Global Prosperity and Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Negotiations around Sustainable Development Goals and the post-2015 development agenda should go beyond just re-writing goals and targets that adhere to 'sustaining' the same old economic and social models. Instead, societies and governments should take this as an opportunity to advance more radical conceptual and practical approaches that challenge this reductive understanding of 'sustainability'. The paper argues that we should turn our attention to prosperity rather than to development per se, recognising the critical role political and social innovation should have in unleashing individuals' potential to flourishing in a context of finite resources. The interwoven, interdependent and ever-evolving nature of socio-ecological systems, together with the uncertainties and 'unknowns' that characterise contemporary reality, questions the relevance of one-size-fits-all goals. There is no single route to prosperity; diversity of objectives is essential and fundamental. Learning from initiatives in the Global South, such as the case of agroecology, might pave the way towards this paradigm shift.

What is Sustainable Agriculture? Critical Analysis of the International Political Discourse

“…This focus on protecting natural resources and ecosystems remains until today [7,59], as confirmed also by the majority of articles connecting sustainable agriculture to environmental issues. Environmental protection in agriculture therefore represents one major strand of articles: The predominant lines of argumentation include ecological or ecosystem approaches to agricultural areas, such as studies on soil quality [60,61] and nutrient management [62,63]; environmental best agricultural practices, such as conservation agriculture [64,65], (eco)agroecology and agroecosystems [66][67][68], agrobiodiversity and agroforestry [69,70], low-input agriculture [7,71], alternative fertilization [72], and, finally, plant protection methods [73] as well as improved resource management (such as of energy and water) [60]. While often not directly connected to sustainable agriculture, resilience approaches to agriculture are a closely related topic.…”

“…Some practices are based on the premise that intensifying already available agricultural practices would globally lead to more benefits than potentially extending these already used areas in order to increase food production [83]. Scientists also examine alternative practices, such as agroecological methods [66,67] and conservation agriculture [64,98], as forms of more environmentally compatible agriculture. However, this work is usually not attributed to the sustainable agricultural intensification paradigm and does not aim at the global intensification of production.…”

Governing Sustainable Development Through ‘Policy Coherence’? The Production and Circulation of Knowledge in the Eu and the Oecd

“…Kröger 2008;Joshi 2011;UNDP 2012;Sinclair 2012;Fukuyama 2013;Halleröd et al 2013;Weiss 2013), sustainable development (cf. Moore 2015;Moran et al 2008;Srivastava 2011;Scott and Lucci 2015) and human rights based approaches to development (cf. Chinkin 2001;Pogge 2002Alston 2005Alston and Robinson 2005;OECD and Worldbank 2006).…”

A Critical Note on Poverty Eradication Target of Sustainable Development Goals

“…In its current format, poverty eradication target in the SDGs neglect inequality among the countries, imposing a one-size-fits-all targets for most developing countries those are very different from each other (in terms of their current state of poverty, natural resources and geo-political contexts). Addressing these issues will require to go beyond just re-writing goals and targets that adhere to sustaining the same old economic and social models (Moore, 2015) and would need to recognise the causes of poverty rooted in unequal power structures within and between countries.…”