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comment Expansion of science needed for the SDGs Dominant research modes are not enough to guide the societal transformations necessary to achieve the 2030 Agenda. Researchers, practitioners, decision makers, funders and civil society should work together to achieve universally accessible and mutually benefcial sustainability science. Peter Messerli, Eun Mee Kim, Wolfgang Lutz, Jean-Paul Moatti, Katherine Richardson, Muhammad Saidam, David Smith, Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue, Ernest Foli, Amanda Glassman, Gonzalo Hernandez Licona, Endah Murniningtyas, Jurgis Kazimieras Staniškis, Jean-Pascal van Ypersele and Eeva Furman

his is a decisive year for the 2030 Understanding systemic interactions. and conditions of each setting. At the same Agenda for Guided by the 2030 Agenda, we must time, harmonized high-level efforts are Tand the Sustainable Development improve understanding of how complex needed to steer the interactions between Goals (SDGs). Convening this week, the human–environment system dynamics can pathways and their aggregate outcomes to United Nations High-level Political Forum produce trade-offs that hinder individual deliver universal progress towards the 2030 on Sustainable Development (HLPF) targets, on the one hand, or produce Agenda. For example, poor nutrition is a includes a quadrennial SDG summit under synergies, on the other. For example, global challenge demanding international the auspices of the General Assembly. Here, scaling up dominant food systems to meet cooperation, but it also requires customized the Global Sustainable Development Report growing demand can harm targets related local pathways based on cultural preferences, (GSDR)1, prepared by an independent group to ending poverty, halting climate change educational attainment, prevalent food of scientists, will be officially presented. and preserving life on land. Conversely, systems, available technologies and other It reviews progress and strives to chart sustainable intensification of food local factors. ways ahead. production (for example, ) and Adopted in 2015, a remarkable year adapting people’s diets can have positive Achieving the 2030 Agenda for multilateralism, the 2030 Agenda has spillover effects for many social and Science has played a central role in building successfully raised awareness of the kinds environmental targets. the still fragile international consensus on of transformations needed — in policy, civil the SDGs. Researchers have made major society, business, science and technology — Understanding competing development advancements in understanding coupled to put countries on a sustainable agendas. Governance, business and finance, human–environment systems, especially development path. individual and collective action, as well thanks to increasing use of interdisciplinary But recent scientific assessments1–3 paint as science, technology and innovation all approaches7. Various international scientific a sobering picture of progress towards the provide crucial levers for transforming assessments have successfully synthesized SDGs. There is a growing gap between what vicious systemic circles into virtuous fragmented evidence, enabling policy needs to happen and what is actually being circles1. However, we must clearly identify breakthroughs such as the 2015 Paris done. Just a handful of the 169 sub-targets how the values and interests of powerful Climate Agreement. are on track to fulfil the 17 higher-level actors help or hinder the 2030 Agenda, and Nevertheless, there are fundamental SDGs. Many are off track and some display how rules and incentives can be changed limits to our ability to design sustainable even negative trends including those related to enable collaboration towards common transformation pathways based on to tackling climate change, inequalities goals. For instance, there is a pressing evidence8. Human–environment systems and loss1. Massively expanded need for evidence-based guidance on how remain highly complex and difficult — or concerted actions are urgently needed to to regulate the financial sector, markets, impossible — to map fully. Causes and enable sustainable development in the next trade, taxation, and so on, to support — effects are often hard to distinguish and decade. In particular, we must quickly make not harm — ecological sustainability and context dependent. Stakeholders frequently available the best policy-relevant knowledge social cohesion6. disagree about problems and solutions9. to guide these actions. In such cases, decision makers must Understanding transformations in navigate ways forward based on careful GSDR framework concrete contexts. Individual countries consideration of , uncertainty and issues The GSDR 2019 proposes a framework and regions face unique challenges and of social justice. Precautionary measures for knowledge-based transformations to have different development priorities. The or interventions may be advisable even sustainable development that reconciles specific design of transformation pathways if cause-and-effect relationships are not evidence and socio-political deliberations depends on each context — few solutions fully established. for accelerated action. It emphasizes the will work the same way everywhere. Instead, In response to such challenges, the following three key complementary areas of we must strive to combine different sets of growing field of sustainability science has knowledge production4,5. transformation levers based on the needs adopted a variety of useful approaches —

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Science Council (ISC), these six research Box 1 | Systemic entry points for global transformations to sustainable development areas should be collaboratively fleshed out by the science community and relevant Te GSDR 2019 identifes six entry points that must be addressed to rebalance the stakeholders within one year, building on relationship between people and nature: several key existing proposals that largely 1. Strengthening human well-being and capabilities. overlap (for example, refs. 1,3,13). 2. Shifing towards sustainable and just economies. A recent meeting (8–9 July 2019) 3. Building sustainable food systems and healthy nutrition patterns. convened by the ISC at the US National 4. Achieving energy decarbonization and universal access to energy. Academy of Sciences revealed wide 5. Promoting sustainable urban and peri-urban development. agreement between academic institutions 6. Sustaining the global environmental . and funders of R&D about the need to maximize the impact of SDG-related To manage trade-ofs and harness synergies, several transformation levers should be research investments through ‘strategic deployed in context-specifc combinations: governance, economy and fnance, individual partnerships’. This united stance contrasts and collective action, and technology and science. sharply with current geopolitical splits over climate and development policies, and highlights the potential for science diplomacy to bridge divides while producing such as co-production of knowledge and are more than 3,500 researchers per million knowledge for appropriate action locally hands-on testing of interventions with local inhabitants in OECD countries versus only and globally. stakeholders — capable of aiding needed 70 per million in low-income countries11. To generate the knowledge we need, transformations10. New journals, networks, This greatly restricts scientific output in experts must combine: (1) synthesis of platforms and funding mechanisms have poor countries. African countries, for disciplinary and interdisciplinary evidence on gradually emerged around these innovative example, only contributed 2.6% of total key trade-offs and co-benefits across contexts research modes. Despite these promising scientific publications globally in 201411. and scales; (2) analysis of key actors in the developments, however, the following These alarming inequalities handicap public sector, private sector and civil society two major factors hamper the effective both overall scientific progress and the who hold the power to leverage change; (3) contribution of such research to knowledge- ability of low-income countries to realize application of transdisciplinary approaches based transformations. sustainable development1. It prevents to co-design and co-implement pathways to them from developing the necessary transformations. Given our small window of Sustainability science still a niche field. context-specific and knowledge-based time to realize the 2030 Agenda, researchers The 2030 Agenda raises crucial, universally transformation pathways. And it prevents should especially focus on rapidly collecting, valuable research and development high- and middle-income countries from aggregating and scientifically assessing (R&D) questions regarding the design, understanding the (often harmful) spillover existing information on successful or failed implementation and monitoring of effects or dependencies caused by their own interventions — including lay, practical and innovative transformation pathways. Yet development pathways — based on flows of indigenous knowledge. more than 60% of global R&D spending goods, capital, people and information across The institutions and structures needed to is accounted for by the private sector, administrative and geographic boundaries. implement these approaches must oversee based primarily on the pursuit of narrow Overall, insufficient mobilization and various forms of knowledge brokering and sectoral goals and business interests11. In reorientation of science more broadly — diplomacy. In collaboration with research the remaining smaller share of public R&D including its approaches, organization institutions, governments should establish funding, sustainable development is treated and funding structures — threatens to sustainable development open-access as merely one priority among many. This derail the 2030 Agenda. Rather than knowledge platforms — especially in low- and other institutional factors, such as standing by and allowing ourselves to and middle-income countries — based on hyper-specialization and counterproductive come up short, the global community the six systemic entry points recommended forms of academic competition, impede must enable scientific research to fulfil its above. These platforms can help to manage the urgently needed shift from individual transformational potential. cooperative efforts by researchers to — and individualistic — research modes synthesize fragmented knowledge about to cooperative transformation-oriented A global mission SDG interactions14; conduct assessments approaches12. Failure to rebalance funding We believe it is time to commit to a global on existing transformation knowledge; and and institutional priorities towards mission for universally accessible, mutually serve as knowledge brokers to non-scientific sustainable development prevents beneficial sustainability science. Uniting the actors when designing country-specific sustainability science from revealing its global North and South, this joint mission transformation pathways. full potential. will unlock the transformational capacity Use of novel tools and approaches will of research and share its gains equitably. be crucial. Evidence shows the promise Global science inequality. Access to data, It requires contributions from the natural of experimental labs that bring together research and scientific capacity remains sciences and engineering, life sciences and diverse actors — whether public servants, highly uneven globally, with major divides medicine, social sciences and humanities, entrepreneurs, policy makers or children — apparent between high-, low- and middle- law, and more. Without it, the SDGs are to innovate and test new practices in income countries. Organisation for unlikely to be achieved. cooperation with researchers15. Partnership- Economic Co-operation and Development The mission should emphasize based experimentation is also needed (OECD) countries accounted for 66% of knowledge production based on six between science and business to test new R&D spending in 2014 while least-developed global systemic entry points (Box 1). practices against scientific understanding. countries accounted for just 0.3%. There With supervision from the International These approaches can enable innovative

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collaborations and catalyse sustainable development agencies, multi-lateral NY, USA. 9CSIR Forestry Research Institute, business ideas, as exemplified by the global development banks, national governments, Kumasi, Ghana. 10Center for Global Development, science–business initiative for ocean the private sector and philanthropic donors. Washington DC, USA. 11National Council for the stewardship16. Numerous examples of direct In developing countries — especially in Evaluation of Social Development Policy, collaboration between researchers and Africa — R&D funding should be combined City, Mexico. 12National Development Planning farmers in the global South — facilitating on behalf of long-term research and practice Agency, Jakarta, Republic of Indonesia. 13Institute improved management of land as a partnerships, enabling scientists and of Environmental Engineering, Kaunas University common pool resource and promotion implementers to realize joint SDG-related of Technology, Kaunas, Lithuania. 14Earth and Life of sustainable agroecological practices — projects with sufficient autonomy and Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain- show the promise of such transdisciplinary adequate support infrastructure. la-Neuve, Belgium. 15Environment Policy Centre, approaches17. Sustainable development is not a ‘nice Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, . At the same time, robust global to have’. It is a ‘must have’ for a thriving *e-mail: [email protected] networks must be established between planet and continued human well-being. the recommended national and regional Sustainability science is a precondition for Published: xx xx xxxx knowledge platforms to understand the its achievement. Boosting sustainability https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0394-z interplay of the six systemic entry points science and expanding access to scientific across places and scales. Connecting to data and research in the global South will References scientific networks such as Future Earth benefit us all. ❐ 1. Independent Group of Scientists appointed by the Secretary- General Global Sustainable Development Report 2019: Te Future would enable exploration of transboundary is Now – Science for Achieving Sustainable Development 1 2 interactions, analysis of spillover effects, Peter Messerli , Eun Mee Kim , (United Nations, 2019); https://go.nature.com/2jScAoW and the design of adequate responses by Wolfgang Lutz3, Jean-Paul Moatti4, 2. Te Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019 (United governments, businesses and civil society. Katherine Richardson 5, Nations, 2019). 6 3. Sachs, J., Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Lafortune, G. & Fuller, G. Global coordination and coherence Muhammad Saidam , Sustainable Development Report 2019 (Bertelsmann Stifung and should be ensured by the ISC and its David Smith7, Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue8, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, 2019). subsidiary organizations. Ernest Foli9, Amanda Glassman10, 4. 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