Sylvia Szabo and Robert Nicholls (both from the University of Southampton - DECCMA) have led the collaborative paper Making SDGs Work for Climate Change Hotspots, Environment, published in Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development.
Given the importance of climate hotspots to societal and ecological well-being, failing to adequately monitor the environment of these regions may impede their developmental progress and also hamper the achievement of wider SDGs. It is also likely to hamper the SDG accountability framework, which requires monitoring not only at the global level, but also at national, regional, and local scales. The choice of key environmental indicators will reflect climate and environmental priorities for 2030, and has direct implications for financing for development. This article shows the limitations of, and the gaps within, the currently proposed SDG indicator framework, and offer a complementary approach that enables better tracking of development progress in these key climate hotspots, focusing on environmental indicators. Hence, this piece contributes to progress in achieving the SDGs and improving people's well-being.