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technology transfer. Respect for each country’s policyspace – for instance articulated in SDG target 17.15 – findsexpression in a brief arguing that Latin America needs analternative development model rooted in the continent’sparticular experience, one that represents a shift awayfrom the unsustainable primary commodity exportmodel. 609 The issue of multi-stakeholder partnerships findslittle if any coverage in the collection of briefs. By contrast,a number of briefs highlight issues of data, measurementand monitoring, including measures that complement grossdomestic product. Thus a brief on monitoring theperformance of food systems points out that metrics arefrequently inadequate or contradictory, and that there aredifferences in methodologies and definitions for even basicmeasurements of crop yields, prevalence of poverty andhunger. 6107.3.17. Briefs in Chinese languageAlmost one quarter of the crowdsourced briefs weresubmitted in the Chinese language (Figure 7-1), warrantinga separate analysis. 611The Chinese briefs targeted many pertinent topics, mainlyon environmental and economic domains within nationaland local context, and addressed a wide spectrum of issueswithin the SDG framework, including urbanization, SCP,energy and water sustainability (Figure 7-4) - many ofwhich are major challenges in China’s efforts to build an“ecological civilization”. Topics range from carbon footprintanalysis of radial car tires, to the wellbeing of migrantsrelocated due to hydropower plants, to issues in denselypopulated mega-cities, through to fine particle emissionsfrom coal-fired power plants. Some briefs used entropy andsimilar measures from the natural sciences. Somehighlighted the experience in sustainable developmentexperimental zones somewhat following the earlier modelof special economic zones.Figure 7-4. Coverage of SDGs by all submitted briefs vs.those in Chinese languageExploring inter-linkages between poverty alleviation andecological capital, on the basis of vulnerability analysis,some briefs focus on ecologically fragile areas and illustratevarious pathways of poverty alleviation such as ecologicalcapital management, establishing an ecological capitalinvestment mechanism, as well as ecological compensationmechanisms for poverty alleviation. A number of briefsreported on the use of models of the nexus betweenenergy and water resources. A Water Ecological FootprintModel was also presented. About half the briefs in Chinesediscussed the application of sustainability principles in theurbanization process in various contexts ranging from smalltowns to megacities. Lessons learned from several nationalsustainable development experimental zones were shared,including on the local use of integrated environmentalassessments and indicators which have becomeincreasingly common. Many briefs proposed ways andmeans to reduce material and energy consumption. SomeThe briefs reported on the results of life cycle assessments(LCA) to assess products’ carbon footprints and GHGreduction potentials. For example, they found that the useof car tires contributed 80% of the carbon footprint,compared to 20% related to their production. Some briefsdiscuss governance aspects, trade-offs, and their link toconflicts (SDG16), including in the context of acceleratedurbanization. The authors suggested balanced approachesfor land transfer and ecological and intergenerationalcompensation.. Using entropy measures and combiningsocio-economic and environmental data, authors showedthe improving sustainable development of the Bohai Searegion.In summary, the briefs submitted in Chinese provide awealth of ideas, findings and approaches, many withspecific applications to China.7.4. Selected sustainability science highlights fromacademic journalsBesides an open call for contributions, various other expertbasedmethods exist to identify issues that scientists maywant to bring to the attention of decision-makers. One ofthem is horizon scanning which refers to a “structured andcontinuous activity aimed to monitor, analyse and position‘frontier issues’ that are relevant for policy, research andstrategic agendas. The types of issues mapped includenew/emerging trends, policies, practices, stakeholders,services/products, technologies, behaviours/attitudes,‘surprises’ (i.e. wild cards) and ‘seeds of change’ (i.e. weaksignals)”. 612141