IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i4p1108-d140027.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Potential Trade-Offs between the Sustainable Development Goals in Coastal Bangladesh

Author

Listed:
  • Craig W. Hutton

    (Geography and Environment Academic Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK)

  • Robert J. Nicholls

    (Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK)

  • Attila N. Lázár

    (Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK)

  • Alex Chapman

    (Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK)

  • Marije Schaafsma

    (Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK)

  • Mashfiqus Salehin

    (Institute of Water and Flood Management, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh)

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are offered as a comprehensive strategy to guide and encourage sustainable development at multiple scales both nationally and internationally. Furthermore, through the development of indicators associated with each goal and sub-goal, the SDGs support the notion of monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management, underpinned by the aspirations of social justice, equity and transparency. As such, the ethical intention of the SDGs is well founded. However, possible conflicts and trade-offs between individual SDGs have received little attention. For example, SDGs relating to poverty (SDG 1), inequality (SDG 10), food security (SDG2), economic development (SDG 8) and life in water and on land (SDGs 14 and 15), are potentially competing in many circumstances. In a social–ecological context, policy support and formulation are increasingly adopting systems approaches, which analyse the complex interactions of system elements. Adopting such an approach in this work, the above SDGs are analysed for coastal Bangladesh. This demonstrates multiple potential trade-offs between the SDGs, including agricultural farming approaches in the light of poverty reduction, and between economic growth and environmental integrity as well as equity. To develop coherent and policy relevant socio-ecological strategies, appropriate decision frameworks need to be co-developed across the range of stakeholders and decision-makers. Integrated models have great potential to support such a process.

Suggested Citation

  • Craig W. Hutton & Robert J. Nicholls & Attila N. Lázár & Alex Chapman & Marije Schaafsma & Mashfiqus Salehin, 2018. "Potential Trade-Offs between the Sustainable Development Goals in Coastal Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-14, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:4:p:1108-:d:140027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/4/1108/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/4/1108/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Vries, Bert J.M. & Petersen, Arthur C., 2009. "Conceptualizing sustainable development: An assessment methodology connecting values, knowledge, worldviews and scenarios," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 1006-1019, February.
    2. Joyeeta Gupta & Courtney Vegelin, 2016. "Sustainable development goals and inclusive development," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 433-448, June.
    3. Alkire, Sabina & Seth, Suman, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Reduction in India between 1999 and 2006: Where and How?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 93-108.
    4. Måns Nilsson & Dave Griggs & Martin Visbeck, 2016. "Policy: Map the interactions between Sustainable Development Goals," Nature, Nature, vol. 534(7607), pages 320-322, June.
    5. Martina Keitsch, 2018. "Structuring Ethical Interpretations of the Sustainable Development Goals—Concepts, Implications and Progress," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-9, March.
    6. Lauren Gies & Datu Agusdinata & Venkatesh Merwade, 2014. "Drought adaptation policy development and assessment in East Africa using hydrologic and system dynamics modeling," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 74(2), pages 789-813, November.
    7. Rita Vasconcellos Oliveira, 2018. "Back to the Future: The Potential of Intergenerational Justice for the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-16, February.
    8. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    9. Hausman, Daniel M & McPherson, Michael S, 1993. "Taking Ethics Seriously: Economics and Contemporary Moral Philosophy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 671-731, June.
    10. Marten Scheffer & Jordi Bascompte & William A. Brock & Victor Brovkin & Stephen R. Carpenter & Vasilis Dakos & Hermann Held & Egbert H. van Nes & Max Rietkerk & George Sugihara, 2009. "Early-warning signals for critical transitions," Nature, Nature, vol. 461(7260), pages 53-59, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Schaafsma, Marije & Eigenbrod, Felix & Gasparatos, Alexandros & Gross-Camp, Nicole & Hutton, Craig & Nunan, Fiona & Schreckenberg, Kate & Turner, Kerry, 2021. "Trade-off decisions in ecosystem management for poverty alleviation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    2. Maria Inês Paes Ferreira & Graham Sakaki & Pamela Shaw & Thaís Nacif de Souza Riscado & Luis Felipe Umbelino, 2023. "Sustainable Water Management and the 2030 Agenda: Comparing Rain Forest Watersheds in Canada and Brazil by Applying an Innovative Sustainability Indicator System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-15, October.
    3. Shin-Cheng Yeh & Haw-Jeng Chiou & Ai-Wei Wu & Ho-Ching Lee & Homer C. Wu, 2019. "Diverged Preferences towards Sustainable Development Goals? A Comparison between Academia and the Communication Industry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Wuliyasu Bai & Liang Yan & Jingbo Liang & Long Zhang, 2022. "Mapping Knowledge Domain on Economic Growth and Water Sustainability: A Scientometric Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 36(11), pages 4137-4159, September.
    5. Patricia Urban & Markus Hametner, 2022. "The Economy–Environment Nexus: Sustainable Development Goals Interlinkages in Austria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-25, September.
    6. Bahati Ally Magesa & Geetha Mohan & Indrek Melts & Hirotaka Matsuda & Jian Pu & Kensuke Fukushi, 2023. "Interactions between Farmers’ Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change and Sustainable Development Goals in Tanzania, East Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-14, March.
    7. Francisco Guijarro & Juan A. Poyatos, 2018. "Designing a Sustainable Development Goal Index through a Goal Programming Model: The Case of EU-28 Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-17, September.
    8. Manuel Sousa & Maria Fatima Almeida & Rodrigo Calili, 2021. "Multiple Criteria Decision Making for the Achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: A Systematic Literature Review and a Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-37, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joyeeta Gupta & Louis Lebel, 0. "Access and allocation in earth system governance: lessons learnt in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-18.
    2. Jan Anton van Zanten & Rob van Tulder, 2020. "Beyond COVID-19: Applying “SDG logics” for resilient transformations," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(4), pages 451-464, December.
    3. Joyeeta Gupta & Louis Lebel, 2020. "Access and allocation in earth system governance: lessons learnt in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 393-410, June.
    4. Rob Van Tulder & Suzana B. Rodrigues & Hafiz Mirza & Kathleen Sexsmith, 2021. "The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: Can multinational enterprises lead the Decade of Action?," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-21, March.
    5. Simona Fiandrino & Francesco Scarpa & Riccardo Torelli, 2022. "Fostering Social Impact Through Corporate Implementation of the SDGs: Transformative Mechanisms Towards Interconnectedness and Inclusiveness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(4), pages 959-973, November.
    6. Joyeeta Gupta & Aarti Gupta & Courtney Vegelin, 2022. "Equity, justice and the SDGs: lessons learnt from two decades of INEA scholarship," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 393-409, June.
    7. David Tremblay & François Fortier & Jean‐François Boucher & Olivier Riffon & Claude Villeneuve, 2020. "Sustainable development goal interactions: An analysis based on the five pillars of the 2030 agenda," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1584-1596, November.
    8. Luca Coscieme & Caroline A. Ochieng & Charles Spillane & Ian Donohue, 2023. "Measuring policy coherence on global access to clean energy between European countries," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 28(5), pages 1-16, June.
    9. Edit Kővári & Katalin Formádi & Zsuzsanna Banász, 2023. "The Green Attitude of Four European Capitals of Culture’s Youth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-19, May.
    10. Svatava Janoušková & Tomáš Hák & Bedřich Moldan, 2018. "Global SDGs Assessments: Helping or Confusing Indicators?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-14, May.
    11. Tong Wu & Lucang Wang & Haiyang Liu, 2021. "Spatiotemporal Differentiation of Land Surface Thermal Landscape in Yangtze River Delta Region, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-20, August.
    12. Myriam Pham‐Truffert & Florence Metz & Manuel Fischer & Henri Rueff & Peter Messerli, 2020. "Interactions among Sustainable Development Goals: Knowledge for identifying multipliers and virtuous cycles," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1236-1250, September.
    13. Russo Lopes, Gabriela & Bastos Lima, Mairon G. & Reis, Tiago N.P. dos, 2021. "Maldevelopment revisited: Inclusiveness and social impacts of soy expansion over Brazil’s Cerrado in Matopiba," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    14. Christian Kroll & Anne Warchold & Prajal Pradhan, 2019. "Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Are we successful in turning trade-offs into synergies?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-11, December.
    15. Anne Warchold & Prajal Pradhan & Jürgen P. Kropp, 2021. "Variations in sustainable development goal interactions: Population, regional, and income disaggregation," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 285-299, March.
    16. Kristin Linnerud & Erling Holden & Morten Simonsen, 2021. "Closing the sustainable development gap: A global study of goal interactions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(4), pages 738-753, July.
    17. Anita Breuer & Hannah Janetschek & Daniele Malerba, 2019. "Translating Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Interdependencies into Policy Advice," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-20, April.
    18. Keith R. Skene, 2021. "No goal is an island: the implications of systems theory for the Sustainable Development Goals," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 9993-10012, July.
    19. Yizhong Huan & Lingqing Wang & Mark Burgman & Haitao Li & Yurong Yu & Jianpeng Zhang & Tao Liang, 2022. "A multi‐perspective composite assessment framework for prioritizing targets of sustainable development goals," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 833-847, October.
    20. Judith Janker, 2020. "Moral conflicts, premises and the social dimension of agricultural sustainability," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(1), pages 97-111, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:4:p:1108-:d:140027. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.