Report of SynLink SDGs workshop – Research and Action Framework for Synergistic Scientific and Institutional Linkages between the SDG Targets, held March 5th -7th, 2017 at the Glen Cove Mansion, New York, USA.
The workshop was co- hosted by: Global Environmental System Leaders Program (GESL), Keio University; UNU-IAS; Earth System Governance Project; and the Future Earth SDG KAN. Co-supported by Environment Research and Technology Development Fund of Japan’s Ministry of the Environment (S-16).
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The purpose of the workshop was to develop a research framework for securing effectiveimplementation of actions to attain the SDG targets that are related to solving a problem in a sustainable manner. This requires two different, but inter-related, tasks. Firstly, is the need to understand interaction of the SDG targets in addressing a particular problem. For example, halving per capita food consumption by 2030 (12.3) has interactions with waste reduction (12.5) and effective use of resources (12.2), as well as zero hunger (2.1) and effective water use (6.4). This exercise requires both natural and social scientific knowledge on the interaction between economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Secondly, is to consider institutional dimensions to address the targets, and develop governance mechanisms to enhance and facilitate synergistic interactions and to reduce and eradicate negative interactions. Here, two types of institutions need to be considered: interaction of formal institutions such as within and between UN and governmental organizations, and of informal institutions such as public-private partnerships and certificate schemes. The workshop considered ways to address these two dimensions, and link up the two tasks in one framework of analysis, which will then be implemented by stakeholders. The intended outcome was to build a framework and present it in a journal, and implement it in case studies that may follow.
