Global Action on SDGs: Policy Review and Outlook in a Post-Pandemic Era

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provided brand new goals and action targets for human well-being and development, but the COVID-19 pandemic has cast a shadow on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is therefore essential to provide a reference for making policy adjustments and transformations to promote the realization of SDGs in the post-pandemic era. Based on a literature review of the progress and policies of SDGs across countries worldwide, we find that research on sustainable policies has rapidly increased since the SDGs issued in 2015 with particular focuses on eco-environment, sustainable policies, green economy, sanitation and health, and water sanitation. Most countries are in the process of nationalization, institutionalization, and universalization of the SDGs through incorporating the SDGs into national development frameworks, enabling extensive participation and negotiation mechanisms, and promoting the SDGs’ national publicity. Countries of different economic and institutional backgrounds demonstrate divergent development pathways, priorities, measures, and progress in the implementation of SDGs. Despite significant global progress during the last five years, the North–South divide emerges in the policy action and achievement of SDGs. The least developed countries in sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia appear to be difficult or even unable to implement the SDGs and monitor the progress. In the post-pandemic era, particular attention shall be given to integrating SDGs and achieve synergy among goals, concretizing short-and medium-term priorities toward the SDGs targets for all countries, strengthening multilateralism and global cooperation among countries and continents, providing reliable data and approaches for real-time impact assessment and process monitoring, and promoting an inclusive engagement and integrative implementation with multiple stakeholders and consortiums.

A Review and Categorization of Artificial Intelligence-Based Opportunities in Wildlife, Ocean and Land Conservation

“…This is in line with Payumo et al's [80] mapping of collaborations and partnerships in SDG research, which shows an increased collaboration rate, particularly at the institutional level and in the US, the UK, and Europe. Careful considerations of inclusive innovation [81] must be at the forefront to address the AI divide between developed and developing nations and resulting inequalities [7,13,15,82].…”

“…Saetra [1] broadened the investigation of AI and SDGs by factoring in a larger context, interlinkages, and AI's ethical implications and sustainability to avoid AI hype. Other studies have investigated specific aspects of AI related to SDGs such as global governance, policy perspectives, the role of business, ethics, knowledge spillovers, Green AI, AI in Industry 4.0, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-related impacts of AI, among others [8,9,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18].…”

Sustainable Development Goals in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review

“…It is evident that the initial effect of the pandemic on the environment has been beneficial in the short to medium term. It is imperative that countries see this as an opportunity to prevent the negative consequences of re-implementing policies that bring back the initial problems [169,170]. Countries should allocate financial resources to resume tourism activities and increase employment in these sectors; they should promote social and economic inclusion; they should address the care of natural resources; they should reduce the emission of harmful gases into the ozone layer and address a climate alert to achieve the objectives set [171,172].…”

Evaluation and Influencing Factors of Network Resilience in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area: A Structural Perspective

“…As industrialization and urbanization quicken the pace, cities are faced with all-round and multi-angle impacts from nature and culture. Crisis elements even have a magnifying effect as the network spreads [36,37]. Moreover, studies have shown that strengthening or weakening key nodes and connections or improving the network topology can effectively enhance a region's ability to actively respond to external disturbances and shocks [16].…”