scholarly journals The Role of Citizen Science in Meeting SDG Targets around Soil Health

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 10254
Author(s):  
Josephine S. Head ◽  
Martha E. Crockatt ◽  
Zahra Didarali ◽  
Mary-Jane Woodward ◽  
Bridget A. Emmett
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Science Methods ◽  
Monitoring Methods ◽  
Soil Monitoring ◽  
Time Requirements ◽  
Development Goals

Healthy soils are vital for sustainable development, yet consistent soil monitoring is scarce, and soils are poorly represented in United Nations Sustainable Development Goals targets and indicators. There is a clear need for specific ambitions on soil health, accompanying metrics, and cost-effective monitoring methodologies. In this paper, we review citizen science methods and platforms which could compliment structured soil monitoring programmes and contribute to filling this knowledge gap. We focussed on soil structure, organic carbon, biodiversity, nutrients, and vegetation cover. Each method was classified as red, amber, or green (RAG) in terms of time requirements, cost, and data reliability. Toolkits were assessed in terms of cost and requirement for specialist kit. We found 32 methods across the five indicators. Three soil monitoring methods scored green on all criteria, and 20 (63%) scored green on two criteria. We found 13 toolkits appropriate for citizen science monitoring of soil health. Three of them are free, easy to use, and do not require specialist equipment. Our review revealed multiple citizen science methods and toolkits for each of the five soil health indicators. This should pave the way towards a cost-effective, joined-up approach on soil health, informing national and international policy and supporting the move towards farmer-led, data-driven decision-making.

scholarly journals Using citizen science data to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals: a bottom-up analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Ballerini ◽  
Sylvia I. Bergh
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Science Data ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Case Study Analysis ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Development Goals

AbstractOfficial data are not sufficient for monitoring the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): they do not reach remote locations or marginalized populations and can be manipulated by governments. Citizen science data (CSD), defined as data that citizens voluntarily gather by employing a wide range of technologies and methodologies, could help to tackle these problems and ultimately improve SDG monitoring. However, the link between CSD and the SDGs is still understudied. This article aims to develop an empirical understanding of the CSD-SDG link by focusing on the perspective of projects which employ CSD. Specifically, the article presents primary and secondary qualitative data collected on 30 of these projects and an explorative comparative case study analysis. It finds that projects which use CSD recognize that the SDGs can provide a valuable framework and legitimacy, as well as attract funding, visibility, and partnerships. But, at the same time, the article reveals that these projects also encounter several barriers with respect to the SDGs: a widespread lack of knowledge of the goals, combined with frustration and political resistance towards the UN, may deter these projects from contributing their data to the SDG monitoring apparatus.

scholarly journals UNDERSTANDING ASSAM’S SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES

2021 ◽  
pp. 90-96
Author(s):  
Pratyush Paras Sarma ◽  
Sagarmoy Phukan
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Performance Index ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Government

Assam was the first state in India to have undertaken the Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a long-term guiding strategy for development. At the end of five years, before the state election, evaluating the work on SDGs in Assam is essential to follow up on the commitment of the government. But before we start evaluating the SDGs it is important to understand the development road Assam has taken over the last 100-150 years and why we must make a new turn. This study has tried to understand certain loopholes which have hampered the progress of SDGs in Assam along with how much Assam has been able to address its sustainability issues and how we can progress. We have reviewed the performance of the state based upon the official performance index released by NITI Aayog, Government of India. Our review of the index reflects that Assam has performed relatively poorer than the other states of the country. However, the ethnic culture of the region was deeply rooted in nature which the state can now adopt and harness to achieve its SDGs. KEYWORDS: Sustainable Development Goals; Assam Election; Indigenous Knowledge; Citizen Science; Polycentric Governance

scholarly journals Alcohol care teams: where are we now?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieran John Moriarty
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Effective Prevention ◽  
Treatment Pathways ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The United Nations

Alcohol consumption affects the risks of approximately 230 three-digit disease and injury codes in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems-10th Revision. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals comprise 17 challenging goals with 169 targets, which the 193 Member States aim to achieve by 2030. Action to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, especially addressing global health inequalities, will contribute to achieving many of the health-related goals and targets. Alcohol care teams, mainly developed in acute UK hospitals, reduce acute hospital admissions, readmissions and mortality, improve the quality and efficiency of alcohol care, and have 11 key evidence-based, cost-effective and aspirational components. A clinician-led, multidisciplinary team, with integrated alcohol treatment pathways across primary, secondary and community care, coordinated alcohol policies for emergency departments and acute medical units, a 7-day alcohol specialist nurse service, addiction and liaison psychiatry services, an alcohol assertive outreach team, and consultant hepatologists and gastroenterologists with liver disease expertise facilitate collaborative, multidisciplinary, person-centred care. Quality metrics, national indicators, audit, workforce planning, training and accreditation support research and education of the public and healthcare professionals. Hospitals should collaborate with local authorities, public health, clinical commissioning groups, patients and key stakeholders to develop and disseminate cost-effective prevention and treatment strategies. Globally, alcohol care teams can support the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and should be advocated and implemented through the WHO global alcohol strategy. This requires collaborative care planning by key stakeholders, a skilled workforce, targeted financial resources and dedicated political commitment.

Can Coal Contribute to Sustainable Development?

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 767-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Wicks ◽  
Malcolm Keay
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Cost Penalty ◽  
The Cost

Coal is not always seen as a route to sustainable development; renewable energy, energy efficiency and a move away from fossil fuels are what people usually have in mind. The paper argues that such a view is incomplete. One of the key development challenges facing the 21st century is to ensure wider access to clean energy. There are 1.6 billion people currently lacking electricity and the enormous benefits it brings in terms of poverty reduction and improved quality of life. Coal has been the route to electrification for millions in the developing world – China alone secured electricity access for over 700 million people between 1980 and 2000 in a system based 84 percent on coal. Clean technologies generally involve higher costs. Can the higher environmental expectations of the 21st century be met without denying or delaying access to electricity for millions in need? The paper identifies ways in which the cost penalty and other barriers to the introduction of clean coal-based technologies can be overcome. Higher efficiencies reduce both costs and emissions – the universal deployment of existing commercial best practice would produce savings equivalent to those from the Kyoto protocol. Emerging coal-based technologies enable cost-effective carbon dioxide emissions reductions. Co-firing of coal and renewables is often the most effective route to enabling resources such as biomass and solar power to be exploited. In the longer run, carbon sequestration offers huge potential for near zero emissions power at costs comparable with or lower than the alternatives. The conclusion is that no single fuel source provides the answer to sustainable development; a range of options is needed. Cleaner coal-based technologies must be one of those options: they can meet both immediate development goals and longer-term climate change imperatives.

Health Inequalities in South Asia at the Launch of Sustainable Development Goals: Exclusions in Health in Kerala, India Need Political Interventions

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
CU Thresia
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
The South ◽  
Development Goals

Despite substantial progress in social development during the post-colonial period, health inequalities in the South Asian countries were staggering, with reduced life expectancy, higher maternal and child mortality, and gender discrimination. Notably, even with the rapid economic growth during the neoliberal period, India fares below most of the South Asian countries in several health indicators. The Indian state of Kerala stands out with social sector gains; nevertheless, evidence indicates widening health inequalities, restricted public arenas, and undemocratic practices in health, particularly in the context of increasing market logic in the health and social arenas shaping health. The caste, class, gender, and ethnic ideologies and patriarchal power structure interwoven in the sociopolitical, cultural, moral, and health discourses similar to the South Asian context raise serious inequalities for health. At the launch of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, the populations with lingering privations and forbidden freedoms for gaining better health in Kerala, similar to South Asia, were largely the dalits, ethnic and religious minorities, and women. This necessitates greater political interventions, recognizing the interacting effects of history, culture, social factors, politics, and policies on health. And public health research needs to underscore this approach.

scholarly journals Targeting the soil quality and soil health concepts when aiming for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the EU Green Deal

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonello Bonfante ◽  
Angelo Basile ◽  
Johan Bouma
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Soil Conditions ◽  
Soil Series ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Health Concepts ◽  
The Eu

Abstract. The soil quality and soil health concepts are widely used as soils receive more attention in the worldwide policy arena. So far, however, the distinction between the two concepts is unclear and operational procedures for measurement are still being developed. A proposal is made to focus soil health on actual soil conditions, as determined by a limited set of indicators that reflect favourable rooting conditions. In addition, soil quality can express inherent soil conditions in a given soil type (genoform) reflecting the effects of past and present soil management (expressed by various phenoforms). Soils contribute to ecosystem services that, in turn, contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and, more recently, to the EU Green Deal. Relevant soil ecosystem services are biomass production (SDG2: zero hunger), providing clean water (SDG6); climate mitigation by carbon capture and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (SDG13: climate action) and biodiversity preservation (SDG15: life on land). The use of simulation models for the soil-water-atmosphere-plant system is proposed as a quantitative and reproducible procedure to derive single values for soil health and soil quality for current and future climate conditions. Crop production parameters from the international: yield-gap program are used combined with soil-specific parameters expressing the effects of phenoforms. These procedures focus on the ecosystem service: biomass production Other ecosystem services are determined by soil-specific management to be based on experiences obtained in similar soils elsewhere or by new research. A case study, covering three Italian soil series, illustrates the application of the proposed concepts, showing that soil types (soil series) acted significantly different to effects of management also in their reaction to climate change.

scholarly journals Sustain GEOBIM—a New Method to Simulate Sustainable Development Scenarios for Urban Areas

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz J. Bernegger ◽  
Patrick Laube ◽  
Pascal Ochsner ◽  
Mihaela Meslec ◽  
Hanno Rahn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Development Scenarios ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
Building Information ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
To Come ◽  
New Instruments ◽  
Existing Data

AbstractIn 2015, 193 member states of the United Nations (UN) signed the 2030 Agenda, entitled “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,”. The planned implementation by 2030, leaves only a decade to realize the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Municipalities and cities constitute important stakeholders, who are obliged under SDG 11, to find ways to develop realistic solutions. Implementation and strategic planning require, among other things, new instruments to digitally model various sustainable development scenarios. Currently, however, it is still unclear what has to be modelled and how. What is clear is that sustainability and digitalization have to come together to deliver results. Several key challenges need to be overcome. First, is the heterogeneity of existing data and documents used in the built environment. Future solutions will depend on a combination of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographic Information System (GIS). Second, is the merging of different existing data on an adequate level of abstraction which allows practical use of GIS and BIM data in a common model. Third, is the development of functioning, cost-effective workflows that will enable broad applications which adequately simulate specific sustainability aspects using spatial and temporal scenarios. This paper shows how these challenges can be systematically addressed in practice. It demonstrates which aspects of sustainability can be made visible and comprehensible for all stakeholders using only one single BIM- and GIS based data model. The proposed workflow could thus be considered as the basis for planning the next generation of smart and sustainable cities.

scholarly journals Agenda 2030's, “Leave no one behind”, in citizen science?

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (06) ◽  
pp. A07
Author(s):  
Madeleine Montanari ◽  
Liesbet Jacobs ◽  
Mordechai Haklay ◽  
Felix Kwabena Donkor ◽  
Maria Rosa Mondardini
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Agenda 2030 ◽  
Inclusive Practice ◽  
Five Factors ◽  
Development Goals

Citizen science (CS) is promoted as a useful practice for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this contribution we explore how CS aligns to the SDGs overarching pledge to ‘Leave no one behind’. We propose a framework to evaluate exclusionary processes in CS. We interlink three dimensions of CS inspired by existing CS typologies with five factors underpinning exclusionary processes. With this, we are able to situate existing literature on various exclusionary effects in CS within a structured framework. We hope this contribution sparks a discussion and inspires practitioners’ reflections on a more inclusive practice in CS.

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