Embracing A Paradigm Shift In Sustainable Development

A Key-Note Address (Speech), By Associate Professor AGWU Ezera, During The Launching Of 42 (Online) Special Journals For Sustainable Development, On July 1, 2020

Dear Colleagues, Partners And Friends,

I am glad to present this speech on ‘Embracing a paradigm shift in sustainable development’ during the launching of 42 special journals for sustainable development, on July 1, 2020.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, there are many journals already that are publishing everything we need to know about everything there is to know, therefore why more journals? Many questions will be asked by stakeholders such as: Why should I approve, accept, support, recommend, or reject this innovation? These questions are highly debated but the bottom line favors the availability of more publication services that takes care of several unmet needs of the stakeholders. These questions are unique and uncountable and the best way forward is to embrace a paradigm shift in sustainable development initiatives that will include support for more centers of excellence in research-based information storage and dissemination

Unmet Needs In Research Data Publication

While the answers to these questions remain a paradox, we are far from completely exhausting and publishing the enormous data generated by public or private sectors, organizations, Universities, Colleges, polytechnics, research institutions, industries, and many more. Despite the rise of open and free access journals, many stakeholders in practice are still unable to access unitize the right data when needed to impact the society due to many avoidable logistics and circumstances militating against the availability of such data when and where needed for the betterment of the general public.

A Paradigm Shift

A paradigm shift in existing business activities for sustainable development that includes support for the center of excellence research-based information storage and retrieval will ultimately impact the magnitude of unmet needs in sustainable development research data publication. This, therefore, calls for more united efforts in information, publication, storage, and retrieval to minimize these challenges.

Special Journals Mandate

Development is the dream and wish of everybody anywhere and anytime and many organizations have provided many platforms and supports for development but few if any, have dedicated more attention like special journal publishers. Special Journals Publishers was launched with the mandate of supporting the various development stakeholders with peer-reviewed research database to encourage implementation and interventions at various locales in the world

Sustainable Development Yesterday!

Sustainable development requires a holistic and integrated approach, emphasizing the need to establish a balance between different domains of life. Stakeholders of sustainable development adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, during the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Summit (UNSDS) and this included but not limited to a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets designed to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice and tackle climate change by 2030. The ultimate goal of impacting the global morbidity and mortality rates as well as changing the world order by narrowing the divide or chasm between the underdeveloped, developing and developed nations.   

United Nations Role

United Nations have laid a good foundation in the past decades for effective sustainable development effort but support for a publishing center of excellence principally designed for sustainable development is clearly lacking and therefore needs urgent attention if we must meet up with the changing dynamics of development in the 22^nd century.

Landmark Achievements, Declaration And Resolutions

• The Earth Summit of June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where the Agenda 21, was adopted by 178 member countries to build a global partnership for sustainable development  
• The Millennium Declaration at the Millennium Summit in September 2000 at UN Headquarters in New York where eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were approved to reduce extreme poverty by 2015.
• The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development and the Plan of Implementation, adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa in 2002,
• The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012, Member States adopted the outcome document “The Future We Want” in which they decided, inter alia, to launch a process to develop a set of SDGs to build upon the MDGs and to establish the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
• 2015 was a landmark year for multilateralism and international policy shaping, with the adoption of several major agreements:
  • Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (March 2015)
  • Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development (July 2015)
  • Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 SDGs was adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York in September 2015.
  • Paris Agreement on Climate Change (December 2015)
• Now, the annual High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development serves as the central UN platform for the follow-up and review of the SDGs.

Sustainable Development Today!

Today, the Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) provides substantive support and capacity-building for the SDGs and their related thematic issues, including water, energy, climate, oceans, urbanization, transport, science and technology, the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR), partnerships and Small Island Developing States.

Case For Support And Call For Action

To make a case for the support for publication center of excellence is a call for action by the stakeholder in the right direction. The direct support for specialized publication centers of excellence is clearly lacking and the need for this support is now to be sure no stone is left unturned. Support for the well-designed initiatives to complement the big names in the provision of information cannot be overemphasized.  

Availability of more accessible data for the data-hungry society in health and in emergencies is in the best interest of the development donor giants working to help ameliorate the catastrophic impact of global pandemics like COViD ’19 that is presently ravaging the world not minding whether underdeveloped, developing or developed

It will be nice if the division of sustainable development goals DSDG of the UNDESA will substantively support and partner with the Special Journal Publishers [SJP] to provide and encourage more research based dedicated databases for stakeholders both service providers and end products consumers.      

We also expects and welcomes all supports in the form of editors, reviewers, authors, bloggers, donors (time, money and resources), contributors, events instructors and others.

Sustainable Development Tomorrow!

The foundation we lay today determines the future we expect tomorrow. The precaution we take today determines the mistake and regrets we avoid tomorrow. The sacrifice we make today determines the stability of our reward tomorrow the commitment we make today determines the sustainability of our development tomorrow?

Let us come together and join forces to support this innovative initiative drawing from yesterday’s experiences of fathers to improve our today and guarantee the tomorrow of sons and daughters.

Thank you

• AGWU Ezera, Ph.D., F. SAFRI
• Associate Professor in Medical Microbiology and Immunology
• Presiding Editor and Chair, Scientific and Technical Advisory Council
• Special Journal Publishers for sustainable development