IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natsus/v2y2019i1d10.1038_s41893-018-0190-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An imperfect vision of indivisibility in the Sustainable Development Goals

Author

Listed:
  • Philip J. K. McGowan

    (Newcastle University)

  • Gavin B. Stewart

    (Newcastle University)

  • Graham Long

    (Newcastle University)

  • Matthew J. Grainger

    (Newcastle University)

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are presented as highly connected: an ‘interrelated’ and ‘indivisible’ agenda with a need for policy coherence for implementation. We analyse the relationships among the goals using formal systems analysis and find that the connections between goals are uneven, with a failure to integrate gender equality, peace and governance concerns. This incoherence may undermine policy initiatives aimed at developing approaches to implement the SDGs.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip J. K. McGowan & Gavin B. Stewart & Graham Long & Matthew J. Grainger, 2019. "An imperfect vision of indivisibility in the Sustainable Development Goals," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(1), pages 43-45, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natsus:v:2:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41893-018-0190-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41893-018-0190-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0190-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41893-018-0190-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qiang Xing & Chaoyang Wu & Fang Chen & Jianguo Liu & Prajal Pradhan & Brett A. Bryan & Thomas Schaubroeck & L. Roman Carrasco & Alemu Gonsamo & Yunkai Li & Xiuzhi Chen & Xiangzheng Deng & Andrea Alban, 2024. "Intranational synergies and trade-offs reveal common and differentiated priorities of sustainable development goals in China," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Mohd Danish Khan & Sonam Shakya & Hong Ha Thi Vu & Ji Whan Ahn & Gnu Nam, 2019. "Water Environment Policy and Climate Change: A Comparative Study of India and South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-10, June.
    3. Huijuan Xiao & Yue Liu & Jingzheng Ren, 2023. "Synergies and trade‐offs across sustainable development goals: A novel method incorporating indirect interactions analysis," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 1135-1148, April.
    4. Myriam Pham‐Truffert & Florence Metz & Manuel Fischer & Henri Rueff & Peter Messerli, 2020. "Interactions among Sustainable Development Goals: Knowledge for identifying multipliers and virtuous cycles," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1236-1250, September.
    5. Felix Laumann & Julius von Kugelgen & Mauricio Barahona, 2020. "Non-linear interlinkages and key objectives amongst the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals," Papers 2004.09318, arXiv.org.
    6. Jari Lyytimäki & Kirsi-Marja Lonkila & Eeva Furman & Kaisa Korhonen-Kurki & Satu Lähteenoja, 2021. "Untangling the interactions of sustainability targets: synergies and trade-offs in the Northern European context," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 3458-3473, March.
    7. Lena I. Fuldauer & Scott Thacker & Robyn A. Haggis & Francesco Fuso-Nerini & Robert J. Nicholls & Jim W. Hall, 2022. "Targeting climate adaptation to safeguard and advance the Sustainable Development Goals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    8. Simon Friederich & Jonathan Symons, 2023. "Operationalising sustainability? Why sustainability fails as an investment criterion for safeguarding the future," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 14(1), pages 61-71, February.
    9. Cameron Allen & Graciela Metternicht & Thomas Wiedmann, 2021. "Priorities for science to support national implementation of the sustainable development goals: A review of progress and gaps," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(4), pages 635-652, July.
    10. Ulrike Zeigermann, 2021. "Scientific Knowledge Integration and the Implementation of the SDGs: Comparing Strategies of Sustainability Networks," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 164-175.
    11. Sea Jin Kim & Woo-Kyun Lee & Jun Young Ahn & Wona Lee & Soo Jeong Lee, 2021. "Analysis of Developmental Chronology of South Korean Compressed Growth as a Reference from Sustainable Development Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-22, February.
    12. Tracy Van Holt & Martin Delaroche & Ulrich Atz & Kevin Eckerle, 2021. "Financial benefits of reimagined, sustainable, agrifood supply networks," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 102-118, March.
    13. Huijuan Xiao & Sheng Bao & Jingzheng Ren & Zhenci Xu & Song Xue & Jianguo Liu, 2024. "Global transboundary synergies and trade-offs among Sustainable Development Goals from an integrated sustainability perspective," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natsus:v:2:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41893-018-0190-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.