Partnerships for the Goals

The problems related to the process of industrialisation such as biodiversity depletion, climate change and a worsening of health and living conditions, especially but not only in developing countries, intensify. Therefore, there is an increasing need to search for integrated solutions to make development more sustainable. The United Nations has acknowledged the problem and approved the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. On 1st January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda officially came into force. These goals cover the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection.  

The Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals comprehensively addresses the SDGs in an integrated way. The Encyclopedia encompasses 17 volumes, each one devoted to one of the 17 SDGs. This volume addresses SDG 17, namely "Strengthen the means of implementation andrevitalize the global partnership for sustainable development" and contains the description of a range of terms, which allows a better understanding and fosters knowledge. The approval of the SDGs by the 194 countries of the UN General Assembly implies that issues such as combating climate change; distributing resources fairly; providing security and protection; generating employment; and ensuring quality health care and education need the concerted efforts of everyone. SDG 17 seeks to dismantle structures and procedures built on inequality of access and develop strategies that ensure collaboration and sharing of resources and opportunities.

The topics covered concern finance, technology, capacity-building, trade and systemic issues:

• Domestic resource mobilization
• Domestic capacity for tax and other revenue collection
• Long-term debt sustainability for developing countries
• Debt financing, debt relief, dept restructuring
• Globaltechnology facilitation mechanism
• Technology, bank and science, technology and innovation capacity-building mechanism 
• Enhanced information and communications technology
• Universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system under WTO
• Increased exports of developing countries
• Global macroeconomic stability
• Policy coordination and policy coherence
• Promotion of effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships

Walter Leal Filho (BSc, PhD, DSc, DPhil, DEd, DL, DLitt) is a Senior Professor and Head of the Research and Transfer Centre "Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management” at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany, and Chair of Environment and Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He is the initiator of the Word Sustainable Development Symposia (WSSD-U) series, and chairs the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme. Professor Leal Filho has written, co-written, edited or co-edited more than 400 publications, including books, book chapters and papers in refereed journals.

Anabela Marisa Azul is a Researcher at the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC) and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research of the University of Coimbra (UC, Portugal). She holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences, specializing in Ecology (2002, UC), and pursued her investigation on biology and ecology of fungi to pinpoint the role of mycorrhizal symbiosis for sustainability of Mediterranean forests under different land use scenarios at the Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE-UC), where she became an Associate Researcher (from 2009 to 2014). At CFE-UC, Marisa Azul developed a holistic approach that combined innovation in food production with sustainable development and public scientific awareness to multiple actors. At CNC, from 2014 on, Marisa Azul focuses her investigation on basic research and participatory research dynamics to pinpoint links between metabolism, health/disease, and sustainability. She has broad academic experience as a researcher working in participatory research and interdisciplinary that link biomedical and life/environmental sciences, social sciences, science education, science communication, and artistic forms. Her research interests also lie in bringing together the academy and social/economical players. She has been successful in attracting national and international funding, coordinating projects, and mentoring young researchers on the topics mentioned. She has co-authored over 40 scientific publications and book chapters, co-edited 4 books on Climate Change Management Series and 1 onWorld Sustainability Series published by Springer, co-authored 4 books for children and 2 comics, and co-produced 1 animation.