In 2000, the UN set eight international development goals, known as the Millennium Development Goals, which were to be achieved by 2015. These goals included the eradication of extreme poverty, universal primary education, gender equality, reduced child mortality, improved maternal health, reduced HIV/Aids and other diseases, environmental sustainability, and global partnership for development.

Clearly, most of those are still works-in-progress. As the time frame for their accomplishment is drawing to a close, the UN member states have created a list of seventeen new Sustainable Development Goals.

The new Sustainable Development Goals, much like their predecessors, are a set of general targets. These goals are intended to address a wide range of issues, including addressing poverty and hunger, combating climate change, protecting delicate ecosystems, and making urban environments more sustainable. In an editorial published in Science, Dr. William Colglazier, science and technology adviser to the US Secretary of State, provides some insights into how science, technology, and innovation could help make these a reality.

Colglazier writes that the 2015 UN Global Sustainable Development Report should act as a platform for continued interaction between scientists and policy makers. Doing so could help the policy officials develop a “science advisory ecosystem,” one that could encourage the use of science to inform sustainable development.

Colglazier writes that science’s contributions to these new development goals could be fourfold.

Science could inform our understanding of the challenges that these goals may come up against. Science could help policy makers to select those actions that will actually make a difference towards achieving their goals. Science could be a critical tool in monitoring the progress made towards these goals. Science could provide insight into innovative solutions needed for these goals.

In the past, a disconnect between science and policymaking may have contributed to policy failures. Consequently, Colglazier advises using the UN Global Sustainable Development Report as way to continue ongoing dialogue between scientists and policy makers.

The author makes practical recommendations regarding how science and policy could successfully interact. For example, he suggests that the UN could have future Global Sustainable Development Report chapters sourced from respected scientists and scientific institutions in different countries, much like the IPCC reports are. He also suggests that each country’s government commission a national sustainable development report, to be prepared by an independent scientific institution in that nation. This would allow countries to share the knowledge gained from their development progress, and ensure planners continue to engage with the scientific community.

Additionally, Colglazier identifies the Sustainable Development goals that science, technology, and innovation are already important components of. These include the elimination of hunger and food insecurity, improvements in overall health, access to clean water and sanitation, access to reliable modern energy sources, efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, ocean conservation, and preservation of land ecosystems.

The author concludes with a statement on the importance of nations building on their own and each other’s science and technology knowledge. He writes that strengthening educational systems in STEM fields would meet the education-related development goal, and would also allow countries to reach the Sustainable Development Goals more quickly. He advocates for the building of “knowledge-based societies,” which would accelerate the growth of scientific knowledge.

Colglazier’s opinion piece presents the UN Sustainable Development Goals as obstacles that can be overcome by science. But more generally, he suggests they're opportunities for science and policy to interface more openly, and as opportunities for countries to amp up their own science education initiatives.

The hope is that this would be a two-way street. These policy goals can be supported by science, but working towards them can also support the future development of science as a field—an ideal synergy.

UN Sustainable Development Goals



Goal 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere Goal 2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture Goal 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages Goal 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all Goal 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls Goal 6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all Goal 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all Goal 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all Goal 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation Goal 10 Reduce inequality within and among countries Goal 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable Goal 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns Goal 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts* Goal 14 Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development Goal 15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss Goal 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels Goal 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

Science, 2015. DOI: 10.1126/science.aad2333 (About DOIs).