A scientific and practical seminar of the Methodological Council was held at UWED
On March 27 of this year, the University of World Economy and Diplomacy hosted a scientific and practical seminar of the Methodological Council on the topic: "Sustainable Development Goals: Assessment of Actions, Approaches to Implementation and Results". As a key speaker Chair of Department of “International Economics”, Assistant Professor, Dr. L.M.Tashpulatova shared her views on the announced issue with the UWED and the IAIS leaders, professors, PhD researchers and students.
In her report and presentation, the author identified the following issue-areas: Conceptualization of sustainable development, Sustainable Development Goals, New international approaches to measuring sustainable development: the complexity of multidimensional assessment, Current issues in scholarly research.
Keynote speaker outlined the evolution of “sustainable development” as a concept, its connection with other concepts and approaches to development, as well as well-being and living standards (early 20th century), the correlation between human health and environmental degradation, human capital, rational use of natural resources, application of new technologies and organizational measures while preserving nature and conditions for the societal development in the future, basic needs, “zero growth”, economic growth, Washington Consensus, sustainable development, human development, inclusive growth, etc.
The scholar identified stages of SD progress initially associated with the socio-ecological factor, subsequent socio-economic and institutional factors, and finally modern “green” and inclusive development taking into account the issues of management as well, etc. The second and third blocks of the presentation covered the Global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the interdependence issues between global and national SDGs, harmonization of policies and the process of achieving the SDGs in the case of Uzbekistan, dilemmas of assessing and measuring sustainable development, and the new version of the system of national accounts with the “four capitals” approach applied in monitoring of the SDGs performance.
A particular section of the report outlined the challenges and opportunities for achieving the SDGs under the current course of “polycrisis”, strengthening global cooperation, on the one hand, but at the same time ongoing fragmentation, etc.
The following were identified among the required current research challenges: 1. International political economy in the era of polycrisis, 2. Green transformation and sustainable investment, 3. Digitalization and sustainability, 4. Climate justice and energy transition, 5. Global sustainability imbalances: North - South, 6. Accounting for natural capital and international climate commitments, etc.
The closing part of the academic discussion was followed by the Q&A session, when participants of the event commented with relevant views on strengthening the research and analytics in the SDGs implementation, the lack of consensus in the interpretation, assessment and the significance of the “green transformation”, as well as the need to fully take into account the anthropological, ethno-social and ethno-psychological features/specificities in the development and implementation of the national sustainable development model.