A range of international frameworks provide global direction for pathways to improve the future we face as a global community – environmentally, socially, and economically.
Worldwide, governments including Australian Commonwealth, state and territory governments, are adopting international frameworks including:
- United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
- United Nations System of Environmental Economic Accounting.
Our Science for Sustainable Development framework guides state of the environment reporting in Victoria. This framework outlines an approach through which local-level reporting can align with international approaches. Our reporting on Victoria’s marine and coastal environment follows this approach.
International frameworks
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015 all United Nations Member States (developed and developing countries) adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a plan for prosperity for people and the planet. Central to this is an urgent call for action by all countries in a global partnership to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The goals identify that ending poverty and other deprivations must go together with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
Find out what’s happening in Victoria - View more on Sustainable Development Goals
Environmental-Economic Accounting
The United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) framework is consistent with the international standard of System of National Accounts to report on the interactions between the economy and the environment.
Environmental-economic accounting gained momentum at the 1992 Rio “Earth Summit” which recognised the need for holistic indicators of society’s development beyond economic output (i.e. Gross Domestic Product) to include broader social and environmental indicators.
Find out what’s happening in Victoria - View more on Environmental-Economic Accounts
United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development
The links of our work and the United Nations 2030 Agenda continue with the release of the State of the Marine and Coastal Environment 2021 Report coinciding with the commencement of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).
Links
- Return to the State of the Marine and Coastal Environment 2021 Report home page