Tag Archives: sustainable development goals

New Publication on the Urban Sustainable Development Goal

Title: Developing and testing the Urban Sustainable Development Goal’s targets and indicators – a five-city study

Authors: David Simon, Helen Arfvidsson, Geetika Anand, Amir Bazaz, Gill Fenna, Kevin Foster, Garima Jain, Stina Hansson, Louise Marix Evans, Nishendra Moodley, Charles Nyambuga, Michael OLOKO, Doris Chandi Ombara, Zarina Patel, Beth Perry, Natasha Primo, Aromar Revi, Brendon Van Niekerk, Alex Wharton and Carol Wright.

Abstract: The campaign for the inclusion of a specifically urban goal within the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was challenging. Numerous divergent interests were involved, while urban areas worldwide are also extremely heterogeneous. It was essential to minimize the number of targets and indicators while still capturing critical urban dimensions relevant to human development. It was also essential to test the targets and indicators. This paper reports the findings of a unique comparative pilot project involving co-production between researchers and local authority officials in five diverse secondary and intermediate cities: Bangalore (Bengaluru), India; Cape Town, South Africa; Gothenburg, Sweden; Greater Manchester, United Kingdom; and Kisumu, Kenya. Each city faced problems in providing all the data required, and each also proposed various changes to maximize the local relevance of particular targets and indicators. This reality check provided invaluable inputs to the process of finalizing the urban SDG prior to the formal announcement of the entire SDG set by the UN Secretary-General in late September 2015.

Keywords:Bangalore / Cape Town / Gothenburg / Greater Manchester / indicators / Kisumu / targets / Urban Sustainable Development Goal

SNIS Call for projects on implementing the Sustainable Development Goals

The Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS) has launched a call for project proposals on implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. Project grants are in the region of US$100,000 – 300,000 and are available to pluri-disciplinary projects that can include social and natural sciences. The lead institution must be based in Switzerland. More information is available here: The Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS) launches its Call for Projects

Deadline for Proposal Submissions: January 13, 2016 at 13:00 (Swiss Time – GMT+1)

IGBP Sessions at American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting

IGBP

As part of their sunset process, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) is co-sponsoring over 60 scientific sessions at the AGU Fall Meeting this December in San Francisco.  Some of these sessions may be of particular interest to the urban research community.  Please consider submitting an abstract for one of these fascinating sessions!AGU Fall Meeting

Deadline is August 5th!

Emerging Perspectives on Land in a Changing World

Description: Earth’s land surface embodies the dynamic interplay of the physical, social and economic processes that constitute global change. For example, deforestation, agriculture and urbanisation all modify the climate, ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles. Such changes, in turn, affect land and the societies that rely on it. Because land is shaped today largely by human activities, it has become an important site of policies aimed at achieving sustainability. Consequently, land is also the site of conflicts and competing claims: land grabs and the competition between crops for food and biofuels are but two manifestations.

This session aims to bring together a diverse group of natural and social scientists to explore emerging perspectives on land. We welcome contributions on topics including but not limited to: 1) drivers, trajectories and implications of historic and future land-use change; 2) trade and teleconnections; 3) novel land-use practices for responding to rapid global change; 4) land-atmosphere-hydrosphere interactions.


Science and the Sustainable Development Goals

Description: In September this year the United Nations will formally launch its post-2015 development agenda in the form of Sustainable Development Goals. By being universally applicable and focusing on such diverse aspects as climate, food, water, health, urbanization and inequality, the goals seek to address development from a holistic perspective. In that respect they embody recent thinking about the interconnected nature of modern problems. At the same time, the sheer number of goals and targets (17 and 169 respectively) will make their implementation challenging. The scientific community can and should play an important role to provide integrated knowledge and innovative solutions for transformation towards sustainability across local, national and global scales.

This session invites contributions that explore how the goals can be effectively implemented by combining monitoring, evaluation and assessment. Contributions that focus on integrative science, the tensions between local and global priorities, and perspectives of developing nations are welcome.


The Interface of Disaster Management and Adaptation

Description: Hydro-meteorological and geophysical extreme events such as floods, tropical cyclones, drought, wild fires, heat waves, volcanoes eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis form some of the most potent threats to human development. Such events often act in concert with socio-economic factors to trigger disasters that substantially reverse development, especially in the most vulnerable regions. This is the case despite the technological advancement achieved globally to build knowledge and awareness on the nature of extreme events and adaptation strategies. This session will assess the degree to which disaster risk reduction is accommodated by the current development frameworks. It will explore how contemporary policies on disaster management can benefit from effective integration of knowledge from different sources, technologies and experiences – including indigenous knowledge systems. The session will explore the interface between disaster management in all its phases and adaptation to long-term climate change, and the potential for synergies, trade-offs and maladaptation.


Climate Adaptation, Mitigation, and Resiliency Toolkits for Cities

Description: Today, ~54% of the world’s population lives in cities, a proportion that is expected to increase to ~66% by 2050. Cities represent the dominant source of human CO2 emissions, roughly 70%. This is nearly triple the available net terrestrial or oceanic carbon sinks. Thus, cities need tools to better understand how to reduce their emissions and improve their resiliency and adaptation approaches to a changing climate and related extreme events. This session is designed to help researchers share information about their climate-related urban projects, including how the project was scoped with stakeholders, lessons-learned and best practices, information and tools used and what they wished they had, and further research recommendations. From this session, we hope to identify common sets of information, tools, and principles that could help researchers and cities deal with these climate-related issues and help identify scientific investments still needed to improve these efforts.