Monitoring Sustainable Development Goals: From Now to 2030

Abstract

The United Nations last September 2015 agreed on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will orient the policy actions for the next 15 years. The 17 goals and the related 169 targets have to be monitored and evaluated. The National Statistical Institutes, following a decision of the UN Statistical Commission, have to coordinate the process of production of the statistical data for elaboration of indicators that will be used for monitoring. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a global, regional, and national set of indicators for monitoring the achievements of the goals and targets by countries. The aim of this chapter is to present a practice of anticipation. Monitoring SDGs is a practice, where evaluating the achievement of goals (results) in a certain period of time implies stimulate actions for an aptitude to forward looking. In this context are used both forecasts and foresights which should be translated into decisions and actions as Poli defined (Poli 2017). Behavior, both individual and institutional, is generated by fixed goals (SDGs) for facing complex reality characterized by economic, social, environmental, and institutional aspects. In doing this, it would be possible to improve resilience and reducing vulnerabilities of individuals and societies. Analyzing and forecasting the effects derived from climate changes or the economic instability, for example, are practices of anticipation. This is done for stimulate decisions and actions for improving resiliencies and developing a forward-looking attitude and the use of the former’s results for action. Therefore, the chapter will illustrate the general framework for monitoring SDGs and will present the experience of ISTAT, the Italian Statistical Institute, and the personal research experience for evaluating the SDGs goals and targets, trying to develop a coherent set of measures. It is a challenging action not only for developing countries but also for advanced countries. A data revolution is underway, and the process will run for the next 15 years, and developing data is also crucial for the practices of anticipation. In Italy, the measuring of sustainability has been approached in the context of the project BES (Benessere equo e sostenibile), in line with the United Nations declaration that there is sustainable development when the well-being of people is pursued. Moreover, ISTAT, was a member country inside the Inter-agency Expert Group-SDGs constituted by the UN Statistical Commission, contributed actively for the selection of relevant indicators for monitoring the achievement of SDGs. ISTAT is also member of the Task Force UNECE for developing Sustainable Development measures and of the EUROSTAT Working Group on Sustainable Development and Europe 2020 indicators. All these national experiences allow developing a coherent framework for Sustainable Development monitoring in which concepts, methods, and measures find clarification.