The Digital Belt and Road program in support of regional sustainability

The Belt and Road initiative has a significant focus on infrastructure, trade, and economic development across a vast region, and it also provides significant opportunities for sustainable development. The combined pressure of climate variability, intensified use of resources, and the fragility of ecosystems make it very challenging, however, to achieve future sustainability. To develop the path in a sustainable way, it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of these issues across nations and evaluate them in a scientific and well-informed approach. In this context, the Digital Belt and Road (DBAR) program was initiated as an international venture to share expertise, knowledge, technologies, and data to demonstrate the role of Earth observation science and technology and big Earth data applications to support large-scale development. In this paper, we identify pressing challenges, present the research priorities and foci of the DBAR program, and propose solutions where big Earth data can make significant contributions. This paper calls for further joint actions and collaboration to build a digital silk road in support of sustainable development at national, regional and global levels.     

Knowledge integration in sustainability governance through science-based actor networks

Understanding how science, technology and innovation can best help to accelerate progress in achieving sustainable development remains a grand challenge for researchers and practitioners. In the context of the global consultation process for preparing a post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda, various science-based actor networks have emerged, aiming to translate research into political decision-making and to inform transformations towards sustainability. Over the last years, these networks seem to have taken an ever-growing role in structuring the science-policy interface in global sustainability governance. The question arises, however, how they understand and organize ‘scientific knowledge integration’ in sustainability politics.This study offers a structured comparison of twelve global science-based actor networks engaged in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. It shows that these networks use two types of strategies to foster scientific knowledge integration in sustainability governance. A new framework emerges, in which each strategy corresponds to two main approaches of scientific knowledge integration: The entrepreneurial strategy generally seeks to advance advice-oriented and solution-oriented knowledge processes, while assessment-oriented and learning-oriented processes in scientific knowledge integration are mainly promoted through a mediating strategy.     

Learning from CDM SD tool experience for Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement (PA) emphasizes the intrinsic relationship between climate change and sustainable development (SD) and welcomes the 2030 agenda for the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet, there is a lack of assessment approaches to ensure that climate and development goals are achieved in an integrated fashion and trade-offs avoided. Article 6.4 of the PA introduces a new Sustainable Mitigation Mechanism (SMM) with the dual aim to contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and foster SD. The Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has a similar objective and in 2014, the CDM SD tool was launched by the Executive Board of the CDM to highlight the SD benefits of CDM activities. This article analyses the usefulness of the CDM SD tool for stakeholders and compares the SD tool’s SD reporting requirements against other flexible mechanisms and multilateral standards to provide recommendations for improvement. A key conclusion is that the Paris Agreement’s SMM has a stronger political mandate than the CDM to measure that SD impacts are ‘real, measurable and long-term’. Recommendations for an improved CDM SD tool are a relevant starting point to develop rules, modalities, and procedures for SD assessment in Article 6.4 as well as for other cooperative mitigation approaches.

POLICY RELEVANCE

Research findings are relevant for developing the rulebook of modalities and procedures for Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, which introduces a new mechanism for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and sustainable development. Lessons learnt from the CDM SD tool and recommendations for enhanced SD assessment are discussed in context of Article 6 cooperative approaches, and make a timely contribution to inform negotiations on the rulebook agreed by the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement.     

Calling for Nexus Approach: Introduction of the Flagship Programme on Climate,Ecosystems and Livelihoods

The United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) launched at the end of 2016 a decade-long (2016-2025) flagship programme on Climate, Ecosystems and Livelihoods (CEL), with the aim to assist developing countries in delivering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate targets while protecting their ecosystems and improving the livelihoods of their people. The CEL programme is a major initiative supported by China and other developing countries to promote long-term South-South cooperation, led by the United Nations Environment Programme International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP-IEMP). This article presents the conceptual framework and implementation strategy of the CEL programme, which were proposed through consultations between UN Environment, Chinese and international experts. Within the conceptual framework, the CEL programme will 1) focus its work on the nexus of climate change, ecosystem services and sustainable livelihoods as the primary priority; 2) encourage cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder cooperation, enhance interdisciplinary research, and strive for breakthroughs that cross disciplinary boundaries; 3) provide four types of services and products—monitoring and assessment, capacity building, technology demonstration, and science for policy through mainly South-South cooperation; and 4) have far-reaching impacts on delivering SDGs and climate targets in vulnerable developing countries. The CEL programme is going to be implemented in a strategic way through a set of related projects and initiatives. More particularly, it will 1) focus on fragile ecosystems like drylands, mountains, river basins and coastal zones in Asia, Africa and other key regions along the Belt and Road, in the early stage and expand to include some other regions at a later stage; 2) take a three-phase approach, including Phase I, Kick -off (2016-2018), Phase II, Development (2019-2021), and Phase III, Scaling-up (2022-2025); and 3) draw on the globally relevant knowledge, expertise and other resources of a substantial network of partners. So far, UNEP-IEMP has developed more than twenty projects and initiatives in the regions along the Belt and Road, especially in Africa and the Greater Mekong Subregion, which lay a solid foundation for the implementation of CEL programme in its first phase.     

GEOEssential – mainstreaming workflows from data sources to environment policy indicators with essential variables

ABSTRACT

When defining indicators on the environment, the use of existing initiatives should be a priority rather than redefining indicators each time. From an Information, Communication and Technology perspective, data interoperability and standardization are critical to improve data access and exchange as promoted by the Group on Earth Observations. GEOEssential is following an end-user driven approach by defining Essential Variables (EVs), as an intermediate value between environmental policy indicators and their appropriate data sources. From international to local scales, environmental policies and indicators are increasingly percolating down from the global to the local agendas. The scientific business processes for the generation of EVs and related indicators can be formalized in workflows specifying the necessary logical steps. To this aim, GEOEssential is developing a Virtual Laboratory the main objective of which is to instantiate conceptual workflows, which are stored in a dedicated knowledge base, generating executable workflows. To interpret and present the relevant outputs/results carried out by the different thematic workflows considered in GEOEssential (i.e. biodiversity, ecosystems, extractives, night light, and food-water-energy nexus), a Dashboard is built as a visual front-end. This is a valuable instrument to track progresses towards environmental policies.     

美丽中国与联合国可持续发展目标(SDGs)结合的黑河流域水资源承载力评价

水资源是制约干旱、半干旱区社会经济发展的关键因素,结合联合国可持续发展目标（SDGs）指标和美丽中国评价指标,以水资源承载力为核心,从水资源系统、社会系统、经济系统、生态环境系统、协调系统5个方面构建指标体系,基于熵权法确定权重,评价2001-2017年黑河流域各县区水资源承载力及时空分布。结果表明：（1）当前水资源利用效率水平下,2010年以来黑河流域大多数县区GDP均超过最大承载能力,而人口则在2010年以前已超载。（2）从水资源承载综合评价结果来看,2001-2015年随着生态输水工程的进一步实施,水资源承载力有所好转,但中下游波动较大,水资源形势依然十分严峻。（3）控制不断扩展的绿洲面积,减少高耗水农作物种植面积,实施合理用水总量控制和定额管理措施,是减缓水资源压力的重要措施。     

A Sustainable Development Goal for the Ocean and Coasts: Global ocean challenges benefit from regional initiatives supporting globally coordinated solutions

The ocean regulates the global climate, provides humans with natural resources such as food, materials, important substances, and energy, and is essential for international trade and recreational and cultural activities. Together with human development and economic growth, free access to, and availability of, ocean resources and services have exerted strong pressure on marine systems, ranging from overfishing, increasing resource extraction, and alteration of coastal zones to various types of thoughtless pollution. International cooperation and effective governance are required to protect the marine environment and promote the sustainable use of marine resources in such a way that due account can be taken of the environmental values of current generations and the needs of future generations. The high seas deserve particular attention since they suffer from a number of regulatory shortcomings due to the basic structures set out under international law. Against this backdrop, developing and agreeing on a focussed Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) specifically for the Ocean and Coasts could prove to be an essential element to provide guidance and a framework for regional implementation agreements.     

Aligning climate and sustainable development finance through an SDG lens. The role of development assistance in implementing the Paris Agreement

Climate change and development are strongly interconnected. An efficient use of financial resources would, thus require alignment between climate finance and development priorities, as set out in the context of both the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In this paper, we investigate to what extent climate-related official development assistance (ODA) before and after the Paris Agreement adoption supports the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, we assess to what extent donors align this finance with recipient countries’ climate-related priorities as spelled out in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). First, we find that climate-relevant ODA contributes to multiple SDGs, above all SDG 7 (energy) and SDG 11 (cities). Second, we find that there is substantial alignment between donors’ and recipients’ SDG priorities, but that this alignment has not improved in recent years, since the conclusion of the Paris Agreement. Third, we find that albeit climate-finance continues to be allocated more to climate-change mitigation than to adaptation, the difference became smaller in recent years. This reduced the misalignment with recipient countries’ NDC climate activities, which focus more on adaptation than mitigation. Overall, we identify coherence, gaps and opportunities for further alignment of climate and development actions, and related finance. Such an alignment is essential to increase the likelihood of implementation of the two international agreements and to ensure that action is guided by recipient countries’ needs.     

Connotation and Evaluation Index System of Beautiful China for SDGs

The construction of Beautiful China is the vital way to realize ecological civilization and build a well-off society in an all-round way. It is also a new goal and a good vision for building a community with a shared future for mankind. This work deeply analyzed the historical evolution of the "Beautiful China" thought, its relationship with sustainable development and ecological civilization, and expounded the scientific connotation and key evaluation dimension of "Beautiful China". At the same time, the evaluation index system based on the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and supported by multi-source data such as Big Earth Data, network data and statistical data was constructed to provide reference for the evaluation of “Beautiful China”. The research showed that: \mathrm{①} The essence of Beautiful China is a complex “areal system of man-land relationship” composed of natural ecosystems and socio-economic systems; \mathrm{②} “Blue sky, green land, clean water, man-land harmony” are the perfect interpretations of the construction of Beautiful China; \mathrm{③} The work builds a comprehensive index system of “Beautiful China” from the aspects of “blue sky, green land, clean water, man-land harmony”. The index system consists of 13 specific targets and 43 specific evaluation indicators.     

面向SDGs的OECD成员国可持续发展水平测度及时空演变研究：1995—2017年

可持续发展是当前世界各国共同追求的发展模式,《联合国2030可持续发展议程》再一次明确了可持续发展的目标,OECD成员国作为世界上经济最为发达和HDI指数最高的国家,探究其可持续发展水平的构成具有重要的理论和现实意义。以OECD成员国为研究对象,构建可持续发展评价体系,采用投影寻踪模型、变异系数、基尼系数、Pearson相关等方法,探析OECD成员国可持续发展水平的时空演变特征。结果表明：（1）1995年以来OECD成员国可持续发展水平持续提升,平均综合评价值由2.093增加到2.628,主要源于经济效率和社会发展的提升。（2）空间上呈现出可持续发展水平北欧＞西欧、中欧、东亚、北美、大洋洲＞西亚、东欧＞拉丁美洲的格局,基尼系数由0.089降低为0.065,区域差异不断缩小。（3）随着可持续发展水平提升,在可持续发展水平高值区主导要素逐步由单要素主导转变为多要素共同主导,而在可持续发展水平低值区由生态环境和资源安全主导逐步转为经济效率主导。