Introduction:
The SDGs constitute a highly ambitious agenda, encompassing 17 Goals, 169 targets and 232 indicators. All these themes, actors and activities interact with each other. Progress on a certain goal in a certain region may have impacts, both positive and negative, on progress towards other goals, both in the same region and elsewhere. Deepening our understanding of these interactions is crucial to accelerate progress. Although the literature on SDG interactions has been growing steadily, mapping the relations between different goals, there has been little empirical work on how these interactions play out in terms of SDG implementation.
The Knowledge Brokering and Synthesis (KBS) team has produced a literature review
to provide insights into the current state of knowledge on interactions between the SDGs. The review discusses the synergies and trade-offs among four SDGs, empirically identified in existing academic literature. This accompanying article will highlight the general findings and the persisting knowledge gaps. See this webpage of The Broker for a more thorough analysis and for accessing the thematic literature review.
Analysis: Knowledge gaps for the ENGAGE.EU research community
I made a quick analysis of the knowledge gaps that might be interesting for the ENGAGE.EU research communities. As a network of SSH oriented universities, there are many avenues to dive into these gaps for further research. I note two that are mentioned in the article, but please read the article and suggest relevant research gaps in the comments below.
- Literature studying interactions between SDG 2 (zero hunger) and SDG 5 (gender equality) mainly focus on SDG targets 2.1 and 2.2, as these are related to children and household food security. Moreover, most studies looked at married women with underaged children (i.e. mothers) as their unit of response (Baye et al., 2021; Jones et al., 2019). Future studies could thus look at other indicators of both SDG 2 and 5 and for example study women’s role in agricultural productivity.
- A considerable number of authors employ the Water Energy Food (WEF) nexus as an analytical tool to conduct an integrated assessment of SDG interactions. The three pillars of the nexus correspond neatly to SDGs 2 (zero hunger), 6 (clean water and sanitation) and 7 (affordable and clean energy). The nexus is criticized however for having a narrow cross-sectoral focus on water, energy and food, ignoring other relevant dimensions, such as land, the environment and gender (Purwanto et al., 2021). Scholars note that the mainstream nexus discourse relies mainly on a natural scientific framing of environmental challenges, (..) which neglects social scientific perspectives, potentially masking insidious power dynamics in resource governance, social inequalities and distributional justice (Allouche et al., 2015).
Question:
What do you think about these proposals for new research projects? Are there any research networks that you are familiar with already working on these interactions? Let us know in the comments!