National | PANORAMA

Education on SDGs

The 7 weeks certified seminar program including experimentation workshop in the form of online courses to municipal employees and to the stakeholders are efficient to prepare the staff to take action for the climate crisis and build sustainable and resilient cities.

Professors and further stakeholders.

These programs encourage Municipalities in Turkey to revise their plan in terms of SDGs, plan their mitigation and adaptation activities.

Monitoring

National

https://world.350.org/iklimicinbelediyeler/files/2020/03/iklim_icin_belediyeler…

Foresight research techniques

Three foresight techniques were employed: (1) horizon scanning, (2) the Delphi Method, and (3) Backcasting.

Horizon scanning is a technique used for researching signals of change in the present and their potential future impacts. This ensured a comprehensive overview of the existing development issues, and narrow them down to a set of potentially challenging ones. Data collected in this process include secondary data related to SDG targets, headlines of newspapers in the past 3 years, social media trends in the past year, and insights into the local situations by local NGOs and CSOs.

The Delphi method was employed to narrow down and prioritize the potential challenges and issues. This method was used for the design of the consultation process in which each expert has the least non-academic influence on each other. This project had two rounds of questionnaires. The first round was to cross-check the data from horizon scanning by the experts. The second round was for prioritizing identified challenging development issues.

The prioritized ones were selected as topics for the regional foresight workshop in which Backcasting was employed. It was used to design a participatory process in which stakeholders formulated their aspirations and proposed strategic directions to achieve the future.

Before the COVID-19, the regional teams prefer face-to-face interactions and consultations. The foresight techniques were included only in the regional foresight workshop. However, with the COVID-19, we need a solution for the whole project.

All the foresight techniques were adaptable because of the availability of online conferencing platforms and online survey platforms. As the team consisted mostly of younger researchers, learning new online tools was not a problem. TSRI also played a role as technician assistance for the regional teams.

SDGs contain too many topics for the Delphi Method, making the participating experts very exhausted when responding to several rounds of questionnaires. Moreover, almost no one knows all topics under SDGs enough to prioritize them with good judgement. In the end, we allowed the experts to only respond to the area(s) of their expertise.

Google Form does not work especially for a long-form that people take 4-5 hours to finish. We then shifted to Survey Monkey, which is more convenient once you understand the system. However, the learning curve is high. So we decided that SDG Move should take care of turning the questionnaire online and preliminarily processing the results for the regional teams.

Prioritized challenging SDG regional issues tend to interlink with each other.

An online consultation process is more efficient when there are no more than 10 people in a group. In a group, a facilitator and at least one note taker are needed. A facilitator increases the efficiency of the consultation. A meeting for preparation is needed before the event. Templates for note-taking should be provided.

Monitoring

National

Engagement of local researchers

Localizing SDGs in Thailand

Thammasat University

Local researchers are the most important actors in the implementation of this project.

The project involved experienced researchers and professors based in 8 universities which were organized in 6 regional teams in the North, Northeast, Central, East, South, and Deep South.

Although they come from various disciplines, most of their research interests are focused on development, at the local, provincial, and regional levels. They have insights on local problems, social capital and close connections with different stakeholders in the region. They came into this project with expertise covering some issues within the localization and implementation of the SDGs, and curiosity to learn more and utilize the Global Goals for promoting their local agenda.

1. A clear contract and financial support. TSRI financed the project to SDG Move. SDG Move did a contract with the regional team and allocated the financial resource to them based on the number of provinces they have to cover.

2. A clear objective and action plan, which was drawn, executed, and coordinated by SDG Move.

3. Online conferencing and shared online questionnaires on the paid platforms were provided to the regional teams.

The involvement of local researchers ensured that essential stakeholders and people were included in the study and that culturally appropriate methods and resources were employed. In areas of conflict, such as the Deep South, established social capital between local researchers and local stakeholders were crucial. Local perspectives were key in interpreting research findings and considering the local context in which data was collected.

COVID-19 and related measures were the main obstacles in the implementation of the consultation process. Nevertheless, local researchers and stakeholders quickly adjusted to the pandemic situation and participated in online consultation processes. After the first period of adjustment, the online consultation process became more inclusive since stakeholders from anywhere can participate at a relatively low cost. However, with this method, some stakeholders were excluded from the process due to the lack of digital literacy, infrastructure, and resources.

Entirety

National

Inclusion of other SDGs

Digital KICK in its current state addresses a few SDGs including SDG 2, 3,4,5,6,11 and 12. Customized content to enhance knowledge on other SDGs can be incorporated into the solution.

It is important to link the connection between the SDGs and COVID-19 and to understand the extent of the impact on the progress of SDGs by the new novel virus.

By understanding the connection and the pandemic's effects on SDGs, new projections can be made on the progress, and strategies can be adopted to ensure SDG Agenda 2030. Regions can focus on a particular SDG using specialized strategies to address a specific regional crisis/challenge.

Local

National

East Europe

Cities 2030: Localization of Sustainable Development Goals in Turkey

Clara

Latini

Education on SDGs

Cooperation

South Asia

Localizing SDGs in Thailand: Towards a More Inclusive National Science, Research, and Innovation (SRI) Plan

Clara

Latini

Engagement of local researchers

Foresight research techniques

Data Collection

Moving to the next stage

Policy Frameworks in the Scope of Transitioning to Low Carbon Sea Transport in the Marshall Islands

IMO Capacity Development Workshop

Chewy Lin

The national fleet of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) highly depends on imported fuels and is therefore a significant source of GHG-emissions. The bilateral program “Transitioning to Low Carbon Sea Transport (LCST)” implemented by RMI and the Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) aims at supporting the RMI Government´s planning and decision-making processes with respect to its low carbon future and the reduction of GHG-emissions from domestic sea transport, through consultancy, research, training, coordination of policy support to RMI and supporting in delivering RMI’s commitments under UNFCCC to achieve reduced GHG emissions from domestic shipping 40% below 2010 levels by 2030 and full decarbonization by 2050.

The Marshallese Government founded and is an active member of the High Ambition Coaltion for Shipping (SHAC) at IMO and UNFCCC and due to their ambition, the group of supporters of an ambitious contribution of sea transport to the climate goals is growing. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, international meetings and high-level conferences are taking place remotely to a high extend.

The development and facilitation of capacity development under the LCST project has the aim to enhance knowledge of IMO structures and ways to contribute to high-level forums and negotiations such as UNFCCC for different ministries in RMI. RMI plays a key role in securing ambitious goals and climate leadership continously develops with the support of partners to RMI. Through workshops, support on negotiation techniques and media outreach, visibility and recognition is increased and RMI's voice heard on the international stage.

Together with Independent Diplomat, the project supports the RMI Government in actively participating at high-level policy negotiations and conferences such as the High Ambition Coalition and the IMO.

Developing distance learning resources, presentations and briefs on climate mitigation in shipping to provide an overview of air emissions and climate change issues in maritime transport are highly important

Developing international responses and frameworks to climate change by the shipping sector and delivering web-based information sessions on climate mitigation in shipping and maritime transport help to facilitate workshops in the region and other SIDS.

Highlighting past and on-going IMO activities and the wider industry equip partners with knowledge of relevant debates leading to the adoption and implementation of positions, strategies and declarations in international high-level forums.

Documentation and dissemination of results

Sustainable Sea Transport inside the lagoon and between atolls of the Marshall Islands

WAMCat in the lagoon

Waan Aelõñ in Majel

Sustainable Sailing Vessel

Janina Laurent

Training on sustainable sailing vessel

Janina Laurent

Director Alson Kelen

Waan Aelõñ in Majel

Ri Majol, the people of the Marshall Islands were known for their superior boat building and sailing skills for centuries. They traveled frequently between their atolls (for trade and war) on big offshore canoes called Walap (some of them 100ft long). The lagoons of their low-lying coral atolls where crested by sails of smaller outrigger canoe designs for rapid inside lagoon transportation, food gathering and fishing. Together with Waan Aelõñ in Majel, we are reviving the traditional knowlege combined with modern technology. The ambitious goals of the Marshall Islands in the sea transport sector have become the main driver and motivation for us to pursue and to transition towards a low carbon fleet for the Marshall Islands for transport inside the lagoons and between atolls. Currently, a 150 ft. Training Vessel is about to be constructed and delivered to RMI by the 2nd half of 2022. After the agreement of the design, the market survey process started with the objection to identify shipyards that are interested and capable of building the new built as drafted in the tender design. The Maritime Training Approach in the Marshall Islands sets a clear focus on Low Emission Sea Transport Education and will train future sailors as part of the national fleet operators.

Today, the traditional outrigger canoe designs are not in use for inter-atoll voyages in RMI anymore. The traditional inter atoll voyages stopped and none of the traditional inter-atoll canoes (Walap) survived till today. Nowadays, offshore transport tasks are mainly carried out by the government owned Marshall Island Shipping Corporation (MISC) and private contractors with conventional monohull freighters with motorized engines causing emissions and impact on climate change.

The charter of SV Kwai - a sailing cargo vessel - in the time period from September to end of December 2020 showed how essential training is in the revitalization of sailing rigged ships that make the way open for a low emission transportation set up in RMI in the future. Sailing trainings took place on SV Kwai for the first time with participants already enlisted by MISC. The training was held with the intention of sailing within the lagoon of Majuro. The aim was to educate on Kwai operations under sail and to train the MISC crew hands on alongside the SV Kwai crew from Kiribati, USA and Australia. An assessment meeting took place after the training to capture the positive outcomes and summarize improvements for upcoming trainings in the future. The trainings already provided a first indication of training needs for the maritime sector in RMI.

Documentation and dissemination of results