The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focus on providing society with a sustainable future. Progress toward the goals is being tracked by a series of indicators. These indicators show progress toward individual goals and targets but do not show how success or failure in relation to one goal might affect success or failure in another area. We show how interactions between the oceans and human poverty, hunger, and gender equity are hidden by indicator assessments and how this undermines the capacity of governments and organizations to maximize long-term moves toward sustainability. These findings are important for decision makers who work in the public and private sectors and wish to avoid unforeseen outcomes when implementing sustainability initiatives. Here, we suggest extensions to the current assessment framework to help counteract the identified issues, providing a research agenda for scientists working in all fields of sustainability science.
History
Publication title
One Earth
Pagination
161-173
ISSN
2590-3330
Department/School
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies
Publisher
Cell Press
Place of publication
United States
Rights statement
Copyright 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Repository Status
Open
Socio-economic Objectives
Wild caught fin fish (excl. tuna); Assessment and management of terrestrial ecosystems; Nutrition