Query: sdg 15

title: Framing sustainable development challenges: accounting for SDG 15 in the UK
abstract: This research seeks to explain how a national government becomes capable of constructing an account of its biodiversity performance that is aimed at enabling formulation of policy in pursuit of SDG 15: Life on Land.,The research examines a case study of the construction of the UK government's annual biodiversity report. The case is analysed to explain the process of framing a space in which the SDG 15 challenge of halting biodiversity loss is rendered calculable, such that the government can see and understand its own performance in relation to this challenge.,The construction of UK government's annual biodiversity report relies upon data collected through non governmental conservation efforts, statistical expertise of a small project group within the government and a governmental structure that drives ongoing evolution of the indicators as actors strive to make these useful for policy formulation.,The analysis problematises the SDG approach to accounting for sustainable development, whereby performance indicators have been centrally agreed and universally imposed upon all signatory governments. The analysis suggests that capacity building efforts for national governments may need to be broader than that envisaged by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

title: The Role of Green Areas in University Campuses: Contribution to SDG 4 and SDG 15
abstract: Considering the importance of green areas for sustainability, universities have great potential to contribute to it while improving the use of green spaces in their campuses. By doing so, universities are also contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 15, which seeks the protection of forests and biodiversity and their sustainable management, and SDG 4, which aims to ensure qualitative education, by promoting a culture of environmental awareness in students. Thus, this paper aims to highlight the role which green areas in university campuses play in the promotion and integration of SDGs 4 and 15, based on a case study carried out at the University of Passo Fundo (UPF) located in South of Brazil. UPF stands out among other universities in the region due to its great availability of green areas, but the academic community needs to make sustainable use of these spaces. The study evaluated the perception of the university community regarding green areas, to analyse how UPF explores these environments and to study strategies to enhance its use. The results showed that the university has been exploring its green areas by promoting events in favour of the local and academic community, however, more actions could be applied to take advantage of the campus' ecological potential. The case study confirmed how the green areas in university campuses can contribute to and interact with the SDGs, especially through management actions.

title: SDG 15 and Socioecological Sustainability: Spring Waterscapes and Rural Livelihoods in the Save Catchment of Zimbabwe
abstract: Ecosystem destruction has been given as the primary reason for implementing Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG 15) This chapter investigates the role of springs in securing rural livelihoods in the Save Catchment of Zimbabwe. It invokes SDG 15 in the debate on springs by examining rural community vulnerabilities regarding the management of spring water and other ecosystem services. Purposive sampling was utilised to select participants for the questionnaire survey and key informant interviews. In the study, springs were shown to be an important component of rural livelihoods. Access to spring waterscapes in the Save Catchment has led to an improved food security and income to rural households. However, climatic variability, weak institutional control and overutilisation have reduced the capacity for springs and their waterscapes to support sustainable livelihoods. The findings reveal that degradation of spring waterscapes is occurring and the productive capacity of springs is being diminished. In view of the multiple uses of the springs in the study area, appropriate management strategies need to be instituted if the goals of SDG 15 are to be achieved.

title: Supporting SDG 15, Life on Land: Identifying the Main Drivers of Land Degradation in Honghe Prefecture, China, between 2005 and 2015
abstract: The essence of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations is described in 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) SDG 15 focuses on Life on Land, in other words, terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as their services. Land degradation is a severe anthropic and natural phenomenon that is affecting land use/cover globally; therefore, a dedicated target of the SDG 15 (the indicator 15.3.1) was proposed. The identification of the areas where land degradation has occurred and the analysis of its drivers allow for the design of solutions to prevent further degradation in the studied areas. We followed the methodology proposed by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to study the land degradation in the Honghe Prefecture in southwest China between 2005 and 2015. Through spatial analysis, we found that the degraded areas were consistent with the areas of active human activities (such as urban centers) while the impact of natural factors (such as disasters) on land degradation existed in small areas at high altitudes. Land degradation was affected primarily by the loss of land productivity and secondly by land cover changes caused by the growth of artificial areas. Changes in the soil organic carbon were not significant. We concluded that human activity was the main driver of land degradation in Honghe Prefecture. Decision makers should work to find a balance between economic development and environmental protection to restore degraded land and strive to achieve a land degradation neutral prefecture to defend all ecosystem services.

title: Remote Sensing Based Research for Monitoring Progress towards SDG 15 in Bangladesh: A Review
abstract: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been in effect since 2015 to continue the progress of the Millennium Development Goals. Some of the SDGs are expected to be achieved by 2020, while others by 2030. Among the 17 SDGs, SDG 15 is particularly dedicated to environmental resources (e.g. forest, wetland, land) These resources are gravely threatened by human induced climate change and intense anthropogenic activities. In Bangladesh, one of the most climate vulnerable countries, climate change and human interventions are taking a heavy toll on environmental resources. Ensuring the sustainability of these resources requires regular monitoring and evaluation to identify challenges, concerns, and progress of environmental management. Remote sensing has been used as an effective tool to monitor and evaluate these resources. As such, many studies on Bangladesh used various remote sensing approaches to conduct research on the issues related to SDG 15, particularly on forest, wetland, erosion, and landslides. However, we lack a comprehensive view of the progress, challenges, concerns, and future outlook of the goal and its targets. In this study, we sought to systematically review the remote sensing studies related to SDG 15 (targets 15.1 15.3) to present developments, analyze trends and limitations, and provide future directions to ensure sustainability. We developed several search keywords and finally selected 53 articles for review. We discussed the topical and methodological trends of current remote sensing works. In addition, limitations were identified and future research directions were provided.

title: SDG 15 Life on Land
abstract: The fashion industry has had a significant impact on the environment and overall global sustainability. Evidence shows it is the most polluting industry and the largest consumer of water, accounting for 20% of global water wastage detrimentally affecting both life on land and underwater. As such a few key stakeholders in the fashion industry have begun undertaking key preventative measures. These include but are not limited to the use of organic cotton crops, reduction of water use throughout the production chain, the implementation of a zero waste patternmaking technique, second hand shops, recycling of production materials, recycling discarded fishing nets into nylon fibre and increasing the use of biodegradable fibres, crop's waste fibres, bio based fibres and bio textile processes and renewable sources like bamboo and hemp. The review presented in this chapter examines the fashion production cycle, the use of alternative organic materials and recycling processes for the sustainable production of yarns whilst exploring the connections between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 15 Life on Land and 14 Life below Water.

title: Measuring SDG 15 at the County Scale: Localization and Practice of SDGs Indicators Based on Geospatial Information
abstract: To achieve the goal of worldwide sustainable protection and utilization of terrestrial ecosystems, it is necessary to quantitatively assess the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG 15) at all administrative levels, especially at the grass roots level, using the indicator framework of the UN SDGs. However, in the SDG 15 indicator system, the relationship between goal and indicators is ambiguous, and the results of the indicators cannot be visualized to show the differences within regions. Moreover, its design scale is country oriented, which suggests that the indicator system cannot be applied directly to the county levels. In light of these issues, this paper used four modalities of localization to form an indicator system of localization, and applied it in the quantitative evaluation of meeting the objectives of SDG 15 in Deqing County, China. The localized indicator system for county level based on geospatial information included six indicators, which were clustered into three categories: sustainable forest management, halt and reverse land degradation, and conservation of biodiversity. By comparing and evaluating the quantitative results of SDG 15 in Deqing, 70% of the comparable indicators in the localization indicator system were at the forefront of those in China or the world. The results showed that grouped analysis of the targets and indicators could clarify the relationship between the implications of the goal and indicators, and the indicator system based on the geographic information was conducive to displaying the spatial distribution of the results of the indicators and clarifying the internal differences.

title: SDG 15: Life on Land The Central Role of Forests in Sustainable Development
abstract: SDG 15 requires the maintenance of life on land and endorses priorities already established through international conventions and agreements. The scale, and complexity, of tropical forest loss and biodiversity decline versus the limited resources for conservation and forestry pose many challenges. The main innovation of SDG 15 is that decision makers will see this goal as one to integrate with other SDGs; the risk is that short term priorities and a 'business as usual' approach will undermine this. We examine these opportunities and challenges, the factors that impinge upon them and how they may play out over the next decade. There will be trade offs between SDG 15 and other SDGs resulting from competition for land, but there are also synergies and opportunities that require recognition. We encourage conservation and development professionals to engage with those responsible for all the Agenda 2030 targets to ensure that SDG 15 is a priority in all SDG related processes.

title: Food Systems for Sustainable Terrestrial Ecosystems (SDG 15)
abstract: The United Nation's (UN) 3rd Annual Multi stakeholder Forum on 'Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (STI Forum) Transformation Towards Sustainable and Resilient Societies' was held at the UN Headquarters in New York on 5th and 6th of June, 2018. This STI Forum set out to discuss a suit of the sustainable development goals, namely sustainable management of water and sanitation for all (SDG 6) sustainable consumption and production patterns (SDG 12) and sustainable terrestrial ecosystems (SDG 15) It also discussed how to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all (SDG 7) and how to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (SDG 11) I participated in the panel debate on 'Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Terrestrial Ecosystems (SDG 15) emphasizing the importance of food systems in the context of SDG 15. My statement is summarized below. The panel debate aimed at helping to identify good practices and policy recommendations, as well as challenges and needs, especially as they relate to international cooperation, innovation and capacity building, with a view to facilitate the development, scaling up adoption and dissemination of relevant technologies for SDG 15. A food system can be described as a system that embraces all the elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, institutions, infrastructure, markets and trade) and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution and marketing, preparation and consumption of food and the outputs of these activities, including socio economic and environmental outcomes. A sustainable food system delivers food and nutrition security for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised.

title: SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT INDICATORS UNDER THE FRAME OF UN SDG 15: LIFE ON LAND (A CASE STUDY ON INDIA)
abstract: During the United Nations summit held on 1 st January 2016, 193 countries agreed on 17 ambitious approaches called the 'Sustainable Development Goals' in order to save the planet by promoting a balanced and sustained development. India (case study country) as one of the signatories, has come up with unique and context specific indicators to achieve the desired targets. The research paper aims to highlight goal no.15: life on land; to better understand the country's progress. The country's contribution and progress are crucial due to multiple reasons; one such reason being 21% of the country's land is protected as forest cover. The overall objectives are to analyze major practices and mention some of the most prominent challenges. Four major programmes and schemes have been mentioned: country partnership, national afforestation, grants in aid for voluntary organizations and farmers field school. Challenges highlighted are under two categories: global problems with Sustainable Development Goals and case specific concerns related to goal 15 implementation in the country. Furthermore, potential linkages or synergies of goal no.15 with other goals have been checked in order to suggest possible measures to combat the challenges. All of these objectives have been achieved by using simple research tools of reviewing literatures and researching online platforms. The measures suggested are integrated institutional framework, innovative communicative strategies, mainstreaming biodiversity and ecosystems in all sectors; and encouraging through business leadership to enhance the overall progress.  Nations, Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 15, Life on Land