School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Chengdu University, No. 2025, Chengluo Avenue, 610106, Chengdu, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
Department of College of Overseas Education, Chengdu University, No. 2025, Chenglou Avenue, 610106, Chengdu, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2024 Jan;31(3):3545-3559. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-31331-9. Epub 2023 Dec 12.
Environmental sustainability is vital in developing countries for sustainable economic development, poverty reduction, food security, climate change adaptation, biodiversity conservation, global equity, and access to sustainable energy. In contributing to literature, this study computed composite variables following the unavailability of a unified sustainable development goals (SDGs) database to examine the progress of ten sample developing countries. The authors propose the design of a database that utilizes the specific SDG indicators for empirical research. In testing the applicability of the proposed database, we sampled 32 indicators from the World Development Indicators database and employed principal component analysis to compute composite variables. The authors then contribute to broadening the understanding of literature by examining to what extent developing countries advance towards ensuring agricultural, energy, and environmental sustainability. And how the interplay between the SDG indicators differ across the low- and middle-income countries in terms of econometric analysis. The findings suggest that since the adoption of SDGs in 2015, developing countries have made progress in advancing water and sanitation sustainability, leading to improved environmental sustainability. Furthermore, the middle-income countries have demonstrated greater improvements in energy and agriculture sustainability compared to low-income countries in contributing to overall environmental sustainability. The developmental relationship between sustainable energy and agriculture in low- to middle-income countries reveals increased diversity, thereby presenting challenges in attaining synergy within SDGs in developing countries. Therefore, addressing and understanding the intricacies behind the adverse relationship between sustainable energy and agriculture is crucial in formulating curative policies that advance the progress of SDGs. The study concludes that environmental sustainability is a vital developmental concern to be integrated into inter-generational and intra-generational development in the SDG framework. Also, the progress of the SDG indicators is endogenous and the extent to which low-income countries lag behind middle-income towards achieving collective goals requires critical policy intervention.
环境可持续性对于发展中国家的可持续经济发展、减贫、粮食安全、气候变化适应、生物多样性保护、全球公平以及获取可持续能源至关重要。在为文献做出贡献方面，本研究计算了综合变量，因为缺乏统一的可持续发展目标（SDGs）数据库，以检查十个样本发展中国家的进展情况。作者提出了设计一个数据库的建议，该数据库将利用特定的 SDG 指标进行实证研究。在测试所提出的数据库的适用性时，我们从世界发展指标数据库中抽取了 32 个指标，并采用主成分分析来计算综合变量。作者通过研究发展中国家在确保农业、能源和环境可持续性方面的进展程度，以及在计量经济学分析中低和中等收入国家之间的 SDG 指标相互作用的差异，来拓宽对文献的理解。研究结果表明，自 2015 年通过 SDGs 以来，发展中国家在推进水和卫生设施可持续性方面取得了进展，从而改善了环境可持续性。此外，与低收入国家相比，中等收入国家在能源和农业可持续性方面取得了更大的进步，从而对整体环境可持续性做出了贡献。低至中等收入国家可持续能源和农业之间的发展关系揭示了多样性的增加，从而在发展中国家实现 SDGs 协同方面带来了挑战。因此，解决和理解可持续能源和农业之间不利关系背后的复杂性对于制定推进 SDGs 进展的治疗性政策至关重要。该研究得出结论，环境可持续性是发展中国家在 SDG 框架内纳入代际和代内发展的一个重要发展问题。此外，SDG 指标的进展是内生的，低收入国家与中等收入国家在实现集体目标方面的差距程度需要进行关键的政策干预。
