Sustainable development encompasses economic and social progress with environmental stewardship. At its core lies the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with 17 global goals designed to benefit people and nature alike.
From sequestering carbon to hosting biodiversity, forests contribute social outcomes that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through responsible forest practices like prioritising fair labour and Indigenous land rights, forests foster more equitable economies and resilient ecosystems.
Environmental Protection
Sustainably managed environments are key components of sustainable development. They provide ecological services that benefit food production, jobs, incomes, health, water and air quality, forest cover biodiversity weather stability and climate mitigation.
Environmental sustainability demands that individuals assume their responsibilities for safeguarding resources such as clean air, water and wildlife for future generations. Unfortunately, too many remain disconnected from Earth’s basic functioning and unaware of their ecological limits, making it easy to ignore environmental degradation that can have devastating repercussions.
To address these challenges, the UN has adopted the 2030 Agenda: 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets aimed at meeting them by 2030. Although challenges still exist for meeting SDG targets, some successes have already been achieved; child and maternal mortality rates are declining, more people now have access to clean drinking water sources, and AIDS deaths have declined; nonetheless much work remains.
Social Cohesiveness
Social cohesion is an expansive term and may encompass various policy areas. As such, its application allows for great flexibility when developing research agendas; however, the Institute must establish clear limits as to what research topics fall under its scope.
People often associate social cohesion with an in-group sense of belonging (people who share your language, religion or region). This may conflict with the Institute’s belief that inclusion should not include any form of cultural assimilation or colonialism.
There is also the risk that an emphasis on group membership could lead to an exclusive focus on those groups with shared identities at the expense of investigating other forms of community relationships. The Institute will address this challenge when setting its research agenda, taking care to avoid conflating social cohesion with multiculturalism.
Public Engagement
Public engagement – also referred to as stakeholder engagement or community engagement – involves taking into account public concerns, needs and values in projects and decisions. Agencies must communicate with their stakeholders to identify common interests, build trust between parties involved and generate solutions that meet broader objectives.
Engagement should aim at mutual learning, with diverse viewpoints and worldviews actively taking part in the process. Furthermore, engagement should foster an appreciation of how scientific knowledge fits within multiple cultural settings.
Focus group studies of tenure-track science faculty revealed that many do not prioritize public engagement due to inadequate attention paid to this work in promotion and tenure criteria at their institutions, or fear being perceived as ideological by colleagues who do not share their beliefs. A number of approaches exist that encourage public engagement such as service learning; offering credit bearing educational experiences which combine academic study with structured community service projects designed to develop students’ skills while raising civic awareness.