Table Of Content“This book is a fresh, timely and thought-provoking analysis of this challenging
dimension, in particular the policy and institutional innovations required. It is a
very welcome and valuable resource.”
Ambassador David Donoghue, Permanent Representative of Ireland
to the UN 2013-2017 and co-facilitator of the UN negotiations on the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
“The book provides an excellent analysis of governance mechanisms and policy
processes that effectively promote sustainable development. This is extremely
important for advancing action on the SDGs, despite the Covid-19 pandemic and
increasing pressures of climate change.”
Prof. Dr. Imme Scholz, Co-Chair of the UN Independent Group of
Scientists for the Global Sustainable Development Report 2023 and
Co-Chair of the German Sustainability Council (RNE)
“This book helps to deepen our understanding of the governance and policy
innovations that are needed to support policy coherence across sectors and actors at
different levels to deliver on Agenda 2030.”
Alina Rocha Menocal, Principal Research Fellow at the Overseas
Development Institute (ODI) and Director of the global Thinking
and Working Community of Practice (TWP CoP)
GOVERNING THE INTERLINKAGES
BETWEEN THE SDGS
Governing the Interlinkages between the SDGs: Approaches, Opportunities and Challenges identifies
the institutional processes, governance mechanisms and policy mixes that are conducive to
devising strategies of integrated Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) implementation.
The book edited by Anita Breuer, Daniele Malerba, Srinivasa Srigiri, and Pooja Balasu
bramanian examines the dedicated policies targeting the SDGs, as well as political and institutional
drivers of synergies and trade-offs between the SDGs in selected key areas – both cross-nationally
and in specific country contexts. Their analysis moves beyond the focus on links between SDG
indicators and targets. Instead, the book takes advantage of recent evidence from the initial imple
mentation phase of the SDGs and each chapter explores the question of which political-institutional
prerequisites, governance mechanisms, and policy instruments are suited to accelerate the imple
mentation of the SDGs. The findings presented are intended to both inform high-level policy
debates and to provide orientation for practitioners working on development cooperation.
This volume will be of great interest to practitioners and policy makers in the field of
sustainable development, as well as academics in the fields of sustainability research, political
science, and economics.
Anita Breuer is a senior researcher at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability
(IDOS), leading the inter-disciplinary research project “Implementing the 2030 Agenda: Inte
grating Growth, Environment, Equality and Governance”. Her primary research interests
involve sustainability governance, democracy promotion, accountability, and participatory pol
itics, as well as the impact of digitalization on political behavior and collective action.
Daniele Malerba is a senior researcher at IDOS in the inter-disciplinary research project
focused on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. His research focuses on just transitions,
socio-ecological transitions, and how to address the distributional implications of climate
policies with the use of social protection.
Srinivasa Srigiri is a senior researcher within the Research Programme on Environmental
Governance at IDOS. His primary research interests involve governance of natural resources,
sustainability transformations in rural and agricultural sectors, strategies for climate adaptation
at sub-national and local levels, and the water-energy-food nexus.
Pooja Balasubramanian is a researcher at IDOS and part of an inter-disciplinary research
project on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. She focuses on the interlinkages
between poverty, inequality and growth.
GOVERNING THE
INTERLINKAGES
BETWEEN THE SDGS
Approaches, Opportunities and
Challenges
Edited by Anita Breuer, Daniele Malerba,
Srinivasa Srigiri and Pooja Balasubramanian
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Anita Breuer, Daniele Malerba, Srinivasa
Srigiri and Pooja Balasubramanian; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Anita Breuer, Daniele Malerba, Srinivasa Srigiri and Pooja
Balasubramanian to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of
the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
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publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-032-18469-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-18465-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-25468-3 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003254683
Typeset in Bembo
by Taylor & Francis Books
CONTENTS
List of illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xiii
List of contributors xiv
1 Governing the Interlinkages between the SDGs: Approaches,
Opportunities and Challenges 1
Anita Breuer, Daniele Malerba, Srinivasa Srigiri and
Pooja Balasubramanian
2 Scientific Approaches to SDG Interactions Analyses: the
State of Play 16
Henrik Carlsen, Nina Weitz and Therese Bennich
3 The Role of Good governance in Reducing poverty and
Inequality: Evidence from a scoping review of interlinkages
between SDGs 16, 10, and 1 30
Cameron Allen, Anita Breuer, Julia Kercher, Pooja Balasubramanian,
Julia Leininger and Arvinn Gadgil
4 Governance mechanisms for coherent and effective
implementation of the 2030 Agenda: A Cross-national
Comparison of Government SDG Bodies 51
Anita Breuer, Julia Leininger and Daniele Malerba
5 A Metagovernance Approach to Multilevel Governance and
Vertical Coordination for the SDGs 71
Louis Meuleman
viii Contents
6 Trade-offs and SDG Politics in South American Agrifood
Governance: The risks from cherry-picking 90
Karen M. Siegel and Mairon G. Bastos Lima
7 Governance of the Water-Land-Food Nexus for Integrated
Achievement of the 2030 Agenda: The case of Lower Awash
River Basin, Ethiopia 106
Srinivasa Srigiri and Waltina Scheumann
8 Implementing the 2030 Agenda under Resource Scarcity – The
Case of WEF Nexus Governance in Azraq/Jordan 124
Ines Dombrowsky
9 To Grow or Not to Grow? Revisiting Economic Growth as a
Sustainable Development Goal in Light of the Degrowth
Debate 140
Daniele Malerba and Yannick Oswald
10 Gender and Education 158
Sarah Khan
11 Modelling the Interaction Between Climate Mitigation and
Income Inequality: The use of Integrated Assessment Models
and the case of India 174
Johannes Emmerling and Daniele Malerba
12 Poverty, Inequality, and Growth: The East Asian experience 192
Pooja Balasubramanian
13 A Decision-Making Tool for Systems Thinking in SDG
Implementation: Experiences from Sweden’s Voluntary
National Review 2021 211
Henrik Carlsen, Nina Weitz and Therese Bennich
Conclusions 225
Anita Breuer, Daniele Malerba, Pooja Balasubramanian and
Srinivasa Srigiri
Index 238
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
2.1 The number of publications on SDG interactions in the
Scopus database 17
2.2 Three clusters of co-occurrences found in the sampled literature 21
3.1 Framework for clustering key concepts from SDG targets
into three main entry clusters and impact clusters 32
3.2 Number of enabling, constraining and neutral interlinkages
identified between the three primary entry clusters and three
impact clusters 34
3.3 Flow diagram of enabling interlinkages between the three
entry clusters and entry subcategories (left) and the impact
subcategories and impact clusters (right). Width of the flows
(and numbers inserted) represent the number of positive/
enabling interlinkages 35
3.4 Causal Diagram: Causal pathways from SDG 16 Entry
Clusters to SDG 1 and 10 Impact Clusters Blue = Increased
Accountability; Orange = Increased Participation and
Inclusion; Green = Increased Transparency 38
3.5 Reinforcing Feedback Loop R1 “Raising Awareness”
[Blue = Increased Accountability; Orange = Increased
Participation and Inclusion; Green = Increased Transparency] 43
3.6 Reinforcing Feedback Loop R2 and R3: “Control of
Corruption” [Blue = Increased Accountability; Orange =
Increased Participation and Inclusion; Green = Increased
Transparency] 44
