Solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges need not focus on one outcome but synergize benefits across to achieve multiple benefits. Tackling multiple problems using the same interventions can not only be cost-effective but can also help to align short-term benefits with longer-term transformations. However, synergistic solutions require a wholistic understanding of the context and environment. At Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA), each project strives toward integrating a systems approach which help to derive synergistic benefits.
On Monday 17 July, Director of the ASA Program Elena Rovenskaya was invited to speak at the webinar on Translating Evidence to Action on Climate and SDGs Synergies in Asia and Beyond, an official side event of the United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) 2023 organized by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). The webinar hosted discussions around synergistic solutions in projects specific to the context of the Asian continent, as well as interlinking evidence with action for impact toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
In her presentation, Rovenskaya highlighted the contributions of ASA in accelerating system thinking to harness synergistic impacts in line with SDGs. She first presented ASA’s Transformations within Reach (TwR) II initiative which began with an aspiration to apply lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic to construct transformative decision-making systems for a more resilient and sustainable society. The project found that current decision-making in policy is often undermined by the overwhelming choices policymakers face and the risks associated with the outcome of every available choice. For policymakers, attaining synergies in policy-outcomes is a complex issue not only due to the potential synergies but also the trade-offs.
Rovenskaya also presented a case study of how bottom-up projects can help to derive synergistic positive benefits. Project CAMEA explores evidence-based solutions to address the problem of land degradation in Kazakhstan and neighboring countries using nature-based solutions which yield other economic and environmental dividends. For example, restoration of degraded land can enable CO2 sequestration and therefore can provide offsetting opportunities for countries as well as income streams for rural communities from the trading of carbon offset credits. Therefore, land restoration through agricultural soil-sequestration could further Kazakhstan’s actions toward SDG 2 Zero Hunger and 13 Climate Change. Such solutions could be assimilated into the decarbonization strategies of Kazakhstan and its neighboring countries in Central Asia.
Overall, the webinar provided useful examples of projects achieving SDG synergies in Asia and hosted talks from prominent policymakers and representatives of scientific institutions including Akira Yanagimoto, Parliamentary Vice Minister of Environment in Japan, Kazuhiko Takeuchi, President of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), James Grabert, Director of the Mitigation Division, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat, and many others.
You can find out more about IGES and the webinar here.
You can read more about IIASA’s Contributions to the UN High-Level Political Forum here.
To read more about the Transformations within Reach project, click here.
To read more about project CAMEA, click here.
Publications
Patil, P. , Rovenskaya, E. , Srivastava, L., Gomez Echeverri, L., & Fath, B. (2022). First Background Paper for Transformations within Reach (Phase-2). Framework for Catalyzing Societal Transformations. IIASA , Laxenburg.
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