Measuring the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Transport Target and Accessibility of Nairobi’s Matatus

2020 ◽  
Vol 2674 (5) ◽  
pp. 196-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Travis Fried ◽  
Thet Hein Tun ◽  
Jacqueline M. Klopp ◽  
Benjamin Welle
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Central Business District ◽  
Transport Systems ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal ◽  
Development Goal ◽  
Improve Access ◽  
Transport Inequalities

The urban Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) includes the target to provide “access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all” by 2030. However, debate exists around the best indicator to measure this target, and few actual measurements exist. This is in part because basic transit data are missing from many of the world’s cities, including in Africa where popular or “informal” systems dominate. This paper explores how to make progress in measuring indicators for the SDG transport target using Nairobi’s minibus system, matatus, as a case study. We partially measure the SDG indicator for the city as currently defined by the UN and then compare the SDG measurement to a location-based accessibility indicator that incorporates income data, travel times, and land-use considerations for Nairobi’s highly monocentric spatial urban form. We show that although the SDG analysis suggests generally favorable transit coverage, it also points to underlying transport inequalities for low-income residents. The more fine-grained location-based accessibility analysis reveals rapidly decreasing accessibility to opportunities as distance increases from the city’s central business district. This accessibility-based analysis further highlights income-based transport inequalities, identifying opportunities for improving integrated transport for residents living on the city’s near and far peripheries. Improving non-motorized transport access for those living in low-income areas with high access potential would also be important to improve access. We recommend that cities start using open-source software and open data to measure a variety of indicators needed for data-driven policy, to meet SDG 11.2 and go further to improve access to opportunities for all residents.

Public Sector Information and Open Data: A Focus on Sweden

Mousaion ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Proscovia Svärd
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Inclusive Development ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Government Information ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal ◽  
Development Goal ◽  
Data Usage ◽  
Data Flows

Good governance and inclusive development require governments to make their information flows accessible to all citizens. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 advocates the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies, with the emphasis being placed on access to government information. Apart from this Sustainable Development Goal, globally, several open-data initiatives and advocates of freedom of information are pushing governments to open up their data flows. Open data are seen as a driver of public service innovation that generates new knowledge and enables the creation of new electronic services. The narrative about open data assumes that the data are within reach of the citizens to explore and to develop new electronic services based on, for example, statistical, mobility, meteorological, judicial and court data to boost national innovation. However, research shows the contrary that open data are still concentrated in the hands of a few people such as politicians, journalists, system developers and data miners. This raises questions about the openness of the data. In Sweden, most of the interactions that citizens have are with the municipalities because they offer a broad range of public services. This is why the researcher argues that to promote awareness and open data usage by ordinary citizens, the Swedish government should work with the municipalities to create platforms for the exploitation of the data and to facilitate the development of technical expertise. If open data are to be inclusive, the data will require the involvement of citizens in the current open-data developments.

scholarly journals Implementing Sustainable Development Goal on Education (SDG4) amid Donor Fatigue: Challenges for the Global South

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 20-28
Author(s):  
Paul Kakupa ◽  
Happy Joseph Shayo
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Global South ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal ◽  
Development Goal ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
High Dependency ◽  
Transformative Approach ◽  
Funding Gap

This paper critically reflects on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal on education (SDG4) in the Global South amid apparent donor fatigue. It also highlights international observers’ concerns about a huge funding gap in the implementation of SDG4 in the Global South. With the COVID-19 pandemic currently ravaging the world, this funding gap will only widen. In the face of these challenges, low-income countries with a high dependency on aid remain at risk of defaulting on most SDG4 targets. While reflecting on what the decline in education aid might mean for low-income countries, the paper argues that a truly transformative approach can help these countries achieve SDG4 and its sustainability agenda despite funding challenges.

scholarly journals Linking Responsible Consumption and Production: A Global Assessment of Cropland Use for Agri-Food Production

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Abdullah Shaikh ◽  
Michalis Hadjikakou ◽  
Ozge Geyik ◽  
Brett Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
National Level ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal ◽  
Development Goal ◽  
Responsible Consumption ◽  
Environmental Limits

Sustainable Development Goal 12 requires countries to achieve responsible consumption and production patterns without exceeding safe environmental limits for natural resource use. However, little is known about how cropland impacts from the agri-food sector contribute to the exceedance of national environmental limits for consumption and production. Using a multi-regional input-output model, we linked the cropland impacts of agri-food production to countries of consumption while considering the exceedance of production-based and consumption-based environmental limits. We defined national consumption-based environmental limits via the fair-share approach and quantified national production-based environmental limits according to the biophysical limit of available arable land. We then classified countries into quadrants according to their exceedance of consumption and/or production environmental limits. We found that the USA, Australia and other high-income countries were exceeding both consumption-based and production-based environmental limits. High-population but low-income countries such as India and China were within safe consumption-based environmental limits but exceeded production-based environmental limits. Brazil and other countries of the Americas incurred substantial environmental costs due to the conversion of forests into cropland to produce food for export. We identified patterns in international trade relationships that could inform national-level responsible agri-food consumption and production patterns across the global supply chain, thereby contributing to Sustainable Development Goal 12. More stringent regulations and commitments in national and international policies are required to reduce the exceedance of consumption-based and production-based environmental limits and avoid exceeding the global land-system change planetary boundary.

scholarly journals Towards a data users’ framework to advance Sustainable Development Goal 2

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Szabo ◽  
Sinead Mowlds ◽  
Joan Manuel Claros ◽  
Anuja Kar ◽  
William Knechtel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal ◽  
Development Goal ◽  
Nutrition Security ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Food And Nutrition ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The One

Ensuring effective accountability mechanisms will be a pre-requisite for achieving food and nutrition security and thus, advancing the progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2). Here we discuss and summarise the findings of the ONE Campaign-facilitated accountability working group for data users, which deliberated between November 2015 and February 2016, and involved expert consultations from civil society organisations, research institutions, and academia. We provide an overview of the key challenges identified by data users in relation to nutrition and food security, propose a novel conceptual framework within which these challenges should be analysed, and offer a set of con-crete policy and programmatic recommendations to address the recurrent bottlenecks. The paper con-cludes by providing a summary of key findings within the larger context of relevant global initiatives and processes, such as Nutrition for Growth Summit, the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition network, and the United Nations General Assembly.

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