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Towards Integration at Last? The Sustainable Development Goals as a Network of Targets
Author(s) -
Le Blanc David
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
sustainable development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.115
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1099-1719
pISSN - 0968-0802
DOI - 10.1002/sd.1582
Subject(s) - sustainable development , millennium development goals , set (abstract data type) , environmental resource management , political science , economic growth , process management , business , environmental economics , computer science , environmental planning , regional science , geography , economics , developing country , law , programming language
In 2014, United Nations member states proposed a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as reference goals for the international development community for the period 2015–2030. The proposed goals and targets can be seen as a network, in which links among goals exist through targets that refer to multiple goals. Using network analysis techniques, we show that some thematic areas covered by the SDGs are well connected with one another. Other parts of the network have weaker connections with the rest of the system. The SDGs as a whole are a more integrated system than the MDGs were, which may facilitate policy integration across sectors. However, many of the links among goals that have been documented in biophysical, economic and social dimensions are not explicitly reflected in the SDGs. Beyond the added visibility that the SDGs provide to links among thematic areas, attempts at policy integration across various areas will have to be based on studies of the biophysical, social and economic systems at appropriate scales. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment