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'Findicators' track the path to Finland’s progress on the SDGs
December 2, 2016
'Findicators' track the path to Finland’s progress on the SDGs
By Tim Hill
Friday 2 December 2016
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations, which includes ending poverty and providing clean water and sanitation for all nations among others, is an ambitious vision of a better, more sustainable world.
But the nitty gritty of monitoring the progress of each goal can be a headache for researchers. For every goal, there are a large number of indicators to track; and each indicator requires a lot of effort to identify, capture and measure the relevant data.
For instance, one of the SDGs - Goal 14 - is to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources”. One of the indicators is the proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels.
But different countries use different methods to gather this data. In the Mediterranean, what method do they use? How about in the North-east Atlantic? Some countries have not even started collecting the data.
Inconsistent or missing data was one of the problems researchers in Finland encountered when they started exploring the best way to implement the SDGs in their country.
But they found a way to get around it, which is basically to collate all the available data about the SDGs into one place so that they can see the gaps and overlaps in their information, and what goals need urgent attention.
Read more at Eco-Business.
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