Prioritising the SDGs for Galapagos

Snapshot Solution

by Sophia Cooke, Fundacion un Cambio por la Vida

A tool to aid decision-making for the SDGs in Galapagos

Sophia Cooke

In 2018, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) were declared public policy in Ecuador and the Galapagos archipelago was selected as a pioneer province to work towards achieving them. In 2021, following a request for support from the Galapagos Governing Council, our team led a collaborative process to prioritise and contextualise the SDG targets for the islands. Through a series of workshops with over 50 policy-makers, NGO representatives and community members, we developed a list of 40 contextualised SDG targets, each considered to be urgent for Galapagos (see www.ods-galapagos.com for the full list). We then led a second process to analyse the potential synergies between these 40 targets and identify those with the most positive impact overall. The top three identified were eliminating corruption and bribery, ensuring equal rights and access, and increasing resilience against disasters. Following this, we developed an online tool to aid understanding the 40 targets and the interactions between them.

Last update: 21 Jun 2024

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Context

Challenges addressed

Drought

Erratic rainfall

Land and Forest degradation

Loss of Biodiversity

Ocean warming and acidification

Sea level rise

Conflicting uses / cumulative impacts

Ecosystem loss

Invasive species

Poaching

Pollution (incl. eutrophication and litter)

Unsustainable harvesting incl. Overfishing

Lack of access to long-term funding

Lack of alternative income opportunities

Lack of food security

Lack of infrastructure

Lack of technical capacity

Poor monitoring and enforcement

Unemployment / poverty

Scale of implementation

Local

Ecosystems

Area-wide development

Theme

Access and benefit sharing

Biodiversity mainstreaming

Genetic diversity

Habitat fragmentation and degradation

Invasive alien species

Species management

Poaching and environmental crime

Adaptation

Disaster risk reduction

Mitigation

Ecosystem services

Restoration

Sustainable financing

Gender mainstreaming

Legal & policy frameworks

Protected and conserved areas governance

Cities and infrastructure

Food security

Health and human wellbeing

Peace and human security

Sustainable livelihoods

Islands

Local actors

Coastal and marine spatial management

Land management

Protected and conserved areas management planning

Terrestrial spatial planning

Urban planning

One Health

Science and research

Agriculture

Culture

Extractives

Fisheries and aquaculture

Tourism

Transport

Water provision and management

Marine litter

Pollution

Renewable energies

Waste management

Wastewater treatment

World Heritage

Location

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

South America

Impacts

The SDGs are extremely broad in their scope, yet also synergistic. By identifying priorities and assessing the ways in which they support each other, efficient routes for achieving them all can be mapped. Having run this process in Galapagos, we have identified 40 targets, spanning 14 of the 17 Goals, that are considered to be the most important for the archipelago by a broad range of stakeholders. Of these, we have identified those that, if progressed, can have the most positive impact on the other 39 targets at the same time. Understanding the interlinkages between the SDGs in the context of Galapagos and identifying key starting points can help local policy-makers and project leaders to direct research and resources efficiently towards the SDG Agenda as a whole. By displaying the targets and the interactions between them in a clear, visual manner, our online tool also enables individuals and groups working towards different targets to understand how they might benefit from considering each other’s work and/or collaborating. Overall, this solution can support researchers, the private sector, NGOs and public policy officials to plan priorities, design projects, justify efforts and raise funds to support the SDGs in Galapagos, and therefore protect both its natural and cultural heritage.