, sex, and level of education with educational fertility and mortality differentials, we translate these goals into SDG population scenarios, resulting in population sizes between 8.2 and 8.7 billion in 2100. Because these results lie outside the 95% prediction range given by the 2015 United Nations probabilistic population projections, we complement the study with sensitivity analyses of these projections that suggest that those prediction intervals are too narrow because of uncertainty in baseline data, conservative assumptions on correlations, and the possibility of new policies influencing these trends. Although the analysis presented here rests on several assumptions about the implementation of the SDGs and the persistence of educational, fertility, and mortality differentials, it quantitatively illustrates the view that demography is not destiny and that policies can make a decisive difference. In particular, advances in female education and reproductive health can contribute greatly to reducing world population growth.


Author(s):  
Emmanuel A. Ojewunmi

This paper examines the roles of the Nigerian Baptists Social Ministries in the pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) in the realization of a better living standard for the people of the world without jeopardizing the interest of future generations. It rounds off by suggesting some ways for better future performance for the Baptist Social Ministry. With the theory of secularism, the paper investigates how these UNSDGs came into existence, and the purpose they were designed to achieve by 2030. In addition, the paper considers some definitions of some concepts in the conceptual framework, the roles of the Faith-Based organizations in the lives of their members. It also considers the set-up of the social ministry of the Nigerian Baptists. Furthermore, the paper probes into the activities of the social ministry of the Nigerian Baptistsat the local church, conference, and convention levels. The paper also establishes how the Baptists have contributed in improving the lives of the general public as a way of influencing the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, before conclusion and recommendations.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taco Niet ◽  
Nastaran Arianpoo ◽  
Kamaria Kuling ◽  
Andrew Wright

Abstract BackgroundThere have been numerous studies that consider the nexus interactions between energy systems, land use, water use and climate adaptation and impacts. These studies have filled a gap in the literature to allow for more effective policymaking by considering the trade-offs between land use, energy infrastructure as well as the use of water for agriculture and providing energy services. Though these studies fill a significant gap in the modelling literature, we argue that more work is needed to effectively consider policy trade-offs between the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to avoid missing important interactions.ResultsWe examine the 17 SDGs individually to determine if it should be included in a modelling framework and the challenges of doing so. We show that the nexus of climate, land, energy and water needs to be expanded to consider economic well-being of both individuals and the greater economy, health benefits and impacts, as well as land use in terms of both food production and in terms of sustaining ecological diversity and natural capital. Such an expansion will allow energy systems models to better address the trade-offs and synergies inherent in the SDGs. Luckily, although there are some challenges with expanding the nexus in this way, we feel the challenges are generally modest and that many model structures can already incorporate many of these factors without significant modification.Finally, we argue that SDGs 16 and 17 cannot be met without open-source models and open data to allow for transparent analysis that can be used and reused with a low cost of entry for modellers from less well off nations.ConclusionsTo effectively address the SDGs there is a need to expand the common definition of the nexus of climate, land, energy, and water to include the synergies and trade-offs of health impacts, ecological diversity and the system requirements for human and environmental well-being. In most cases, expanding models to be able to incorporate these factors will be relatively straight forward, but open models and analysis are needed to fully support the SDGs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 1259-1264
Author(s):  
Aneta Stojanovska-Stefanova ◽  
Nikola V. Dimitrov ◽  
Marija Magdinceva-Sopova

As the United Nations General Assembly affirmed when announcing the adoption of 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, tourism can contribute to all the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental – and each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Not only does the sector spearhead growth, it also improves the quality of people’s lives. It can bolster environmental protection, champion diverse cultural heritage, and strengthen peace in the world. In this spirit, World Tourism Day 2017 presents a unique opportunity to raise awareness on the contribution of sustainable tourism for development among public and private sector decision-makers and the international community, while mobilizing all stakeholders to work together in making tourism a catalyst for positive change. Accounting for 7% of worldwide exports, one in eleven jobs and 10% of the world’s GDP, the tourism sector if well managed can foster inclusive economic growth, social inclusiveness and the protection of cultural and natural assets. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is plan of action for the people, planet and prosperity. In accordance with paragraph 84 of the 2030 Agenda, Member States have decided that the High Level Political Forum shall carry out regular voluntary reviews of the 2030 Agenda which will include developed and developing countries as well as relevant UN entities and other stakeholders. The reviews were state-led, involving ministerial and other relevant high-level participants, and provide a platform for partnerships, including through the participation of major groups and other relevant stakeholders. Since the first United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 - known as the Earth Summit, it was recognized that achieving sustainable development would require the active participation of all sectors of society and all types of people. Agenda 21, adopted at the Earth Summit, drew upon this sentiment and formalized nine sectors of society as the main channels through which broad participation would be facilitated in UN activities related to sustainable development. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom, in the same time recognising that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. All countries and all stakeholders, has committed that acting in collaborative partnership, will implement this plan.


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