scholarly journals Risk Governance and Sustainability: A Scientometric Analysis and Literature Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 12015
Author(s):  
Huijie Li ◽  
Jie Li

The outbreak of COVID-19 evoked a heated discussion of its drivers and extensive impacts on achieving sustainable development goals. Considering the deepening global interconnectedness and complex human–environment interactions, it calls for a clarity of the two concepts of risk governance and sustainability and their relationships. In this paper, a comprehensive review was provided based on scientometric analysis. A total number of 1156 published papers were studied and a considerable increase of interest in this line of research was found. The research outputs show the interdisciplinary feature of this field but with a focus on environmental issues. The journal “Sustainability” was found to be the most productive journal. Geographic and institutional focus on the line of research were also visualized. Five salient research themes were identified as follows: (1) Resilience and adaptation to climate change; (2) Urban risk governance and sustainability; (3) Environmental governance and transformation; (4) Collaborative governance and policy integration; and (5) Corporate governance and sustainability. This paper provides insights into the heterogeneity of the risk governance and sustainability research. Additionally, the study unveiled the implicit relationship linking risk governance and sustainability: risk governance can be a process of participation and coordination, and a means of coping with the uncertainty and complexity to achieve sustainable outcomes. On the other hand, risk governance is a constant aim to be optimized in the process of sustainable development.

Author(s):  
Dona Azizi ◽  
Frank Biermann ◽  
Rakhyun E. Kim

Abstract Over the past three decades, policy integration has become a key objective for guiding and harmonizing policies for sustainable development. Most recently, the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals have added new impetus to efforts of integrating competing objectives of environmental sustainability, social development, and economic growth, as well as of integrating issue-specific environmental policies on climate change and terrestrial and marine biodiversity. While multilateral environmental agreements are important international instruments for achieving sustainable development, there has been little focus so far on their contribution to policy integration. Covering the years from 2007 to 2016, this article presents an empirical analysis of sustainability policy integration (i.e., how multilateral environmental agreements integrate environmental, social, and economic issues in their decisions) and environmental policy integration (i.e., the outreach of multilateral environmental agreements to different environmental issue areas beyond their mandate). The analysis finds that multilateral environmental agreements have not moved toward further policy integration over the studied period. If policy and institutional coherence is a key global governance target in the post-2015 era, a concerted effort will be required to improve the extent of policy integration by multilateral environmental agreements.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janaka Siyambalapitiya ◽  
Xu Zhang ◽  
Xiaobing Liu

The new concept of “green growth” appears to be an economic growth model, which balances environment sustainability and fostering of economic growth. Yet, much of the green growth research has failed to address the real extent of interconnections and complexity of the relationship between governance and economic, social, and environmental structures. Furthermore, current green growth research tends to focus on the country level, such as the Millennium Development Goals and sustainable development indices, which risks ignoring the additional impacts on micro industrial economies. The lack of connection between green growth and good governance—known as environmental governance—is a crucial gap in practical adoption. Therefore, this study uses Foucault’s governmentality lens to view green growth as a technique of government, seeking an environmentally focused eco-governmentality. We examine the transformation, differential definitions, and critical dimensions of green growth in relation to particular case studies taken from China and South Korea and frame them for future sustainable studies. The findings of this study highlight the significant role of interdisciplinary research, as well both bottom-up and top-down initiatives, on enabling the transition to green growth. The proposed research framework and implementation strategy also identifies new avenues for future research and practices in the field of sustainable development, making it one of the study’s key contributions to the literature.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-167
Author(s):  
Unmana Sarangi

Abstract: The research study entitled ‘Global Environment, Climate Change, Smart Urbanization and International Environment Laws for Global Sustainable Development’ focuses on the issues relating to the global environment, climate change, smart urbanization and the international environmental laws that determine these global indicators in achieving sustainable development goals and in trying to assess the linkages and implications of these macro variables as key determinants of the global environment and climate change. Thus, the problem associated with this research study is a global phenomenon that definitely has national, sub-national, and regional implications/ramifications across economies. These macro variables are scientific and practical determinants of the way global economies move forward and the problems encountered by various economies in the light of the global environment, climate, and rapid smart urbanization changes. Hence, the research problem which the research study focuses on is a realistic and practical one that encompasses, covers, and determines the major macro aspects of the global economies. The aspects dealt in the research study covers among others issues such as global environment, climate change, smart urbanization, and international environmental laws, IPCC, Paris Agreement on Climate Change and NDCs, promoting climate-resilient smart and rapid urbanization, exploration of climate change legislation, global environmental governance systems to promote peace, justice and development and in fulfillment of environmental and human rights connected with it, etc., The most important conclusions drawn from the research study is that United Nations has been playing a major role as the unique international organization which has been making all-out efforts to mitigate climate change, adopt climate-resilient measures for effective, smart and rapid urbanization in cities, reshaping these measures to attain global sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) and in impacting global infrastructure for global sustainable development.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (24) ◽  
pp. 7638
Author(s):  
Dorin Maier

In order to reduce the impact of human activities on the environment, in 2015, the United Nations launched the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, proposing 17 Sustainable Development Goals with 169 associated targets. It is well-known that the construction industry is a major contributor to global CO2 emissions, and if a solution to reduce construction activity is not possible, considering the increasing population, then other solutions must be developed to decrease their negative environmental impact. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the use of wood waste as a building material can be a solution to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The research procedure included a bibliometric literature search, a scientometric analysis and an in-depth discussion. The analysis was done with the help of the software VOSviewer and Bibliometrix; the data were extracted mainly from the ISI Web of Science database. The extraction of data was done using the PRISMA method, and thus a sample of 212 peer-reviewed journal articles was established. The main results indicate an increasing interest in this topic in the last several years, as well as a switch from considering wood waste as just a source to generate heat and energy to the use of wood waste as a building material. The main uses of wood waste as a building material are in the composition of particleboards and in various mortar and concrete mixtures. The field of wood waste has many potential directions towards future development, and if the immense treasure represented by the forests, and implicitly the wood, is used efficiently, it can be a good solution to the problem of sustainable development of society.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Núria Bautista-Puig ◽  
Ana Marta Aleixo ◽  
Susana Leal ◽  
Ulisses Azeiteiro ◽  
Rodrigo Costas

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) have become the international framework for sustainability policy. Its legacy is linked with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), established in 2000. In this paper a scientometric analysis was conducted to: (1) Present a new methodological approach to identify the research output related to both SDGs and MDGs (M&SDGs) from 2000 to 2017, with the aim of mapping the global research related to M&SDGs; (2) Describe the thematic specialization based on keyword co-occurrence analysis and citation bursts; and (3) Classify the scientific output into individual SDGs (based on an ad-hoc glossary) and assess SDGs interconnections. Publications conceptually related to M&SDGs (defined by the set of M&SDG core publications and a scientometric expansion based on direct citations) were identified in the in-house CWTS Web of Science database. A total of 25,299 publications were analyzed, of which 21,653 (85.59%) were authored by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) or academic research centers (RCs). The findings reveal the increasing participation of these organizations in this research (660 institutions in 2000–2005 to 1,744 institutions involved in 2012–2017). Some institutions present both a high production and specialization on M&SDG topics (e.g., London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and World Health Organization); and others with a very high specialization although lower production levels (e.g., Stockholm Environment Institute). Regarding the specific topics of research, health (especially in developing countries), women, and socio-economic issues are the most salient. Moreover, it has been observed an important interlinkage in the research outputs of some SDGs (e.g., SDG11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities” and SDG3 “Good Health and Well-Being”). This study provides first evidence of such interconnections, and the results of this study could be useful for policymakers in order to promote a more evidenced-based setting for their research agendas on SDGs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 1371-1390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen ◽  
Arthur L Dahl ◽  
Åsa Persson

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the full Agenda 2030 in which they are embedded are aspirational and intended to be both transformational and integrative in a number of ways. The need for integration across policy domains is stressed throughout the agenda. The Sustainable Development Goals are also accompanied by an emerging system for follow-up and review centered on a long list of indicators that are intended to enable countries to be accountable towards their citizens. There is, however, in the accountability literature indication that some accountability mechanisms can be counterproductive for integrative policies. This paper is centered around the question whether an accountability regime, and if so how, is compatible with a high degree of policy integration both conceptually and in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. We approach this question through looking both at the literature on integrative governance and some of the central concepts it covers such as (environmental) policy integration and mainstreaming, and the accountability literature. This enables us to provide an analytical framework for evaluating the potential of the emerging accountability regimes for the Sustainable Development Goals to enhance more integrated policy making and action. We conclude that there are little or no strong hierarchical elements of accountability relationships at the global level which can be good news for more integrative policies – but only if there is a strong sense of shared responsibility among actors at all levels, available information on the types of behavioural efforts that support integration, and accountholders that take an active interest in integration. At the national level, there may be hierarchical accountability mechanisms with sanction possibilities that may discourage integration. Here, those who hold actors to account can counteract this if they have deeper understanding of the underlying interlinkages among the goals and targets, and based on this, engage in accountability mechanisms.


Author(s):  
Frank Biermann ◽  
Norichika Kanie

This chapter summarizes some key findings of the book, discuss the challenges for, and opportunities of, the Sustainable Development Goals by identifying several conditions that might determine their successful implementation, and also suggest some possible avenues for further research. The approach of “global governance through goals”—and the Sustainable Development Goals as a prime example—is marked by a number of key characteristics, including its detachment from the international legal system, weak institutional arrangement, global inclusion and comprehensive goal-setting process, and granting much leeway to national choices and preferences. Those characteristics are reflected in the challenges for implementation, including those of developing indicators and institutional arrangements, tailoring implementation at national or stakeholder levels, and securing policy integration. Further research is needed in addressing these challenges, which requires inter- and transdisciplinary research development.


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