Introducing the Overall Project
Recognising the importance of policy integration for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) initiated a project on "Sustainable Development Goals Interlinkages and Indicators” in 2015 focusing on SDG indicators and the interlinkages between the SDG targets. The project identifies the causal links between relevant SDG targets based on a literature review and the results from relevant international consultation processes on SDG indicators. Indicators with trackable data are identified for SDG targets based on the official indicators that are listed in the Global Indicator Framework for SDGs and Targets and various data sources. The identified causal relationships between relevant targets were further quantified for 27 countries in Asia and Africa based on statistical analysis of the time-series data for the indicators. Using network analysis techniques, the structure of the interlinkages network can be analysed from a systemic perspective. Country-specific dashboards indicating potential synergies and trade-offs between the SDG targets are provided. IGES developed a web tool, SDG Interlinkages Analysis & Visualisation Tool, to enable users to visualise the interlinkages, explore indicator-level data, and identify synergies and trade-offs among the SDG targets. This project is expected to support national SDGs planning, priority-setting, institutional arrangements, and the enhancement of policy integration across the 17 SDG areas.
Web Tool for SDG Interlinkages Analysis & Visualisation (V4.0)
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the targets interact with each other in an indivisible way. On the one hand, achieving one goal or target may contribute to achieving other goals or targets. For example, enhanced food security (Goal 2) will reinforce poverty eradication (Goal 1). On the other hand, the pursuit of one target may conflict with the achievement of another. For example, an increase in agricultural production to help end hunger (Goal 2) can result in an increase in water use that may compete with water demand for achieving universal access to drinking water (Goal 6). The SDGs and targets form a complicated network of interlinkages. Analysing the interlinkages can help identify the synergies and trade-offs between relevant SDG targets and inform policy-making from a systemic perspective (see more on Methodology). The web tool, SDG Interlinkages Analysis & Visualisation (V4.0), enables users to visualise the interlinkages between SDG targets and explore indicator-level data for 27 countries from Asia and Africa. Users can make a selection of countries, Goals and Targets to visualise the interlinkages between selected targets and others, and explore time-series data for selected indicators. The web tool enables users to identify the synergies and trade-offs between relevant SDG targets. Provided for free, users can download the data in CSV format as well as the visualisation charts in image files.