Abstract
The recent adoption of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) confirms once again the growing importance of indicators in the context of ‘evidence-based decision making’. A sound indicator framework can turn the SDGs and their targets into a management tool to help countries develop implementation strategies, allocate resources and monitor progress. Indicator-based assessments will be a cornerstone of measuring progress on the SDGs through to 2030 at national, regional, global and thematic levels. Recent examples of indicator-based assessments and reports present useful case studies on emerging practice in the context of the SDGs, providing insights into the approaches and methods being adopted to measure and report on progress on the SDGs. In this context, this paper presents the recent experience of the United Nations in undertaking an indicator-based assessment for the Arab Sustainable Development Report (ASDR). The paper presents the innovative conceptual framework and approach used in the ASDR for benchmarking progress and analysing trends. The approach firstly takes a thematic ‘snapshot’ of progress and trends over two decades across 56 sustainable development indicators; a nested, integrated conceptual framework is then applied for a more in-depth exploration of interlinkages and dynamics among the SDGs. The approach emphasises the need to place human dignity and well-being at the core of the analysis; linkages to the natural resource base; the importance of peace, governance and institutions as crosscutting factors; and the role of the means of implementation for addressing gaps. This novel approach can be transferred and adapted to other regional contexts, and it is particularly relevant for developing regions where data gaps and the absence of targets present methodological challenges for any assessment.
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Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators 2016. Report of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustaianble Development Goal Indicators, E/CN.3/2016/2/Rev.1, New York. The total number of indicators in the original proposal was 241; however, this was later revised down to 230 indicators by removing duplicates.
Chapter 40, paragraph 40.4.
Several of the authors this paper were lead authors of the ASDR and were responsible for the assessment reviewed in this paper.
Several stakeholder meetings were held over the period 2013–2015 with regional governments, organisations and experts which discussed the SDGs and regional priorities as well as the proposed conceptual model for SDGs in the Arab region.
The gap analysis was undertaken towards the end of 2014 and as such data up until 2014 were collected for this analysis. Data for 2015 were subsequently collected as part of the indicator-based assessment as it became available.
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; Least Developed Countries (LDCs): the Comoros, Djibouti, Mauritania, Somalia, the Sudan and Yemen; Maghreb: Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia; Mashreq: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and the Syrian Arab Republic.
Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the ASDR provide the outcome of the narrative reviews. Annex 1 to the ASDR provides additional information on the preparatory process for the report.
The region scored 3.5 out of 10 points on the Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index, which was below the global average of 5.3.
Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) studied the MENA region which includes most of the Arab countries.
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We wish to acknowledge the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia who led the development of the ASDR as well as the United Nations Environment Programme and the broad range of stakeholders and experts who contributed to the development of the ASDR.
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Handled by Shunsuke Managi, Tohoku University, Japan.
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Allen, C., Nejdawi, R., El-Baba, J. et al. Indicator-based assessments of progress towards the sustainable development goals (SDGs): a case study from the Arab region. Sustain Sci 12, 975–989 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0437-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0437-1