The quest for achieving United Nations sustainability development goals (SDGs)

Abstract

Since the sustainability development goals (SDGs) were unveiled in 2015, there has been an enhanced drive for individuals, organizations and governments to know how to best achieve them. This is illustrated in an analysis which shows a clear trend of increased number of publications related to sustainability science since 2000. The importance of addressing the SDGs is very high, and the concerns on how to achieve them arise. Academics with interest in sustainability are drawing upon knowledge from different disciplines to tackle some of the complexities of achieving SDGs. Research hot themes such as sustainability, resilience, complexity, risk and development have come to the fore in many grand challenges and related research projects. However, such big projects have their own complexities in their execution as they span boundaries not only in terms of disciplines, but also in terms of countries, cultures, vested interests. So it has been suggested that a system's thinking approach is needed which provides a holistic view for the management of the complexity that the sustainability issues bring. In the triple bottom line sense, the dimensions of sustainability are economic, social and environmental dimensions, however, each these are sometimes in direct opposition to one another.