Mehri Madarshahi

Member of the Advisory Committee of International Center for Creativity and Sustainable Development under the Auspices of UNESCO

Vice-Chair of Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation

Sustainable development has been defined in many ways, but the mostfrequently quoted definition is from Our Common Future, also known asthe Brundtland Report (Brundland, 1987), "Sustainable development isdevelopment that meets the needs of the present without compromisingthe ability of future generations to meet their own needs." 

By adopting “Agenda 21” in 1992, the United Nations at the Earth Summitin Rio, gave rise to the term “sustainable development”. Following theRio Summit (Rio + 20) in June 2012, Member States adopted the outcomedocument "The Future We Want" in which they decided among others toestablish the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.The Rio +20 outcome also contained other measures for implementingsustainable development, including mandates for future programs ofwork in development financing, small island developing states and more.In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adoptedunanimously the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” whichpromulgated 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), calling for aglobal partnership to end poverty and other deprivations. The SDGsprovide a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and theplanet.

Each of the 17 SDGs has specific targets to be achieved by 2030.These goals aim to end poverty and hunger, to promote health and wellbeing, quality education, decent work and economic growth, to engagein responsible consumption and production, to facilitate access to cleanwater and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, to construct sustainablecities and communities and required infrastructure, to preserve forestsand oceans and to tackle climate change. Other goals work to reduceinequalities, focus on both “life below water” and “life on land,” andwork to strengthen “peace, justice, and strong institutions.

The 17 SDGs and their targets are universal, meaning they apply to all countries around the world. Reaching the goals requires action on all fronts – by governments, businesses, civil society and people everywhere. All have a role to play. 

Interactive components of SDGs

These efforts are complemented by the recognition of the need for moreeffective and progressive response to the urgent threat of climate changeon the basis of the best available scientific knowledge. In December2015, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change was adopted by nearly 200Parties of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on Paris Conference on climate change to ensure holding the increase in theglobal average temperature to well below 2 °C and to recognize that thiswould significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.

Five years later, while the ambition and momentum to tackle the SDGshave grown gradually - some say progress has been too gradual. TheEarth is losing its biodiversity at mass extinction rates. One in five specieson Earth now face eradication, and scientists estimate that this will riseto 50% by the end of the century unless we take urgent action. Currentdeforestation rates in the Amazon Basin could lead to an 8% drop inregional rainfall by 2050, triggering a shift to a “savannah state”, withwider consequences for the Earth’s atmospheric circulatory systems.

The chemistry of the oceans is changing more rapidly than at any time inperhaps 300 million years, as the water absorbs anthropogenic greenhousegases. The resulting ocean acidification and warming are leading tounprecedented damage to fish stocks and corals. CO2 is on the rise andfossil fuel still is considered an easy means for energy consumption.Glaciers are melting and water scarcity threatens wiping out part of ourcivilizations. 

The Decade 2020 to 2030 was designated as the "decade of action", whenambitions and plans should turn into reality. Observing the slow progress,the practitioners have realized that the traditional policy and marketresponses simply won’t get us there fast enough.

To accelerate the achievement of the SDGs the United Nations SecretaryGeneral, in September 2017, convened a meeting of stakeholderswith representatives of the tech industries. Subsequently, a platformfor collaboration between the UN and leading innovation companieswas created. Questions related to how innovation and technology canaccelerate the process of achieving sustainable development goals(Agenda 2030) was addressed - among others - by the Global Forumon Innovation and Technology for Sustainability, which was held onNovember, 2018 in the Rio Museum of Tomorrow. At the opening of thismeeting, the UN Resident Coordinator in Brazil, Johan Schot, stated"There are many challenges for achieving sustainable development, buttechnology is a strong ally in this process. The SDGs provide a guidelinefor developing actions and initiatives that focus on sustainability." NikyFabiancic, Director of the Global Centre for Innovation and Technologyin Sustainability, mentioned “artificial intelligence will make businesses,cities and health systems, education and production of food, goods andservices, and the labor market change dramatically.”

The meeting identified opportunities to solve the world’s most pressing environmental challenges by harnessing technological innovationssupported by new and effective approaches to governance, financing andmulti-stakeholder collaboration. The platform participants agreed that therequired transformation will not happen automatically and it will requireproactive collaboration between policymakers, scientists, civil society,technology champions and investors.

To achieve the lofty goals of the SDGs this approach seems timely andessential since now a new, human-centered society is dawning and sincethroughout the industrial world new systems are being set to bring thecyber and the physical worlds in sophisticated ways together, drivingeconomic development while solving social issues.

Achieving Net Zero EmissionsRadical transformation of every sector of the economy is required tobring about a “net zero emissions” economy. Such transformations shouldchange and engage disruptive innovation across all sectors includingheavy industry, energy grids, transport, food, agriculture, buildings,infrastructures of cities, pattern of consumption and productions.

New technologies are rapidly transforming all aspects of our society,sectors and markets. An estimated 70% of new value created in theeconomy over the next decade will be based on digitally enabledplatforms – and leading innovators are re-imagining how we innovate,create, distribute and capture value in the new systems that are emerging.

Despite some expressed apprehensions - Artificial Intelligence (AI) nowforms part of our everyday lives - optimizing and customizing whatwe see, choose and learn. Today, AI-augmented computing can helpthe pharmaceutical industry and doctors in developing more effectivemedication and medicaments, enhancing anamnesis and reducing medicalmistakes. While the agricultural industry and farmers can improve yieldsand minimize inputs, teachers can customize and spread education, andresearchers can unlock solutions for climate and weather modeling, ordevelop advanced clean fuels.

Data collected by ubiquitous sensors is connecting devices andsimplifying our lives. Autonomous vehicles, drone delivery are facilitatingglobal mobility, 3D printing of body parts and affordable biockchain,powerful computing and AI techniques are helping to mimic how peoplelearn, see, hear and understand, making today’s digital age also an age ofunprecedented discovery and innovation.

The potential economic and societal impact at stake are substantial onhow technology can advance the SDGs.

Today, it has become evident that technology, science and capacitybuilding are major pillars of the “Means of Implementation of the Post2015 Agenda” and of the Rio+20 follow-up processes. The research,development, deployment, and widespread diffusion of environmentallysound technologies in the context of a Green Economy are alsoclosely linked to other core elements and means of implementation,including innovation, business opportunities and development, tradeof environmental goods and services, finance and investment, andinstitutional capabilities. Given the importance and role of science,technology and innovation as key actors for the implementation of the2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we have in this article triedto review the impact on some selected SDG in the hope this can providefood for thought in advancing further and to help implement fully theseimportant goals over the coming years.

No Poverty

According to data jointly published by the United Nations DevelopmentProgram (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human DevelopmentInitiative (OPHI), 1.3 billion people or 23.1 percent are multidimensionally poor, mostly children under age 18 and a third under age10.

According to Millennium Development Goals in 2015 of the UnitedNations, the extreme poverty rate in China fell to be below 30% in 2002from 61% in 1990, as the first to halve the rate, fell to 4.2% in 2014, to bebelow 1% in 2018, and fell to 1.7% among the rural population. 

Stimulating economic development and helping people to improve theirlivelihoods, remains one of the most important goals in the reduction ofpoverty. The social scientists believe the underlying causes of povertycan often be boiled down to a combination of three key factors: a pooreducation system, poor health and standard of living highlighted byunderperforming industries and a poor business climate. The UNDPHuman Development Report 2010 stated that, “Countries became topperformers on the Human Development Index through two broad routes,but more often through exceptional progress in health and education thanthough growth.”

In order to eradicate poverty and reorient current unsustainabledevelopment trajectories over the period 2020 to 2030, affordabletechnological solutions have to be developed and disseminated widelyin the coming years. The Means of Implementation of the Post-2015Development Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda couldnevertheless provide an opportunity to address some of the gapshindering the facilitation and transfer of these technologies. Technological innovation can be crucial to boost policies on poverty reduction andextreme hunger eradication. It could provide access to clean water,improve farming, increase access to educations, better waste management,improve transportation and improve health. The World Food Program(FAO) in a seminar held during the International Cooperation Expoon May 15, 2019 mentioned that WFP was already using "biometrics,blockchain, digital cash, drones and satellite imagery among other tools toreduce poverty, and promote food security and sustainable developmentin rural areas". This, however, requires further investments for a numberof developing countries who are unable to support and use these facilities.

Zero hunger

By 2050 the world population will be 34 percent higher than today andthey mostly live in urban areas. In order to feed this larger, more urbanand richer population, food production must increase by 70 percent.Annual cereal production will need to rise to about 3 billion tones (from2.1 billion today) and annual meat production will need to rise by over200 million tones (to reach 470 million tones).

Climate change and increased biofuel production represent major risksfor long-term food security. While dramatic improvement was recorded inChina and several other large countries such as Indonesia, India, Pakistan,Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole has seenin recent years, a large increase in the number of people living in absolutepoverty and only a small decrease in the poverty ratio.

Around 45% of deaths of children under 5 are linked to mal-nutrition,and the challenge of zero hunger is only set to grow. The UN’s Foodand Agriculture Organization (FAO) forecast that increased use of foodcrops for biofuel production could have serious implications for foodsecurity. A recent study estimated that continued rapid expansion ofbiofuel production would lead to the number of undernourished preschool children in Africa and South Asia (1.7 million higher than wouldhave been otherwise the case). The world has, however, the resources andtechnology to eradicate hunger and ensure long-term food security for all.

According to a World Economic Forum report (Alternative ProteinWorld Economic Forums white paper), “Precision agriculture (includingprecision nutrition) is expected to increasingly involve automated datacollection and decision-making at the farm level”. UNCTAD (UNReport on Science and Tech) concluded that big data, the Internet ofthings, remote sensing, drones and artificial intelligence may catalyzeprecision farming, reduce the number of agrochemical inputs for existingagricultural processes. Drones also represent a potential leapfroggingopportunity for Africa regarding precision agriculture, enabling moreeffective measurement of and response to variability in crop and animalproduction.

Today, genetic sequencing, along with machine learning, are being usedto detect soil quality and help increase crop quality. Combination oftechnologies such as AI, robot labor, drones, synthetic biology (in cropgenome analysis, for example) and advanced materials may improvenutrition and farming industries in a near future. Sensors measuringconditions such as crop moisture, temperature and soil composition willgive AI the data needed to automatically optimize production and triggerimportant actions such as adding moisture. Drones are increasingly beingused to monitor conditions and communicate with the sensors and AIenabled systems.

Innovation in agriculture ranging from new plant varieties and animalbreeds better adapted to changing conditions to farming systems withimproved water- and labor-saving technologies. It will help the reductionof losses/waste and natural resource management. Technological advancesare particularly needed in the staple crop sectors, forestry, fishery orlivestock production to the management of inputs and to market access.

AI, sensors, robotics and synthetic biology in particular are demonstratinggreat promise for improving crop productivity and resilience, andoptimizing food distribution. For example, NRgene is using machinelearning and genetic sequencing to identify and sequence optimal geneprofiles based on crop performance, while Phytech is optimizing cropproduction with its “Plant Internet of Things”, sending data to farmers onwater, growth and other needs of plants.

Our understanding of human dietary needs is likely to improve in thecoming decades, as we learn how individuals process their food intake,based on data from many individual bodies. Applying machine learningto this data could generate personalized nutrition plans optimized forindividuals. When combined with autonomous farming, autonomousdelivery vehicles, in-house robotic chefs and in-house vertical farming,entire food supply chains could be optimized and transformed, creatingminimum-waste supply chains while providing high yields. The sameprinciples could also be applied to livestock.

Good health and wellbeing

Advances in technology, including AI, blockchain, sensors andbiotechnology, can advance human medicine along with healthcareinformation, services and access. A great number of healthcare startupshave attracted major investments since a decade ago and have becomemajor focus sector for the largest tech companies, including Alphabet,IBM, Amazon, Apple and Alibaba.

Bio-inspired innovations (such as blood-pressure medication derivedfrom viper venom) aim to replicate nature’s products and processes. Historically, the revenues from such activities have not been shared withthe indigenous and traditional communities from which the knowledgeis being driven from but for the first time in history, the fair sharingof benefits and a significant new stream of conservation finance arenow possible using a combination of blockchain, artificial intelligence,advanced sensors and the Internet of Things.

The Amazon Third Way initiative is developing the Earth Bank of Codes(EBC), a project to create an open, global public-good digital platformthat registers nature’s assets, recording their spatial and temporalprovenance and codifying the associated rights and obligations.

A fusion of AI and complex system

Huge strides have been made in AI systems for earlier and higherperformance diagnostics for disease detection, from cancers to braininjuries or heart disease, and AI-enabled wearable devices can alreadydetect people with early signs of diseases such as diabetes.

Digitization is also enabling the novel manipulation of biologicalprocesses. Advances in biotechnology enable very specific gene editingfor human medicine, making personalized treatments possible forsome conditions. Gene drives have also been identified as a potential complementary intervention for the control and elimination of malaria inAfrica.

Emerging technologies for health require strategic policies forimplementation, including research, infrastructures, education,regulation, entrepreneurship, communication awareness and the proactiveengagement of Governments, development partners and the private sector. 

Access to clean water

Water is essential for human and animal life, for nature and for theeconomy. As a resource and commodity, it has a key function in oureconomic system, for food production, hygiene and health, energyand education. Water also forms biospheres and whole ecosystemssuch as rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, bays and glaciers and is key forthe planet’s biodiversity and climate. The lack of water is the originof deserts, land degradation, poverty and human migration. Havingentered a new era where the majority of the population lives in urbanareas and where the growth of some cities continues at an acceleratedpace, the sustainable management and caretaking of urban waters arekey. Globally, more than 748 million people do not have access toclean water and more than 2.5 billion people have inadequate access tosanitation. More than 1,400 children die every day of diarrhea causedby unsafe water and improper sanitation. By 2030, the world may fall40% short of the amount of fresh water needed to support the globaleconomy as pollution and climate change affect the global watercycle. This assessment is particularly troubling because the amount ofavailable fresh water per capita has already declined by more than halfsince 1960, and demand for fresh water is expected to exceed supplyby around 40% by 2030.

New research by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization indicatedthat by 2100, 80% of high-altitude snow and ice will be gone if the worldcontinues its current path, affecting 1.9 billion people and half of theworld’s biodiversity hotspots. This suggests that the global problem ofwater scarcity is rapidly becoming more acute. Research identified thetrans-boundary Indus River basin - which serves densely populated andheavily irrigated regions of China, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan - asone of the most vulnerable systems.

Indus River, Pakistan

As the World Bank report noted, ‘If current water management policiespersist, and climate models prove correct, water scarcity will proliferateto regions where they currently do not exist, and will greatly worsen inregions where water is already scarce.’ 

Machine and deep learning could enable a step-change in the optimizationof water- resource management. Increasingly, AI has the potential tocreate distributed “off-grid” water resources, analogous to decentralizedenergy systems. For example, household smart meters can producelarge volumes of data that can be used to predict water flows, spotinconsistencies and check leaks. 

Such advances are not out of reach and modern technology can createachievable goals for water and sanitation. Practical Action, for example,partnered with Kenyans from the dry, arid Turkana region to develop asolution to the area’s drought problems. “We developed a solar-powered water pump that uses locally-sourcedequipment to pump 30,000 clean litres of clean, safe water to the villageevery day,” the organization reported. 

Affordable and clean energy

Despite significant progress in recent years, the world is falling short ofmeeting the global energy targets set in the United Nations SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDG) for 2030. 

According to the UN estimates, at the current time, approximately 3billion people lack access to clean-cooking solutions and are exposed todangerous levels of air pollution. There are nearly 800 million peoplewithout access to reliable and affordable electricity and 50% of themare found in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. Fortunately, progress has beenmade in the past decade, ensuring the possibility of affordable, reliable,sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. To attain this goal, wewill require more innovative and sustained efforts to use renewableelectricity from water, solar and wind power. 

A bit of good news are rapid advancements in AI, blockchain, advancedmaterials for solar panels and battery technology (specifically lithium-ionbatteries). Renewable energy mini-grids now have the potential to be thecheapest solution to connect 290 million people to power. 

Another is a positive impact of the convergence of frontier technologiesbetween renewable technologies and data and artificial intelligencetechnologies. In practice now machine-learning algorithms can be used topredict the output of wind farms, allowing scheduled energy delivery tothe grid. 

Energy production and distribution are also improved by allowinghouseholds with solar panels to feed surplus energy back into theelectricity grid. The real-time information provided by smart gridshelps utility companies better respond to demand, power supply, costsand emissions and to avert major power outages. Artificial intelligence,combined with innovative energy storage technologies, helps to addressthe intermittency of some forms of renewable energy through dynamicadjustment of supply and demand, thus facilitating the deploymentof renewable energy technologies. Advances in battery and other technologies are also improving the performance of electric vehicles. More broadly, AI and blockchain technologies have the potential to enablea much greater proportion of renewables on centralized power grids aswell as optimizing decentralized energy systems worldwide. These solutions will improve efficiency, cleaner energy options to globalmarkets, and reduce costs.

The UN Secretary-General in his report on sustainable energy in 2018,advocated for policy mixes and a systematic approach to innovation asa basic necessity to increase the share of renewable energy in the globalenergy. He further mentioned that innovation, science and technologyhold out great promise for accelerating inclusive growth and givingeveryone a genuine opportunity to live their best and most dignified lives.The right finance, the right amount provided at the right-time, are equallyimportant to make inclusive growth a reality and insure against science,technology and innovation being used to exacerbate existing inequalities.Data allows us to understand if our choices are having the impact thatwe want. That is why the 2030 Agenda needs a data revolution. A boldplan of action is needed, where the SDGs rely on relevant targets andspecific indicators to measure their progress. A lot of information abouteconomics is available, but there is a long way to go in terms of socialand environmental data.

A way forward

With only a decade left to tackle the SDGs, business as usual is not anoption. We may be in the early days of the digital age, but we standat a critical juncture to make decisions and put in place a policy andgovernance architecture with profound and lasting impacts on society.Collaboration and coordination internationally and across multistakeholder groups will be critical.

The positive scenario of a technology-enabled sustainable future for all,won’t emerge unguided. There will be trade-offs and challenges, as wellas opportunities. A number of elements need to come together acrossjurisdictions for these technologies to become widespread - from strongethical frameworks to the evolution of legislation, the importance ofeducation and training for new skill, and even labor market reforms.

Tech companies, governments, industry, civil society and researchersalike must be involved in unlocking the potential of these technologies forthe SDGs. We need to move beyond celebrating a smattering of use cases,to invest money, time and expertise into this agenda, and to find new waysof working and innovating to unlock and scale.

References: 

1- Museum of Tomorrow is a futuristic science museum that looks decades ahead and was specifically designed to elicit an emotional response. (https://museudoamanha.org.br) 

2- Global Forum on Innovation and Technology for Sustainability – FITS 28-29 November 2018 

3- 27.11.2018, (UNESCO Office in Brasilia) Rio receives 1st Global Forum on Innovation and Technology in Sustainability 

4- World Bank East Asia Profile-China October 2019 

5- Human Development Report 2010‐20th Anniversary Edition. The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development’. UNDP, New York, 2010. Page 46 

6- UN FAO-How to Feed the World in 2050 

7- www.nature.com/news/crispr-gene-editing-is-just-the-beginning-1.19510 (accessed 22 February 2019). 

8-World Bank 2016 (www.worldbank.org/en/topic/water/publication)

9- UN.Global.Compact/pacific institute, global Water Crisis: the Facts (2017) 

10- Sustainable Development Goals; knowledge platform - progress report 2019 

11- Springmann, M. et al. “Options for keeping the food system within environmental limits”. Nature vol. 562, 2018, pp. 519‐525. 

12- World Economic Forum. Innovation with a Purpose. 2018. 

13- THACKER, S. et al., Infrastructure for sustainable development, Nature Sustainability, vol. 2, April 2019. 

14- UNITED NATIONS, 2016, Global Sustainable Development Report 2016, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, New York, July 2016,pp. 21-40. 

15-www.theverge.com/2019/2/26/18241632/google-deepmind-wind-farm-ai-machine-learning- green-energy-efficiency (accessed 28 February 2019). 

16- UNCTAD, 2015, Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Urbanization, UNCTAD Current Studies on Science, Technology, and Innovation no. 10(United Nations publication, New York and Geneva), p. 23. 

17-http://ev-sales.blogspot.com/2019/01/china-december-2018.html; and http://ev- sales.blogspot.com/2018/01/china-december-2017.html (accessed 28 February2019). E/CN.16/2018/2. 

18- Celine Herweijer, and Dominic Kailash Nath Waughray, Global Leader, Innovation and Sustainability, World Economic Forum

Source: The New Era of Eco-Civilization Issue One 

Special announcement: This article only represents the views of expert, not the views or positions of ICCSD.