Achieving Excellence in Sustainable Development Goals …
275
The promotion of mangrove and other marine conservation and the enhancement
of human well-being and livelihoods at the same time have been the two primary
aspirations of the UN SDGs. Globally, management and policy had largely failed to
ensure the conservation and sustainable use of mangrove and other marine resources
such as corals and seagrasses. This failure might repeat in SDG implementation due
to a myriad of similar reasons. A primary reason is the failure to integrate the differing spatial and temporal scales at which ecosystem services are provided (ecological
provisional scale), with the scales at which the management, policy and utilization
institutions operate (societal demand scale). For example, local resource users, operating at the faster demand scale, lack the incentives and institutional imperatives to
consider and integrate into the slower ecological provisional scales of ecosystems,
resulting in a mismatch between benefits and costs (Romañach et al. 2018). Research
conducted in Indonesia and Brazil reported that social unrests occurred frequently
over the failures in managing the conflicts between resource provision and utilization,
and over the failure in integrating science with local community knowledge (Máñez
et al. 2014). In Indonesia, the Segara Anakan Conservation and Development Project
(SACDP), funded by the Asia Development Bank (ADB), in cooperation with the
government of Indonesia, failed in integrating scientific research findings with local
community knowledge, resulting in strong challenges and resentments from grassroots communities. The grassroots communities felt that the scientific sectors did not
produce good problem-solving solutions, as it was perceived to be oriented towards
the wishes of established elite communities. As expected, these projects failed to
deliver theirs goals and failed to fulfil SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong Institutions) (Dharmawan et al. 2016). Ample examples abound worldwide to suggest that
SDG implementations may encounter similar obstacles and may not be satisfactorily
accomplished by 2030, unless these conflicts are well understood and adequately
resolved. This calls for a new breed of thinkers, actors, communicators, educators,
policy-makers and implementers, who are well versed in the intricacy and intrinsic
conflicts embedded in SDGs. Working in good coordination with these players, JSC
aspires to help implement SDGs within the stipulated time frame, a tall task for which
JSC is designed to accomplish.
7 Conclusion
This paper presents a summary of the contributions of the authors in promoting and
achieving the implementation of four core SDGs: SDGs 3, 6, 13 and 17. It provides a
brief exposition on the achievements and efforts devoted to developing relevant skills,
competences, expertise and talents in the four interdependent SDGs, within the context of university communities. It explores the important roles played by ecosystem
services provided by nature in supporting the accomplishment of several SDGs. However, to achieve the UN SDG agenda by 2030, much more needs to be accomplished
at a larger spatial-temporal scale. For example, efforts to eradicate dengue, malaria,
tuberculosis and other emerging tropical infectious diseases (SDG 3, target 3.3) will
275
The promotion of mangrove and other marine conservation and the enhancement
of human well-being and livelihoods at the same time have been the two primary
aspirations of the UN SDGs. Globally, management and policy had largely failed to
ensure the conservation and sustainable use of mangrove and other marine resources
such as corals and seagrasses. This failure might repeat in SDG implementation due
to a myriad of similar reasons. A primary reason is the failure to integrate the differing spatial and temporal scales at which ecosystem services are provided (ecological
provisional scale), with the scales at which the management, policy and utilization
institutions operate (societal demand scale). For example, local resource users, operating at the faster demand scale, lack the incentives and institutional imperatives to
consider and integrate into the slower ecological provisional scales of ecosystems,
resulting in a mismatch between benefits and costs (Romañach et al. 2018). Research
conducted in Indonesia and Brazil reported that social unrests occurred frequently
over the failures in managing the conflicts between resource provision and utilization,
and over the failure in integrating science with local community knowledge (Máñez
et al. 2014). In Indonesia, the Segara Anakan Conservation and Development Project
(SACDP), funded by the Asia Development Bank (ADB), in cooperation with the
government of Indonesia, failed in integrating scientific research findings with local
community knowledge, resulting in strong challenges and resentments from grassroots communities. The grassroots communities felt that the scientific sectors did not
produce good problem-solving solutions, as it was perceived to be oriented towards
the wishes of established elite communities. As expected, these projects failed to
deliver theirs goals and failed to fulfil SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong Institutions) (Dharmawan et al. 2016). Ample examples abound worldwide to suggest that
SDG implementations may encounter similar obstacles and may not be satisfactorily
accomplished by 2030, unless these conflicts are well understood and adequately
resolved. This calls for a new breed of thinkers, actors, communicators, educators,
policy-makers and implementers, who are well versed in the intricacy and intrinsic
conflicts embedded in SDGs. Working in good coordination with these players, JSC
aspires to help implement SDGs within the stipulated time frame, a tall task for which
JSC is designed to accomplish.
7 Conclusion
This paper presents a summary of the contributions of the authors in promoting and
achieving the implementation of four core SDGs: SDGs 3, 6, 13 and 17. It provides a
brief exposition on the achievements and efforts devoted to developing relevant skills,
competences, expertise and talents in the four interdependent SDGs, within the context of university communities. It explores the important roles played by ecosystem
services provided by nature in supporting the accomplishment of several SDGs. However, to achieve the UN SDG agenda by 2030, much more needs to be accomplished
at a larger spatial-temporal scale. For example, efforts to eradicate dengue, malaria,
tuberculosis and other emerging tropical infectious diseases (SDG 3, target 3.3) will