Reinvigorating the sustainable development research agenda

The role of the sustainable development goals (SDG)

Bibliographic Data

ID19499862
AuthorsWalter Leal Filho (0000-0002-1241-5225, Manchester Metropolitan University, corresponding author), Ulisses M Azeiteiro (0000-0002-5252-1700, University of Aveiro), Fátima Alves (0000-0003-2600-8652, University of Coimbra), Paul Pace (0000-0002-9532-1450, University of Malta), Mark Mifsud (0000-0001-7050-9169, Universidade de Passo Fundo), Luciana Brandli (0000-0002-0763-7149, Universidade Aberta), Sandra Caeiro (0000-0002-6079-3554, Universidade Aberta), Antje Disterheft (0000-0002-7439-6955, Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
Year2018
Volume25
Issue2
Pages131-142
Publication date2018-02-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1350-4509 • E-ISSN: 1745-2627
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13504509.2017.1342103
OpenAlexW2726819335
LanguageEN
Citations received81
References cited40

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) contain a set of 17 measures to foster sustainable development across many areas. It offers a good opportunity to reinvigorate sustainable development research for two main reasons. First, it comprises many areas of SD research, which have become mainstream thanks to the UN SDGs. Second, the fact that the UN and its member countries have committed to attaining SDGs by 2030 has added a sense of urgency to the need to perform quality research on SD on the one hand, and reiterates the need to use the results of this research on the other. Even though the basic concept of sustainability goes back many centuries, it has only recently appeared on the international political agenda. This is partly due to an awakening of the fact that the human ecological pressure on the planet is still much larger than what nature can renew or compensate for. Based on this state of affairs, this paper presents an outline of the process leading to the agreement on the UN SDGs, and looks at some of the ecological aspects as a result of continued pressure of human activities on natural resources. Furthermore, a set of research needs is proposed – also based holistically on updated research trends – discussing the degree of urgency of some measures and explaining why the UN SDGs need to be accorded greater priority in international sustainable development research efforts

Business · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Geography · Mainstream · Natural resource · Political science · Politics · Sustainability · Sustainable development · Computer Science · Law · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance · Sustainable Building Design and Assessment · Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy · Ecology

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