Converting UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to Decision-Making Objectives and Implementation Options at the River Basin Scale

Yingchun Ge, Xin Li, Ximing Cai, Xiangzheng Deng, Feng Wu, Zhongyuan Li and Wenfei Luan
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Yingchun Ge: Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Science, 320 West Donggang Road, Lanzhou 730000, China
Xin Li: Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Ximing Cai: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign, IL 61801-3633, USA
Feng Wu: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100101, China
Zhongyuan Li: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100101, China
Wenfei Luan: Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Science, 320 West Donggang Road, Lanzhou 730000, China

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations cover all living things on Earth. However, downscaling the SDGs to regional scales for implementation is challenging. In the paper, we convert the general SDGs into tangible and actionable goals, targets and indicators for use in integrated river basin management (IRBM). Further, we propose a decision support framework that can be used to support IRBM implementation based on the SDGs. The framework offers a context for open thinking in which IRBM decision makers envision socioeconomic and ecosystem goals and the development tracks of a river basin and explore the various paths that can be followed to reach the goals. In particular, indicators are proposed for use in IRBM, which consider five aspects of river basins, specifically water, ecosystems, socioeconomic development, ability and data. To enable decision-making that promotes progress toward the goals, five scenarios, 17 sub-scenarios and 29 key parameters are provided that form a diverse set of scenarios corresponding to specific decision schemes. Moreover, these scenarios, sub-scenarios and parameters consider future uncertainties and both engineering and non-engineering measures that can be taken to achieve the co-development of human and natural factors in a basin.

Keywords: sustainable development goals (SDGs); river basin; decision-making; scenario analysis; integrated river basin management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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