可持续发展目标关系研究进展

《2030可持续发展议程》指出17项可持续发展目标之间存在着相互联系,并且是整体而不可分割的,但并未说明各项目标之间是如何相关联的,因此限制了可持续发展目标的落实。理清各项可持续发展目标之间的关系,是加快可持续发展目标落实、促进政策一致性实现的保障。由于我国目前关于此方面的报道非常有限,因此有必要对17项可持续发展目标之间关系的研究进展进行总结。为了较全面的了解研究背景,首先简要回顾了千年发展目标到可持续发展目标的转变过程;随后在综合分析已有文献内容的基础上,分别从"联结途径""相互作用程度""网络分析""可持续发展目标模型"以及"执行手段"等五个方面对已有研究进行了论述,并总结当前研究的不足与未来挑战;最后分析了当前研究对我国未来可持续发展目标落实的启示,主要包括:(1)明确我国各项可持续发展目标的关系,促进不同层级政府和管理部门间政策一致性的实现;(2)完善指标监测体系,消除数据缺口;(3)加快构建我国可持续发展目标模型。     

持续城镇化对中国推进实施联合国可持续发展目标的作用

中国过去40年城镇化发展迅速,从数字指标上看,不仅走过了一条迅速提升工业化水平的道路,也走过了一条快速城镇化道路。然而,中国城镇化发展重"量"而轻"质",偏重于城镇数量增多和城镇化速度的提升,而对城镇化的质量和效益的提升、人民生活水平和文明程度的共同提高、资源生态环境的保护、城镇就业、第三产业发展等城镇化的本质问题关注不够。2015年,联合国通过的2030年全球可持续发展目标(SDGs)明确要求建设包容、安全、有抵御灾害能力和可持续的城市和人类住区,中国新型城镇化应以可持续发展目标为导向,如何将SDGs的具体要求用于中国新型城镇化的发展显得尤为重要。为此需要构建城市可持续发展水平评估机制,测评中国城市可持续发展目标实施状况;通过推进城市绿色创新实践,拓宽中国城市可持续发展目标践行路径。     

Methodological framework to find links between life cycle sustainability assessment categories and the UN Sustainable Development Goals based on literature

Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) can be used as a tool to understand how products and operating systems can meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, existing linkages between SDGs and LCSA are limited and an analysis of coverage in literature is needed. In this paper, we propose a generic methodological framework establishing connections between LCSA categories at micro-level and SDGs at macro-level based on derivation from the literature. The qualitative heuristic research method developed builds on keyword literature search, bibliometric analysis, mapping, and narrative literature review for connection rationales. By using qualitative assessment levels, an assessment of linkages between LCSA categories and SDGs reveal that “technology development,” “public commitment to sustainability issues,” “access to material resources,” and “education provided in the local community” have the highest number of reported relationships with SDGs. Twenty-two LCSA categories were found with no direct/indirect connection with any SDG; reasons include absence of life cycle thinking perspective in SDGs and lack of sustainability-based discussion for workers, consumers, and value chain actors' stakeholder groups. Despite these gaps, the results provide new insights for industries looking to measure the contribution of their product systems along their life cycle in the context of SDGs supporting them to some extent, to select LCSA categories with either highest number of identified relationships to SDGs or that contribute to prioritized list of SDGs. The approach provides a starting point to improve transparency and consistency of reporting of sustainability performance of product systems by connecting LCSA to the global agenda for sustainable development.     

The impact of interventions in the global land and agri‐food sectors on Nature’s Contributions to People and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Interlocked challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation require transformative interventions in the land management and food production sectors to reduce carbon emissions, strengthen adaptive capacity, and increase food security. However, deciding which interventions to pursue and understanding their relative co‐benefits with and trade‐offs against different social and environmental goals have been difficult without comparisons across a range of possible actions. This study examined 40 different options, implemented through land management, value chains, or risk management, for their relative impacts across 18 Nature's Contributions to People (NCPs) and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We find that a relatively small number of interventions show positive synergies with both SDGs and NCPs with no significant adverse trade‐offs; these include improved cropland management, improved grazing land management, improved livestock management, agroforestry, integrated water management, increased soil organic carbon content, reduced soil erosion, salinization, and compaction, fire management, reduced landslides and hazards, reduced pollution, reduced post‐harvest losses, improved energy use in food systems, and disaster risk management. Several interventions show potentially significant negative impacts on both SDGs and NCPs; these include bioenergy and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, afforestation, and some risk sharing measures, like commercial crop insurance. Our results demonstrate that a better understanding of co‐benefits and trade‐offs of different policy approaches can help decision‐makers choose the more effective, or at the very minimum, more benign interventions for implementation.     

The Relevance of Circular Economy Practices to the Sustainable Development Goals

This paper identifies the extent to which circular economy (CE) practices are relevant for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The results of a literature review and a matching exercise to determine the relationship between CE practices and SDG targets show that CE practices, potentially, can contribute directly to achieving a significant number of SDG targets. The strongest relationships exist between CE practices and the targets of SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 15 (Life on Land). The paper also explores synergies that can be created through CE practices among several of the SDG targets. Furthermore, it identifies several potential trade‐offs between targets for decent work, safe working environments, human health and current CE practices relating to recycling of municipal waste, e‐waste and wastewater, and provides suggestions how these can be overcome. The paper concludes that CE practices can be applied as a “toolbox” and specific implementation approaches for achieving a sizeable number of SDG targets. Further empirical research is necessary to determine which specific types of partnerships and means of implementation are required to apply CE practices in the SDG context.     

A global assessment of the vulnerability of shellfish aquaculture to climate change and ocean acidification

Human‐induced climate change and ocean acidification (CC‐OA) is changing the physical and biological processes occurring within the marine environment, with poorly understood implications for marine life. Within the aquaculture sector, molluskan culture is a relatively benign method of producing a high‐quality, healthy, and sustainable protein source for the expanding human population. We modeled the vulnerability of global bivalve mariculture to impacts of CC‐OA over the period 2020–2100, under RCP8.5. Vulnerability, assessed at the national level, was dependent on CC‐OA‐related exposure, taxon‐specific sensitivity and adaptive capacity in the sector. Exposure risk increased over time from 2020 to 2100, with ten nations predicted to experience very high exposure to CC‐OA in at least one decade during the period 2020–2100. Predicted high sensitivity in developing countries resulted, primarily, from the cultivation of species that have a narrow habitat tolerance, while in some European nations (France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) high sensitivity was attributable to the relatively high economic value of the shellfish production sector. Predicted adaptive capacity was low in developing countries primarily due to governance issues, while in some developed countries (Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) it was linked to limited species diversity in the sector. Developing and least developed nations (n = 15) were predicted to have the highest overall vulnerability. Across all nations, 2060 was identified as a tipping point where predicted CC‐OA will be associated with the greatest challenge to shellfish production. However, rapid declines in mollusk production are predicted to occur in the next decade for some nations, notably North Korea. Shellfish culture offers human society a low‐impact source of sustainable protein. This research highlights, on a global scale, the likely extent and nature of the CC‐OA‐related threat to shellfish culture and this sector enabling early‐stage adaption and mitigation.     

Reconciling food security and bioenergy: priorities for action

Understanding the complex interactions among food security, bioenergy sustainability, and resource management requires a focus on specific contextual problems and opportunities. The United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals place a high priority on food and energy security; bioenergy plays an important role in achieving both goals. Effective food security programs begin by clearly defining the problem and asking, ‘What can be done to assist people at high risk?’ Simplistic global analyses, headlines, and cartoons that blame biofuels for food insecurity may reflect good intentions but mislead the public and policymakers because they obscure the main drivers of local food insecurity and ignore opportunities for bioenergy to contribute to solutions. Applying sustainability guidelines to bioenergy will help achieve near‐ and long‐term goals to eradicate hunger. Priorities for achieving successful synergies between bioenergy and food security include the following: (1) clarifying communications with clear and consistent terms, (2) recognizing that food and bioenergy need not compete for land and, instead, should be integrated to improve resource management, (3) investing in technology, rural extension, and innovations to build capacity and infrastructure, (4) promoting stable prices that incentivize local production, (5) adopting flex crops that can provide food along with other products and services to society, and (6) engaging stakeholders to identify and assess specific opportunities for biofuels to improve food security. Systematic monitoring and analysis to support adaptive management and continual improvement are essential elements to build synergies and help society equitably meet growing demands for both food and energy.     

Environmental and Socioeconomic Constraints to the Development of Freshwater Fish Aquaculture in China

In this article, we provide an overview, on freshwater fish aquaculture in P.R. China, with special emphasis on pond fish culture. We describe the history, ecology (trophic structure and species reared), and technological aspects (including inputs/outputs, yields, labor productivity, and fossil energy use) of freshwater fish production and analyze its role in relation to the socioeconomic context. We discuss the prospects for intensification of production. In China, freshwater fish aquaculture has always been closely linked to cultivation of crops and animal husbandry, that is, feed inputs are in the form of agricultural wastes. The close integration with the farming system at large results in an efficient use of nutrients, low environmental loading, and little dependence on fossil energy inputs. About 7 to 9 different fish species, mainly herbivores, are kept in the same pond and efforts are made to maintain as much as possible the natural mechanisms of matter regulation and energy flows within the pond ecosystem. However, ecological compatibility is paid for by relatively low productivity, both per hectare of waterbody and per hour of labor input. If the throughput of freshwater fish production per unit of area and labor are to be dramatically increased, the equilibrium of the traditional integrated system will be difficult to maintain.     

The role of raw materials to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals: Tracing the risks and positive contributions of cobalt along the lithium-ion battery supply chain

Given the fast-growing demand for electric mobility, the European Union (EU) has invested in responsible sourcing of battery raw materials, but the sustainability of their value chains is not fully addressed. Life cycle sustainability assessment is a tool to identify social, economic, and environmental aspects of raw materials, but it is mostly used for negative impacts, whereas the supply and use of raw materials may also lead to benefits. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can help to determine how raw materials boost or hinder the achievement of a sustainable society. In this study, the SDGs were used as a reference to assess contributions and risks of cobalt supply for electric mobility in the EU and whether this technology supports the achievement of the SDGs. The risks were determined using eight indicators focused on social risks, but environmental aspects like water quality and usage, and greenhouse gas emissions were also considered. The literature and databases were consulted to identify which SDGs receive contributions or burdens. Global and European cobalt supply scenarios were defined, considering the most representative countries. Results indicate that, although some SDGs receive positive contributions, like SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth) and SDG 13 (Climate action), most of the identified correlations are negative, especially for SDG 3 (Good health and well-being) and SDG 16 (Peace, justice, and strong institutions). The European scenario has a low risk toward socio-environmental issues in 53% of the assessed aspects, whereas the global scenario presents a high risk in 47% of them.