SDSN Launches a New National Network in Portugal
SDSN Portugal joins SDSN’s family of 55 national and regional networks in their mission of advancing the SDGs locally and globally.
On 2 November 2023, SDSN Portugal was officially launched by NOVA University Lisbon, Centre of Engineering and Product Development (CEIIA), and Instituto Marquês de Valle Flôr (IMVF). The Portuguese network will be hosted by these three institutions and has established the following objectives: (1) to shape multi-stakeholder dialogue, engaging the academic community, public administrations, the private sector, and civil society; (2) foster sustainable development solutions; and (3) advise decision-makers, offering evidence-based advice for multi-level and thematically integrated public policies.
As part of the high-level launch event, the Network’s leadership team, composed of Professor Júlia Seixas, Chair of SDSN Portugal and pro-rector of Sustainability at NOVA, and Maria João Rauch, manager of SDSN Portugal, convened Portuguese member organizations as well as representatives from the Competence Centre for Planning, Policy, and Foresight in Public Administration, the Secretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, André Moz Caldas, among other national experts and specialists.
SDSN’s Vice-President María Cortés-Puch and SDSN’s President, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, participated in the event with opening and closing remarks respectively. “SDSN Portugal has been created at a very decisive time. In the coming months, we count on SDSN Portugal’s efforts and commitment for key events, such as the Summit of the Future and the next G20, as well as working closely with the African Union,” stated Professor Sachs.
The launch of SDSN Portugal is a milestone for accelerating innovative dialogue models that create spaces for reflection and sharing, involving academia, government, business and civil society, with the aim of developing actions to implement the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. The chair of SDSN Portugal, Júlia Seixas, commented "This will be an opportunity for Portuguese higher education institutions and centers of knowledge and innovation to put solutions for sustainable development at the service of society, in partnership with all players.”
Over the next few years, SDSN Portugal will ensure the mobilization of scientific and transdisciplinary knowledge, collective learning processes that enable integrated policies, systemic transformation and practices based on evidence and science, and the promotion of solutions for the implementation of the SDGs in Portugal.
“From the local to the global, we will endeavor to contribute to the decision-making process, demonstrating the opportunity for solutions to decision-makers at the political, business, and societal levels with a view towards encouraging the necessary transformations,” assured Professor Seixas.
SDSN currently counts 11 member institutions in Portugal: TESE - Associação para o Desenvolvimento, Portuguese Water Partnership, Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Comitê Científico do Curso de Doutoramento em Alterações Climáticas e Politicas para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável, Universidade de Lisboa, Lusofona University Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Education and Development, CESOP - Catholic University of Portugal, ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, in addition to the three host institutions.
SDSN Portugal has already kicked off efforts to advance the SDGs locally. On November 3, Júlia Seixas, chair of SDSN Portugal, and Marta Garcia Haro, Senior Manager at SDSN, presented the network to the 80 local governments that compose ODSlocal and explored opportunities for engaging with cities at the Conference ODSlocal'23, the annual meeting of Portuguese municipalities around the SDGs.
For more information on SDSN Portugal visit https://www.unsdsn.org/portugal.
Watch the recording: https://youtu.be/qqOnDq9dGwE (in Portuguese)
