Science for a Sustainable Future: Insights and inspiration from experts

Author: Deidre Hudson Reuss

Science and research are essential to make the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) a reality, providing the foundation upon which decision-makers and practitioners work. 

The three fascinating sessions in this year’s Science for a Sustainable Future event focused on issues that need to be considered and addressed in greater depth and that are crucial to achieving the SDGs by 2030: Health and climate change, looking beyond GDP, and the global implications of migration. Read on for a taste of the very inspiring and engaging discussions. 

Science for a Sustainable Future is a joint initiative of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and Springer Nature, now in its fifth year. It brings together leading researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – from the specific topics and metrics, to the challenges in achieving their aims, and what it would take to make them a reality. It is a natural companion to Springer Nature’s SDG Programme, which makes research available to policymakers and those working on sustainable development.

In the Spring of 2024, three panels were held on health systems, the GDP, and migration. On the Science for a Sustainable Future page you can watch the recordings of the sessions to hear the panellist share their expert insights. You’ll also find policy briefs written by the panellists, summarising their recommendations and key points from their sessions. And you can check out the vibrant and informative illustrations with a visual summary of each session.

Listening to the speakers – each a passionate and committed expert in their field with a broad understanding of the issues at hand and their place in the broader sustainability and development landscape – was inspiring. Despite the very real challenges to achieving the SDGs and a sustainable future for all, these sessions are empowering and encouraging. Read on for some impressions from each of the sessions and the central themes that were touched upon.

Adapting health systems to climate change

The need to adapt health systems to prepare for the inevitable consequences of climate change was the focus of the first session. Moderator Professor Haines opened the session saying: “It’s very apparent now that climate change is having a range of impacts on human health.”

Panel session speakers:
Dr. Salome Bukachi, University of Nairobi
Dr. Thierry Lefrançois, CIRAD
Dr. Uduak Okomo, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Dr. Madeleine Thomson, Wellcome Trust
Moderator: Professor Sir Andrew Haines, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

While mitigation can achieve health benefits, for instance through reduced air pollution, adapting to changes is essential. And since adaptation will have to be undertaken in the places most affected by climate change, Dr. Bukachi elaborated on the importance of listening to the voices of local communities in these places, incorporating them as well as indigenous knowledge in adaptation strategies.

Human health, however, cannot be considered in isolation. Dr. Lefrançois advocated for the One Health approach that considers human health, animal health, and environmental health together, as interconnected sectors. Supporting Dr. Bukachi’s argument, he shared a One Health initiative based on a bottom-up approach with community involvement.

Dr. Okomo described how climate change works as a threat multiplier especially where healthcare inequalities are already prevalent. It interacts with existing social, economic, and cultural context to magnify impacts of climate health. Her input made it clear why it is important to intervene and act.

Intervention requires data and knowledge, it requires research. Dr. Thomson stressed the need to focus on transdisciplinary policy-relevant research that involves policymakers, communities, and broad stakeholders so that research translation has a natural path for delivery. Impact, she stressed, is important where it really matters, “on the frontlines, particularly in most vulnerable countries and amongst the most vulnerable communities.”

Beyond GDP: Finding the right measure for progress

We are all familiar with GDP (gross domestic product) and hear it mentioned often, even in non-expert contexts. GDP has been the central measurement for national economies for about eight decades. But is it the right metric for measuring progress towards the SDGs? This session questioned the suitability of GDP as a metric for measuring progress towards the SDGs. The speakers discussed different metric systems that could complement GDP, and the challenges of convincing governments and organisations to use them and even popularise them.

Panel session speakers:
Dr. Jessica Espey, University of Bristol
Dr. Felix Fuders, Universidad Austral de Chile
Dr. Yongyi Min, United Nations Statistics Division
Dr. Zakaria Zoundi, International Institute for Sus
Moderator: Dr. Ehsan Masood, Nature

Dr. Zoundi explained why moving beyond (not replacing) GDP is essential because GDP measures what happens on the market side of the economy, but  is blind to non-market aspects. The concept of comprehensive or inclusive wealth, he suggested, can address this by also taking into account farming assets, produce assets, natural assets, human capital, financial capital, and social capital.

GDP was actually never intended as a measure of population well-being or development, explained Dr. Fuders. It’s a quantitative measure that counts things, while development is qualitative, it’s about people. The Human Scale Development approach, which defines development as satisfaction of fundamental human needs, is more appropriate for measuring development, he said: “It does not depend on dimensions or indicators that respective authors of an index believe to represent development. What really matters is whether fundamental needs are satisfied.”

Speaking of alternatives to GDP, Dr. Min presented her top three indicators that cover important aspects that should be considered: Life expectancy as an indicator of population health, greenhouse gas emissions that inform mitigation policy and setting targets on climate change, and an indicator to capture inequality such as the Gini coefficient or Palma ratio

Dr. Min, as Chief of the SDGs Monitoring Section, is intimately involved in questions of measurements. She explained the challenges of using the SDGs as a kind of holistic measurement because of how elaborate it is, with its 169 targets and 231 unique indicators. She expressed her struggle to come up with a key message: “There are so many different directions and it is difficult to have a whole key message.” She suggested that a dashboard of 10-20 focused outcome indicators, rather than a single, simplistic index, might be a strong alternative.

Alternative measurements make a difference when they are used. Dr. Espey explained that for any alternative or complementary measure to become meaningful, it must maintain political interest. This means being present and routine in the most significant decision-making forums like the UN General Assembly, as well as influential political forums like G20, G7, the EU, and regional economic dialogues. Dr. Espey also considered how the debate on alternative indicators could be popularised, with the general public taking part in deciding which contenders are intelligible and gain traction. Ultimately, Dr. Espey reminded the audience that when “aiming to try and effectively change the world, you're only going to have traction if you can mobilise political players.”

Migration: the missing link and global implications

Migration is often portrayed through a crisis lens. However, the discussions in this session challenged that narrative. Current migration rates remain stable, and post-climate disaster movement is shown to lead to economic improvement, which also challenges the common narrative.

Panel session speakers:
Nhial Deng, Refugee and Youth Advocate
Dr. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, University College London
Dr. Yvonne Su, York University
Dr. Elkin Velásquez Monsalve, UN HABITAT
Moderator: Magdalena Skipper, Editor-in-Chief, Nature

Speaking to the portrayal of migration as a crisis, Dr. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh explained that scholars have demonstrated consistently that the proportion of the global population engaging in international migration has in fact remained remarkably stable over time. Specifically in the context of climate change, the use of the crisis label has been proven wrong: “Research debunks assumptions that climate change will inevitably lead to a crisis of migration,” she said.

But the relationship between movement, mobility, and climate events will continue to be complex and non-deterministic. Migration can even have the potential to serve as a key adaptive response to environmental events, Dr. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh asserted, but media representations and political actors feed the cycle of fear, hostility, xenophobia, racism, and expulsion dynamics.

Bringing in the local angle, Dr. Velásquez Monsalve discussed cities and migration – urbanisation and human mobility – and the need to understand how people in mobility, migrants, are interacting with local communities. It is essential to work with cities to understand local governments, local communities, and how they deal with human mobility. When social inclusion within a city or neighbourhood is already established, integrating newcomers is easier.

Mr. Deng, a refugee and youth advocate, emphasised the importance of listening to and including the refugees’ voice in policy discussions about them. “I think there's a high need to listen to the voices of those on the move, understand their needs, their experiences, and their aspirations,” he said. Championing local solutions is essential, which requires looking at the local actors on the ground, at community leaders, at religious groups, at women groups, and at local authorities

At the nexus of climate and migration, there is also displacement that is induced by climate adaptation. Dr. Su explained that climate change projects are sometimes unintentionally (and sometimes intentionally) displacing people, like resettlement or relocation strategies in national adaptation plans. The local, marginalised populations are often overlooked and taken advantage of, which again reminds us of the importance of focusing on the people and how policies impact them.

Science for sustainability: Overarching themes from the 2024 sessions

Looking at all three sessions, two overarching narratives can be highlighted that really stand out and also exhibit the nature of the speakers and the work they do. The first is the importance of focusing on people, their needs, and how to address them in effective and respectful ways. The second is the role of science and scientists and experts in these efforts.

Visit Science for a Sustainable Future 2024 to learn more about these important topics: For each session, you can watch the event’s recording, read and download the policy brief with summaries from panellists, and explore the vibrant and insightful visual summary.