The UN Secretary-General’s annual Sustainable Development Goals’ progress report states that by early 2020 the world was not on track to meet its 2030 targets. Alongside the devastating consequences of COVID-19, the report also cites the limited availability of quality data, including internationally comparable data on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as an impediment to effective decision-making.
The power of data to advance SDGs has been well elaborated in a 2020 study by Elsevier, a global information analytics company. Yet as the study reveals, while research is rapidly expanding in certain SDGs, the results may not be translated into concrete action, plus more interdisciplinary collaboration is required. Because of the “grand challenges” facing the planet, there is a pressing need to narrow the gaps between disciplines, and between science, policy, and society.
Image: Image: Unsplash/Moritz Kindler - https://www.weforum.org
