Greater application of the “precautionary principle” can reduce risks in a world where thresholds and limits are being breached and where endpoints are increasingly uncertain. Achieving progress under greater uncertainty requires coalitions between government institutions, businesses and civil society, to agree on pathways for tackling different societal risks. Vertical coordination between national and local policy levels will be instrumental in accelerating the transition towards sustainable development models in urban areas.
The Sustainable Development Goals should be seen as providing a strategic opportunity for environmental policy to contribute to transformative processes as well as a
support mechanism for strengthening adaptive capacities and resilience within societies on all levels, instead of a cost factor and constraint on development and competitiveness. Operationalizing the Sustainable Development Goals will require ambitious quantitative targets and indicators so that progress towards sustainability can be tracked properly to ensure convergence on a shared regional vision and ambition within planetary boundaries.
There is no doubt that achieving a healthy planet and healthy people requires urgent transformation of the current systems of production and consumption that most contribute to environmental degradation and inequalities in human health and well-being.
