A new index for assessing the contribution of energy efficiency in LEED 2009 certified green buildings to achieving UN sustainable development goals in Jordan

Jordan faces stringent energy challenges mainly in the form of import dependence and escalating demand. The building sector accounts for 58% of total national electricity consumption and therefore plays an important role in addressing these challenges. This article investigates how energy efficiency in green buildings certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system contribute towards achieving United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Jordan. Furthermore, this paper proposes a new Comprehensive Contribution to Sustainable Development Index (CCSDI) to assess the contributions of implementation of the LEED 2009 prerequisites and credits in the Energy and Atmosphere (EA) category to achieve UN SDGs in Jordan. Questionnaire surveys were conducted to obtain data. Relative Importance Index (RII) method was used to evaluate the contributions of LEED 2009 prerequisites and credits in the EA category. Results indicate a positive relationship between the LEED 2009 prerequisites and credits in category and UN SDGs 7?9 and 12?13. We conclude that our proposed CCSDI is a robust tool for assessing the contribution of energy efficiency in LEED 2009 certified green buildings towards achieving UN SDGs in Jordan.     

Another outlook into energy-growth nexus in Mexico for sustainable development: Accounting for the combined impact of urbanization and trade openness

This study corroborates the importance of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG-7), intended to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable energy for all, and SDG-8, designed to promote decent work and sustainable economic growth. This article is motivated by the highlighted SDGs and empirically explores the long-run and causality relationship between energy consumption, urbanization, trade openness, and economic growth for annual frequency data from 1965 to 2021 for the case of Mexico. To this end, we leverage the use of fully modified ordinary least squares, dynamic ordinary least squares, and canonical regression estimation methods, while for the direction of causality, the gradual shift and wavelet coherence methods are used. According to the Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL), the bounds test traces a long-run relationship between the outlined variables over the sampled period. Empirical evidence validates the energy-induced growth hypothesis. This result resonates with the causality analysis, where energy consumption drives economic growth one way in Mexico. This suggests that Mexico cannot embark on energy-conservative policies, as such actions will hurt economic progress. In addition, unidirectional causality is seen between urbanization, trade openness, and economic growth. These findings have far-reaching implications for economic growth and macroeconomic indicators in Mexico. More insights are highlighted in the concluding section.     

中国实现2030年可持续发展目标进程分析与对策

本文基于联合国可持续发展行动网络牵头发布的可持续发展目标指数和指示板报告，对中国实现2030年可持续发展目标状况进行了分析，认为尽管中国的SDG指数在全球整体排名中呈逐步上升趋势，但生态环境相关指标总体依然面临严峻挑战：中国与生态环境相关的目标评级偏低；SDG指数和指示板报告采用的评价指标与中国生态环境保护重点工作关联性不强；中国的统计数据难以满足测量2030年议程的数据需求等。为实现联合国倡议的2030年可持续发展目标，中国应打好污染防治攻坚战，提高环境治理水平，加快建立中国本土化评估指标体系，形成SDGs指标年度报告制，建立SDGs实施机制，建立与2030年议程相适应的统计支撑体系。     

Education for sustainability at the United Nations: making progress?

The authors commence by discussing the role of the United Nations (UN) Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) in relation to the field of education. The report of the UN Secretary-General to the CSD, Promoting Education, Public Awareness and Training is then evaluated. Novel proposals for the development of an Education 21 programme and for the designation of the educational community as a major group are outlined and advocated. The paper concludes with sections on what was achieved and what remains to be done; recommendations for action are made.     

Significant developments in sustainable development law and governance: A proposal

This article develops a practical proposal for progress on sustainable development law. It examines the prospects for an international sustainable development law to provide a framework for more effective, coherent governance. Sustainable development law is briefly defined and an analytical framework is provided. Different degrees of integration between economic, social and environmental law are described. Certain principles of international law related to sustainable development are also highlighted. It is argued that these principles may serve to guide law‐makers and jurists where social, economic and environmental law and policy conflict or overlap. Continuing, underlying questions of sustainable development governance are addressed and its global frameworks analysed. The article also focuses on the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in August‐September 2002, and its specific mandate for the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) to take related legal developments into account. The article advances a proposal: that governments, economic, social and environmental intergovernmental organizations and other actors establish a ‘network of inquiry’ with members from relevant groups, including legal and academic organizations, and other expert groups, in order to follow, research, analyse and debate legal developments in a balanced way.     

Conference Report on United Nations Interregional Seminar on Computerized Mineral Title Management and Associated Databases

The United Nations Interregional Seminar on Computerized Mineral Title Management and Associated Databases which was held in North Africa from 26 November-7 December 1990, was convened by the United Nations Department of Technical Cooperation for Development (UN/DTCD), in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme. The seminar was hosted by the Government of Morocco. More than forty participants from thirty-one developing countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Central and Latin America, as well as international lecturers took part in the seminar. Representatives of government agencies, industry, universities, consultancy organizations and other United Nations agencies were also present as observers.     

从“斯德哥尔摩“到“约翰内斯堡“

本文回顾了从1972年斯德哥尔摩联合国人类环境会议到2002年约翰内斯堡联合国可持续发展首脑会议(WSSD)的历程,提出了解决环境与发展问题以及实施可持续发展战略过程中值得认真思考的问题。     

Implementing SDG 15: Can large‐scale public programs help deliver biodiversity conservation,restoration and management,while assisting human development?

Among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the proposed SDG 15 promotes activities that, inter alia, “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems”. An important potential contribution in achieving SDG 15 is through public programmes designed to jointly promote human development through poverty alleviation and improvement of human livelihoods and biodiversity conservation/management/restoration. An analysis of twenty public programmes with such joint objectives yielded twelve lessons learned. In addition to financial commitments, government and intergovernmental agency input for such public programmes includes ensuring political will and appropriate legal frameworks. Local communities and civil society provide input through traditional and indigenous ecological knowledge and stewardship. Appropriate shared inputs in development and the implementation of such public programmes, with communication between local community, broader civil society, the scientific community and governments will result in: better use and management of biodiversity; alleviation of poverty; security of livelihoods and better governance systems. The Ecosystem Approach of the Convention on Biological Diversity provides an ideal framework when planning and implementing new programmes. Application of the lessons learned to new public programmes will ensure that the answer to the question posed in the title is an emphatic “Yes”, and assist with the achievement of SDG 15.     

Millennium Consumption Goals (MCGs) for Rio+20 and beyond: A practical step towards global sustainability

In January 2011, the idea of Millennium Consumption Goals (MCGs) was first proposed at the United Nations, because unsustainable patterns of consumption and production have led to multiple problems threatening the future of humanity. The global economy driven by consumption already uses natural resources equivalent to almost 1.5 planets earth, with the world's richest 1.4 billion consuming almost 85% of global output, which is over 60 fold the consumption of the poorest 1.4 billion. The consumption of the rich is not only ecologically unsustainable, but also “crowding out” the prospects of the poor and exacerbating inequalities that increase the risk of conflict and global unrest. The MCGs provide an innovative future vision and complement the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that aim to help the world's poor. First, the MCGs seek to address the issues of global poverty and inequality by ensuring that the basic consumption needs of over 2 billion poor people are met. Next, the MCGs will provide benchmarks for the consumption of the rich, which will reduce the burden on the world's natural resource base. Instead of viewing the affluent as a problem, the novel approach of the MCGs would persuade them to contribute to the solution without having to reduce their quality of life. The MCGs apply even‐handedly to the rich in all countries. The concept enjoys broad support worldwide and is being promoted by a global coalition called the MCG Initiative (MCGI). A bottom‐up approach has already been started by many pioneering individuals, communities, organizations, firms, cities, regions and nations. They prefer not to wait for broad multilateral agreements and are acting now, to voluntarily pursue their own specific MCGs. A parallel top‐down path is being pursued through mandatory agreements at the United Nations/international level, starting with the Rio+20 Earth Summit and beyond. The MCGs fit in with other major UN initiatives like Agenda 21, the MDGs, green economy, SCP and the Sustainable Development Goals.     

Environmental and habitat management: the case of Ethiopia and Ghana

This article examines the environment and habitat management experiences of Ethiopia and Ghana in the postindependence period (1960–2000). Based on extensive archival research, semistructured focused interviews of environment and habitat officers of the World Bank, the United Nations System and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and personal professional field experiences, the paper argues that the uncritical adoption of externally generated discourses, narratives, policy guidelines, and strategies of environmental and habitat management has structured thought and action in both countries. The experience of both countries in defining and responding to environmental and human settlement management is explored from a political ecology perspective. The analysis indicates that both countries have essentially adopted a technocratic, state-centered, and unsustainable management strategy framework based on population control, poverty reduction, sustainable development, and capacity-building. It also suggests that international organizations such as the World Bank, INCN, and the United Nations system have been important sources of thought and action in both countries. Conversely, regional international organizations such as the Economic Commission for Africa, the Organization of African Unity and the African Development Bank have largely served as conduits for the diffusion of global discourses, narratives, policies and strategies. The need for adopting management policies and strategies that are based on principles of multiple engagement, decentralization, incentives, public education, and participation is underscored.     

Mapping South Africaʼs nationally determined contributions to the targets of the sustainable development goals

The Paris Agreement?s nationally determined contributions (NDCs) provide an excellent point of entry to simultaneously address climate change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study sets out to explore the connections between climate action plans (NDCs) and each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this study, we used four levels of visibility, that is, present, generic, implied and absent to provide a broad perspective of the extent to which South Africa?s NDC is aligned with the targets of the SDGs. Our results revealed that South Africa?s NDC has 12% present level of visibility to the SDG targets, with SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy and SDG 13 Climate Action showing the highest representation of present level of visibility. By contrast, the absent level of visibility NDC showed 53% in the SDG targets, with SDG 5 Gender Equity, SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions and SDG 3 Good Health and Well‐Being, showing the highest representation of absent level of visibility. These results indicate that there is scope to improve the alignment of South Africa?s NDCs with the SDG targets. To this end, we have identified areas that may benefit with further elaboration in the country?s second NDC.     

Building Resilience during Recovery: Lessons from Colorado’s Watershed Resilience Pilot Program

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) underpinned by 169 targets presents national governments with huge challenges for implementation. We developed a proposal for a National Blueprint Framework (NBF) with 24 water-related indicators, centered on SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation for all), each with a specific target. We applied the NBF to 28 EU Member States (EU-28) and conclude that:     

Freshwater – a UNED-UK round table response

This paper summarises the views of a number of experts, who met under the auspices of the United Nations Environment and Development, UK Committe (UNED-UK), on the subject of freshwater. The views are expressed in terms of a number of issues raised by the United Nations General Assembly in 1997, namely: integrated watershed management; the strengthening of regional and international co-operation for technological transfer and finance for projects; the participation of local communities and women; the provision of an enabling environment for investment; economic pricing; strengthening the capability of governments and international institutions to collect-and manage information; transformation to less water-intensive modes of agricultural and industrial production; sustainable management of international water courses and additional financial resources for a programme of action. Various actions and recommendations are proposed.     

Sustainable development and technology transfer: business as usual?

The primary role of the Commission on Sustainable Development is to monitor progress in the implementation of Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, Rio de Janeiro, June 1992) and to suggest steps that governments and sectors of civil society can lake to move forward on its implementation. The CSD is to consider information provided by governments and to make appropriate recommendations to the General Assembly keeping in mind that national governments have the main responsibility for implementing Agenda 21.     

联合国可持续发展目标的评估与落实研究最新进展——目标关系的视角

目标间关系是影响可持续发展目标执行的重要挑战。本文回顾了关于目标间权衡和协同关系的研究成果，梳理了既有研究中平衡目标间关系的评估方法以及可以促进多目标实现的政策创新手段，总结了影响监测评估和政策手段发挥作用的因素。研究发现：目标间普遍存在部分或整体性的权衡和协同关系；以综合指数法和事前评估法为代表的评估方法开始转向关注目标间复杂的联动关系；减贫、减排、土地政策以及清洁生产和多元利益主体协作机制对目标的整体实现有助益；监测评估作用的发挥受限于数据管理和绩效测量方法的选择，政策手段的效果在一定程度上受到治理能力和既有制度安排的影响。最后，对未来中国落实可持续发展目标提出了展望和建议，要确立中国可持续发展目标间的整体关系，加强对目标执行和实现的事前评估能力，将更多本土化的SDGs指标纳入国家中长期发展规划。     

The international organisational machinery for sustainable development: Rio and the road Beyond

Summary The June 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) was the largest and most well attended United Nations conference of all time. The litmus test for the long-term will be whether the promises and pledges made at Rio can be taken forward by way of a process that gradually moves human society towards a more equitable and environmentally sustainable form of development. This paper focuses on two organisations that look set to play an important role in that process: the World Bank's experimental Global Environment Facility and the nascent United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. It is argued that both these bodies must find a way to respond to the conflicting demands of developed and developing nations if their efforts are not to be stymied by the same kind of international disagreements which characterised the negotiations preceding the Summit.The author is a research associate at the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE), a UK Economic and Social Research Council funded centre located jointly at the University of East Anglia and University College London. He is currently engaged in a long term research project which seeks to elucidate how governmental, business and other agencies perceive the uncertain threat of global environmental change, and how they are adapting to it.     

From conflict to collaboration: Atewa Forest governance

The problem of forest degradation and loss has become the concern of many countries. To address this challenge, some collaborate in sustainable forest management. The most successful outcomes, however, are observed where local participation is an essential part of conservation efforts. In Ghana, forests have experienced various degrees of exploitation over the years, resulting in their ecological decline. Despite its designation as a protected area for biodiversity and ecosystem services, the Atewa Range Forest Reserve in Ghana has been significantly impacted by deforestation, illegal mining, and other destructive activities. The purpose of this paper is to examine ecologically based management approaches that could be adopted to generate beneficial outcomes for all forest stakeholders and actors in Ghana. The study sampled forest stakeholders in Kwabeng, the administrative capital of the Atewa West District, to understand forest governance challenges and outline strategies for overcoming them. The study revealed that a bottom-up all-inclusive approach to managing forest resources is necessary. This paper, therefore, proposes an integrated forest governance that prioritizes the UN Sustainable Development Goal 15—Life on Land-related to forest preservation.     

Developing an indicator set for measuring sustainable development in India

The global agenda of sustainable development (SD) will get a major boost from the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries. This requires effective planning and understanding of the SDGs at the national level and developing sound SDG indicators that account for country priorities. Currently, there is no formal SDG indicator set in India, but the process for it is underway. This paper has attempted to propose a unique technique for identifying the most representative indicator set for SD measurement in India based on the SDGs. Considering the needs and preferences of the country, a three‐stage process is proposed to develop the priority indicator set. The application of the approach has been presented for SDG 7, which relates to energy. This is supported with a background on India's SD progress. The proposed technique is simple yet effective, and can be easily replicated by other developing countries.     

Water Nakba in Palestine: Sustainable Development Goal 6 versus Israeli hydro-hegemony

This Viewpoint article argues that Sustainable Development Goal 6, which aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, cannot be achieved for the Palestinian people under the current political situation of Israeli occupation. Through the practice of hydro-hegemony, Israel controls all water resources in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, thus denying water sovereignty to the Palestinians. This is demonstrated through three case studies: The Jordan Valley; the West Bank settlements; and Gaza. The politics of water in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory is best understood as part of the dynamics of settler colonialism, in which ethnic cleansing is achieved through the dispossession of essential resources. The authors discuss what role the international scientific community can play in supporting Palestinian water sovereignty and therefore SDG 6.     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Mediating Environmental Conflicts: Theory and Practice J Walton Blackburn and Willa Marie Bruce
Agroforestry in the Pacific Islands: Systems for Sustainability Edited by W C Clarke and R R Thaman
The Chao Phya: A River in Transition Steve van Beek
Human Development Report 1995 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Human Development Report 1994 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Taking Nature into Account: A Report to the Club of Rome Edited by Wouter van Dieren