Water, Sanitation and Beyond: Setting Sustainable Development Goal 6 in a National Context by Identifying Policy Relevant Indicators and Options for Action for Austria
SUPERVISORs: Günter LANGERGRABER, Andreas MUHAR and Jutta NIEDERSTE-HOLLENBERG
PROJECT ASSIGNED TO: Verena GERMANN
Based on decades of discourse on transformations towards sustainability (Patterson et al., 2015; Ruggerio, 2021), in 2015 the 2030 Agenda was adopted by the United Nations with the aim to transform our world. It comprises 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets that show a high number of interactions and reflect the complexity of challenges that it is meant to tackle. The Agenda is designed to be integrated, indivisible and universally applicable (UN General Assembly, 2015). To measure progress on the targets a framework of core indicators was established (UN, 2023). It is already half time on the designated time for its implementation but many challenges remain (Sachs et al., 2022). To enhance progress, several publications emphasize the need to improve understanding of the interactions, trade-offs and synergies, between various SDG entities (referring to e.g. goals, targets, indicators and related “themes” like bio-economy, see Horvath et al., 2022) and to operationalize the targets in local contexts (Allen et al., 2021; Milan, 2017; Pham‐Truffert et al., 2020; Pradhan et al., 2017). Goal 6 of the sustainable development goals (SDG 6) aims at sustainable management and access to clean water and safe sanitation for all (United Nations, 2015) (Figure 1). SDG 6 comprises targets along the entire water cycle and was found to show a high number of synergies with other SDGs (Alcamo, 2019; Fader et al., 2018; Jaramillo et al., 2019; Miola et al., 2019; Requejo-Castro et al., 2020). As we tend to manage what we measure (Meadows, 1998), complementing the set of global core indicators with indicators reflecting the diversity of national realities, contexts and capacities is recommended (Essex et al., 2020; Guppy et al., 2019; Muchala, 2016; UN Water, 2021, 2017).
My research thus sets SDG 6 in the context of Austria by identifying complementary indicators based on literature research and critically analyzing the status quo of the SDG 6 targets to better reflect challenges at the national level (Germann and Langergraber, 2022). Within a group of scientist of the working group of methods in the UniNEtZ project, as the framework of this thesis (see below), we then conducted a systematic review and expert assessment to advance understanding of the suitability of methods to handle the complexity by enhancing understanding of the interactions of the SDG entities (Horvath et al., 2022). To illustrate one of these methods Germann et al. (2023) discusses the policy-options developed in the working group on SDG 6 and evaluates their effects to tackle challenges in the realm of SDG 6 using a 7-point-scale and expert-judgement.
The results contribute to operationalizing the 2030 Agenda’s demand for universal applicability as they provide inputs to context-specific monitoring, exemplify potential science-based means to balance global aspirations and implementation in a local context and shed light on challenges for achieving SDG 6 beyond basic water and sanitation provision. The review of methods and the exemplary illustration of one of them contributes to the understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. It thereby supports their uptake and implementation in practice and thus assists the Agenda’s integrated and indivisible character. The results aim to provide a stimulus and input for related discourses in the science-society-policy interface.
Figure 1: Targets of SDG 6 including access to clean water and safe sanitation, water quality and safe reuse, water-use efficiency and water scarcity, integrated water resources management, protection and conservation of water-related ecosystems, international cooperation and participation and engagement. Target Icons © European Union, 1995-2022.
Research objectives & questions
Research objective (RO) 1: To generate a more comprehensive understanding of the status quo of the SDG 6 targets and related challenges in Austria by critically analyzing the core indicators, identifying potential complementary indicators and, based on that, contextualizing the targets.
Research question (RQ) 1.1: What aspects addressed in the SDG 6 targets are not (sufficiently) covered by the core indicators?
RQ 1.2: What complementary indicators could be used to describe the status quo of the SDG 6 targets?
RQ 1.3: What complementary information on the status quo of the SDG 6 targets in Austria can be drawn from these indicators?
RO 2: To illustrate and evaluate how a set of options for action and specific measures can support progress on the SDG 6 targets in Austria.
RQ 2.1: What methods to analyze SDG entity interactions can be identified from literature?
RQ 2.2: How do these methods differ in terms of descriptions of effects, sensitivity to interdisciplinarity, collaboration and systems thinking and practicability?
RQ 2.3: What effects of options and specific measures on the SDG 6 targets can be identified applying one of these methods?
Framework
The project UniNEtZ (Universitäten und Nachhaltige EntwicklungsZiele; translation: Universities and SDGs) provides the basis for this thesis. The idea of the project emerged during discussions in a network of sustainable universities in Austria (Allianz Nachhaltige Universitäten in Österreich) (Stötter et al., 2019). The project is a collaboration of about 16 Austrian universities and research institutions as well as a students’ association, leading to more than 300 persons being involved with a broad diversity of expertise in social, natural science, humanities and arts (Allerberger et al., 2021). The main aims of the first phase were providing a set of options for actions to achieve the SDGs, enhancing sustainable development in Austria in general and anchoring the SDGs in research, teaching, university management and society (UniNEtZ, 2020). The options are meant to be evidence-based context-specific pathways, that are “policy relevant but not policy prescriptive” (Körfgen et al., 2019, p. 7) to support decision-makers in the implementation of the SDGs in Austria. The following objectives were agreed upon (translated from Allerberger et al., 2021):
1. strengthening of inter-university interdisciplinary cooperation in general;
2. preparation and presentation of a UniNEtZ-options-report on the implementation of the SDGs in Austria;
3. in the long term: making a significant contribution to sustainable development in Austria;
4. anchoring sustainable development at universities in teaching and research.
The research here presented was conducted in exchange with other SDG working groups and stakeholders following the methods developed within the project. The framework of UniNEtZ and the methods used complemented the work on this thesis with interdisciplinary insight (Figure 2). The research contributed to the development and assessment of options for actions within the UniNEtZ project. The final project report was handed over to the Austrian government in Spring 2022 and is now available online (UniNEtZ, 2021). A second phase started in 2022 and will end in 2024. Details on the general project structure and activities beyond the work on options can be found in Allerberger et al. (2021) or on the project website (UniNEtZ, 2021).
Figure 2: Links between doctoral thesis and project
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