"Sustainable Development Goals"
"Sustainable Development Goals: overcoming blocks"
-The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,
it has to be said, is an incredible innovation
and an amazing agreement to anticipate the future.
It is a utopia as it can be seen as a dream,
but most of all, it calls for transformation,
the transformation of the world we have to tackle,
as its title clearly states.
If we take a closer look,
today in 2022, we are exactly halfway through.
We are exactly halfway between 2015, when the agreement was concluded,
and 2030, the target year to reach all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
And yet, we fall short of the mark.
I don't think it will take much for me to prove it.
Figures are going around, so is evidence.
We all know it,
we are not at all on the right trajectory
to be able to remain
below a 1.5- or 2-degree increase in temperature.
We are not at all on the right trajectory
to be able to protect biodiversity
and avoid the extinction of this biodiversity.
We are not at all on any trajectory
that would let us solve food issues, poverty issues, conflict issues.
I could go over all Sustainable Development Goals,
but I think you will easily agree with me.
And the current crises caused by conflicts
are not pushing us in the right direction.
On this topic,
political calls to action are more and more frequent.
For instance, the United Nations Secretary-General,
regarding food as one of the main entry points
to reach all the goals,
called last year, in 2021,
for a United Nations summit on food systems,
not on food itself, but on food systems
in order to reach all Sustainable Development Goals.
We also see, if we look at what takes place in such summits
or at national or local policies,
how helpless we are
when we have to make decisions
that consist in solving arbitrations and paradoxical injunctions.
All of this leads
to a loss of motivation,
especially in young people, over all the blah-blah,
and a loss of trust in our ability to reach these goals.
However, we should absolutely not throw in the towel.
We don't have a choice.
The only way forward is by reaching these goals
and making our planet and humankind sustainable.
So if we take a closer look, how can we explain this?
The first thing that we have to keep in mind
are the interdependencies between the goals and targets.
It could be paradoxical injunctions,
as we cannot at the same time provide energy for all,
fight climate change
while continuing to consume as we do and ensuring growth.
It could be synergies,
such as tackling food issues
at the same time as poverty or health issues.
It could be leverage effects,
such as food as leverage to reach all Sustainable Development Goals.
Anyway, these interdependencies are the cause of many controversies.
But how can we ensure these controversies
eventually lead to agreements
and processes that ensure consistency between everyone's goals
and sustainable development issues at a planetary level,
both to reach each of these goals
and to articulate them with one another?
We have a lot of work ahead of us,
not only to articulate goals
or to reach all dimensions of each goal,
but also to articulate what is being done locally,
which is usually considered as the scale
to implement sustainable development processes,
with what is going on globally.
For instance,
agriculture that is respectful of biodiversity
and that creates job locally
may very well be disastrous
in terms of its consequences on climate change globally.
The reverse could also be true.
So, how can we reinvent mediation processes,
and how agreements are drawn up?
This points us to Sustainable Development Goal 17,
which is about partnerships.
However, it is all the more complicated
that the topics we are broaching, because they are causing blocks,
are extremely polarizing.
I could mention the use of pesticides or insecticides,
genetically modified organisms,
issues of conflicts of interests
relating to the tobacco industry
or the sugary drink industry which causes malnutrition issues.
All these topics, as we know,
cause oppositions, sometimes leading to conflicts.
Therefore, implementing mediation and arbitration processes
is extremely important.
In fact, this is the key to understand and explain procrastination phenomena
since transformations
are very hard to implement,
often have high financial costs
and may be politically risky.
As scientists, we need to provide information
about these barriers and obstacles,
whether they are controversies, as I mentioned earlier,
whether it is better understanding path dependency,
in other words how hard it is because of investments, costs, risks,
to invest in and change our practices, behaviors
and the way we act,
whether it is power asymmetries,
which are a growing problem in certain areas
and which do not encourage
the implementation of agreements,
I mentioned the tobacco industry earlier which is a very good example,
or whether there are conflicts of interest.
Power asymmetry and conflicts of interest often go hand in hand.
To make everything even more complicated,
we very often,
and unfortunately this is a trait that is rooted in us,
tend to act reactively and to respond to crises
when they are highlighted by the media, politicians and the general public,
rather than act proactively and anticipate crises.
We also very often forget
the topic of necessary transformations as soon as it stops being urgent.
Food crises are a clear example.
We sometimes forget that a large portion of the population is undernourished
outside of crises
only to rediscover it when crises occur.
Lastly,
multilateral organizations are weak today.
Despite this incredible agreement from 2015,
we are now witnessing the disintegration and collapse
of their ability to govern and constrain on a multilateral scale
on the topic of sustainability.
To conclude, what about science and especially science in society?
Of course, it offers technologies,
but it also shapes ideas.
It shapes idea through the IPCC,
through the IPBES in the field of biodiversity,
it shapes ideas and agendas through the HLPE with regards to food.
It also designs metrics and indicators
to help us understand and monitor what is transpiring,
to track processes related to issues we did not consider in the past,
such as climate change.
And more generally, you noticed that I mentioned it,
it helps us understand and decrypt the stakes of these complex processes,
the transitions that are not taking place,
what the blocks are,
and what could help us lay the foundation
to draw up agreements.
Lastly, scientists have to work with other types of actors
in prospective exercises to imagine possible futures.
They have to train young people, like you,
to deal with issues that were not tackled in the past.
They also have to make sure
that knowledge is used to support sustainable development
as a public good that we must be able to share and mobilize
in order to build the future.
Lastly,
they have to take part in the action research systems
that design these solutions.
As you can see,
science has to be highly mobilized and available
to tackle these issues.