Project

The Beacon Project: Using Biodiversity and Energy justice to resolve Conflicts between Sustainable Development Goals

01/09/2020–20/11/2025

Collaboration with Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, International Institute for Environment and Development, International Land Coalition, Taraz State University, The James Hutton Institute, The World Bank, Universidade Estadual De Santa Cruz, University of Dundee, University of East Anglia, University of Edinburgh, University of Florida and University of Kent.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promote global economic and social prosperity while simultaneously seeking to protect the environment. All UN member states are signatories to achieving SDGs under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, competing objectives of SDGs and stakeholders can require decision-makers to make trade-offs, potentially leading to damaging and unequal distribution of costs and benefits for people and the environment. To address this challenge at global to local scales, The Beacon Project will use hydropower development as a model system and employ interdisciplinary thinking and methods to quantify the trade-offs, conflicts and synergies between SDGs and stakeholders. The overarching aim of The Beacon Project is to identify, forecast, prevent and mitigate conflicts associated with development processes, to achieve equitable sustainable development now and beyond the 2030 sustainable development targets.

Total award value £963,901.82