scholarly journals The Crossovers and Connectivity between Systems Engineering and the Sustainable Development Goals: A Scoping Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3176
Author(s):  
Lan Yang ◽  
Kathryn Cormican

The United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) are interconnected and indivisible and need to be addressed in a systematic and holistic way. However, a lack of stakeholder perspective, fragmented responses, and a dearth of integration across sectors have long been perceived as the SDGs’ main pitfalls. In recent years, scholars are calling to address these issues by adopting a systems engineering perspective, as this approach espouses a stakeholder-focused position, embraces a holistic and dynamic mindset, and provides a variety of technical and managerial toolkits, which can help to untangle the complexity and interactions inherent in global sustainability. Nevertheless, little has been done to map the existing literature, comprehensively review, and synthesize research evidence in this field. Therefore, this paper aims to conduct a scoping study that analyzes the extant evidence to uncover the contributions of systems engineering in advancing the SDGs. A three-phase methodology integrating natural language processing and systematic literature review is used to investigate this space. We conclude that systems engineering has been an active catalyst promoting the SDGs, and that systems engineering has the potential to support more transdisciplinary research to achieve long-term transformational and sustainable change across sectors and disciplines.

2021 ◽  
Vol 95 ◽  
pp. 01004
Author(s):  
Hanna Shevchenko ◽  
Mykola Petrushenko

Research background: rural tourism is an economic and environmental activity that fits harmoniously into the concept of sustainable and inclusive development. In Ukraine, it is called rural green tourism, but in practice not all aspects of it can meet the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Purpose of the article: to analyze the relationship between the structures of the rural tourism goals and the SDGs, to demonstrate the evolution, possibilities of the development on the example of Ukraine’s rural tourism, especially in the framework of the European Green Deal. Methods: factor analysis – when studying the structure of the rural tourism goals and the factors that affect it, as well as when comparing it with the structure of other sustainable activities; elements of graph theory – in the graphical analysis of the Sustainable Development Goals decomposition in their projection into the plane of rural tourism. Findings & Value added: the structure of the rural green tourism goals in Ukraine have been harmonized with the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Sustainability factors have been identified that allow the tourism and recreation sphere in the medium and long term perspective not only to form a competitive market for relevant services, but also to serve as an important component of the inclusive development. Factors of tourism sphere transformation due to the coronavirus pandemic are taken into consideration. The concept of the phased programming in sphere of rural tourism in Ukraine within the framework of the European Green Deal 2030 and 2050 has been improved.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 12042
Author(s):  
Mohd Abualtaher ◽  
Turid Rustad ◽  
Eirin Skjøndal Bar

This study proposes a conceptual framework that aims to gain insight into the integration of the sustainable development goals (SDG) within the Norwegian salmon value chain (NSVC). The proposed framework was developed by applying the systems engineering six-step method and validated through empirical findings from the NSVC. The framework’s application highlighted and analyzed the presence of the SDGs in corporate sustainability reports, academic curriculum, research, and governmental policies. This study uncovered the complexity-reduction elements within the system that drive SDG integration and assure their progress. The SDGs provide a global context for sustainability endeavors in the NSVC. A globally expanded value chain has an organic relationship with global sustainability terms and schemes. The existing practice of corporate sustainability annual reporting was found to be a significant channel for SDG communication. The novelty of this study was that it proposed a mind-map to understand SDG integration within an industrial value chain abstracted into three concepts: commitment, communication, and performance measurability.


Author(s):  
Arild Underdal ◽  
Rakhyun E. Kim

This chapter explores goal setting, as exemplified by the Sustainable Development Goals, as a governance strategy for reforming or rearranging existing international agreements and organizations so as to enhance their overall performance in promoting sustainable development. It discusses the political and entrepreneurial challenges peculiar to bringing existing international institutions into line, and identifies the conditions under which goal setting could be an effective tool for orchestration. The chapter concludes that, because of their ecumenical diversity and soft priorities, the Sustainable Development Goals are not likely to serve as effective instruments for fostering convergence. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides neither an overarching norm that can serve as a platform for more specific goals nor an integrating vision of what long-term sustainable development in the Anthropocene means. In the absence of such an overarching principle and vision, the impact of the Sustainable Development Goals on global governance will likely materialize primarily as spurring some further clustering of existing regimes and organizations within crowded policy domains. The Sustainable Development Goals cannot be expected to generate major architectural reforms that will significantly reduce the fragmentation of the global governance system at large.


Author(s):  
Carl C. Anderson ◽  
Manfred Denich ◽  
Anne Warchold ◽  
Jürgen P. Kropp ◽  
Prajal Pradhan

AbstractThe Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as part of the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” and aim to address issues ranging from poverty and economic growth to climate change. Efforts to tackle one issue can support or hinder progress towards others, often with complex systemic interactions. Thus, each of the SDGs and their corresponding targets may contribute as levers or hurdles towards achieving other SDGs and targets. Based on SDG indicator data, we create a systems model considering influence among the SDGs and their targets. Once assessed within a system, we find that more SDGs and their corresponding targets act as levers towards achieving other goals and targets rather than as hurdles. In particular, efforts towards SDGs 5 (Gender Equality) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) may accelerate progress, while SDGs 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) are shown to create potential hurdles. The model results can be used to help promote supportive interactions and overcome hindering ones in the long term.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel A Del-Pino ◽  
Arezo Bodaghi ◽  
Pierre Watine ◽  
Ketra Schmitt

Twitter data related to poverty and basic income was collected for 24 days in 2019, and then was cleaned and prepared for natural language processing. A 7 % subset of the data was manually labeled for sentiment analysis in order to inform the artificial intelligence (AI), which was trained and verified on this subset. We present the results for both the 7 % verification sample and the entire database. This analysis of public opinion on poverty is situated within the Sustainable Development Goals and the support for poverty reduction policies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5510
Author(s):  
Aleksander Buczacki ◽  
Bartłomiej Gładysz ◽  
Erika Palmer

A significant share of food waste originates in the food services domain and HoReCa sector. Organizational improvements leading to the decrease of food waste and related costs in HoReCa are needed to make progress in this issue. A systems engineering approach was applied to examine the links between food waste generated in the HoReCa industry and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A literature review discovered two dimensions of actions leading to decreasing food waste in HoReCa; i.e., actions triggered by companies and by authorities (e.g., governmental policies). Additionally, customers and society were also considered. A framework is proposed to explicitly illustrate the dependencies of different micro actions devoted to food waste reduction in HoReCa in support of the SDGs. The other dimension of this framework is macro policies and their impact on SDGs. To increase food waste reduction awareness and collaboration, stakeholders on both the macro (launched by authorities for the whole sector) and micro (initiated by single organizations on their own) levels must work together. The results of this research will be useful in coordinating the efforts of all (consumers, HoReCa companies and suppliers, policymakers and administrations on different levels) involved in the supply chain of food production and consumption.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 87-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine Belesova ◽  
Ilan Kelman ◽  
Roger Boyd

Climate change is a major challenge for sustainable development, impacting human health, wellbeing, security, and livelihoods. While the post-2015 development agenda sets out action on climate change as one of the Sustainable Development Goals, there is little provision on how this can be achieved in tandem with the desired economic progress and the required improvements in health and wellbeing. This paper examines synergies and tensions between the goals addressing climate change and economic progress. We identify reductionist approaches in economics, such as ‘externalities’, reliance on the metric of the Gross Domestic Product, positive discount rates, and short-term profit targets as some of the key sources of tensions between these goals. Such reductionist approaches could be addressed by intersectoral governance mechanisms. Health in All Policies, health-sensitive macro-economic progress indicators, and accounting for long-term and non-monetary values are some of the approaches that could be adapted and used in governance for the SDGs. Policy framing of climate change and similar issues should facilitate development of intersectoral governance approaches.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 203
Author(s):  
Irina Sidorchuk ◽  
Aleksei Akhrymenka ◽  
Volha Basko ◽  
Alexei Grigoriev ◽  
Anton Parfenchyk

Achieving the goals of sustainable development largely depends on the state machinery effectiveness and the professionalism of civil servants. Continuous education (life-long training) is an effective tool for ensuring competence level of civil servants. According to the results of the analysis of the education system of civil servants, it can be argued that in the Republic of Belarus it has developed a mixed framework of education for civil servants, which is characterized by a combination of innovative and traditional forms and teaching methods aimed at their professional and personal development. The training of civil servants is carried out within the annual governmental order. The existing educational framework was developed before the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, in this regard, the education of public servants does not fully take into account the paradigm of sustainable development. The solution is seen in the transition from the annual government order for training of civil servants to long-term, medium-term and short-term planning of their training, which correlates with the Sustainable Development Goals. It is also important to implement the principle of inclusion in education. This will entail not only the improvement of the scientific and methodological support of the educational process and the creation of new educational programs, but also an increase in the requirements for the level of teachers training and the intensification of the students role. We also believe that the use of advanced foreign experience in the learning process will strengthen the personnel capacity of the state machinery and promptly implement changes to reflect the new realities. The listed aspects of the civil servants education framework transformation in the Republic of Belarus can become potential growth points that in the long term will allow Belarus to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Ngozi Finette Unuigbe ◽  
Aizenose Promise Ehizojie

Malawi faces mounting challenges in meeting the growing demand for food, water, and energy to satisfy the needs of a rapidly growing population. Relying on secondary data, the paper argues that while the existing policy initiatives have increased food production to a certain extent, the demand for water and energy has also increased, leading to degradation of the resource base, and contributing to an increase in water-related diseases. Poor sectoral coordination and institutional fragmentation have triggered the unsustainable use of resources and threatened the long-term sustainability of food, water, and energy security in the country, posing challenges to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the country. Consequently, this paper substantiates that a nexus approach can enhance understanding of the interconnectedness of the sectors and strengthen coordination among them. However, it requires a major shift in the decision-making process towards taking a holistic view, and development of institutional mechanisms to coordinate the actions of diverse actors and strengthen complementarities and synergies among the three sectors. The framework for cross-sectoral coordination and managing the nexus challenges is also suggested.


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