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University of Bergen - SDG Bergen Initiative
Description/achievement of initiative

SDG Bergen is a University of Bergen (UiB) strategic initiative to engage with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UiB has established SDG Bergen to encourage the university's researchers to engage in science diplomacy and to strengthen the science-policy interface. Universities need to gain a stronger presence in international high-level meetings. SDG Bergen is operative in the electoral period of the university's leadership (until 2021), with optional prolongation. Partnerships will endure beyond 2021.

Implementation methodologies

As the first Norwegian university to institutionalise the 2030 Agenda, the University of Bergen (UiB) organised the inaugural, high-level SDG Conference Bergen in February 2018, on behalf of the university sector in Norway and in cooperation with Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education and Research. The 2018 SDG Conference Bergen was the first of its kind worldwide, and brought together more than 300 national and international researchers, educators, politicians, government and UN officials, NGOs, and industry representatives to discuss how universities can contribute at the science-policy interface required for the goals of the 2030 Agenda. The conference laid the foundation for Norwegian universities to engage their researchers in innovative channels for science diplomacy. Following up on the inaugural 2018 conference, a national committee from the university sector in Norway was appointed to oversee the Conference, which is now an annual event hosted by UiB. During 2018, SDG Bergen established Ocean Sustainability Bergen (OSB), a subsidiary virtual centre for ocean science and diplomacy. SDG Bergen and OSB have attained SDG14 Hub status for UiB with UNAI (United Nations Academic Impact) and IAU (International Association of Universities).

Arrangements for Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer

For many years the University of Bergen (UiB) has established and developed partnerships in all continents and has been a dedicated member of international networks such as the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), the International Association of Universities (IAU), and the Southern African-Nordic Centre (SANORD), to mention a few. Add to that our extensive cooperation directly with partner institutions in Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific. SDG Bergen aims to build on these partnerships and enable the networks we are part of and our cooperation with partners to create innovative channels for science diplomacy. Cooperation with international partners is in the DNA of UiB. For decades UiB has referred to itself as Norway's most international university and as a truly global university. Our diversity is our strength, and with the SDG Bergen initiative this commitment spanning the globe is converging into an engagement with the UN's 2030 Agenda.

Coordination mechanisms/governance structure

The University of Bergen (UiB) has created the SDG Bergen Task Force to address and develop the science-policy interface. SDG Bergen was initiated by the UiB Rector and his team and reports directly to the leadership. The task force includes prominent researchers and senior advisers in communication and international cooperation. The premise for the SDG Bergen initiative is a common ground between the UN system, diplomatic missions and the university sector to be involved in global sustainability. UiB has pledged to become carbon-neutral by 2030, as part of the SDG Bergen initiative. Building on the position as Norway's premier SDG-oriented university, UiB has established leadership through a national committee for the 2030 Agenda consisting of leaders from Norway's main research universities and advisers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Research. The SDG Bergen Task Force reports to the central university leadership (the Rectorate) and is guided by a scientific steering committee, headed by UiB's Vice-Rector for International Relations.

Partner(s)

University of Oslo NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology UiT - The Arctic University of Norway NMBU - Norwegian University of Life Sciences UNAI - United Nations Academic Impact IAU - International Association of Universities
Progress reports
Goal 1
1.2 - By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
Goal 2
Goal 3
Goal 4
Goal 5
Goal 6
Goal 7
Goal 8
Goal 9
Goal 10
Goal 11
Goal 12
Goal 13
Goal 14
14.1 - By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution
14.2 - By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take action for their restoration in order to achieve healthy and productive oceans
14.3 - Minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification, including through enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels
14.4 - By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics
14.7 - By 2030, increase the economic benefits to Small Island developing States and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism
14.a - Increase scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technology, taking into account the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Criteria and Guidelines on the Transfer of Marine Technology, in order to improve ocean health and to enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity to the development of developing countries, in particular small island developing States and least developed countries
14.c - Enhance the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in UNCLOS, which provides the legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources, as recalled in paragraph 158 of The Future We Want
Goal 15
Goal 16
Goal 17
17.3 - Mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources
17.6 - Enhance North-South, South-South and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation and enhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms, including through improved coordination among existing mechanisms, in particular at the United Nations level, and through a global technology facilitation mechanism
Capacity-Building -
17.9 - Enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the sustainable development goals, including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation
Systemic Issues - Policy and Institutional coherence
17.14 - Enhance policy coherence for sustainable development
17.16 - Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries
17.17 - Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships

Data, monitoring and accountability
17.18 - By 2020, enhance capacity-building support to developing countries, including for least developed countries and small island developing States, to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts
02-2018
National SDG Conference Bergen 2018
02-2019
National SDG Conference Bergen 2019
02-2020
National SDG Conference Bergen 2020
02-2021
National SDG Conference Bergen 2021
2019
Advanced undergraduate interdisciplinary courses at the University of Bergen, offered annually: SDG213 (started autumn 2019), SDG214 (started spring 2019), SDG215 (started spring 2019).
Staff / Technical expertise
2 research and higher education advisers / 1 communicatikons adviser / 6 part-time professors
In-kind contribution
SDG Bergen scientific advice to national and international bodies
In-kind contribution
University of Bergen funding for annual SDG conference
In-kind contribution
University of Bergen funding for international travel (science diplomacy)

Basic information
Time-frame: 2018-01 - 2021-08
Website
Partners
University of Oslo NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology UiT - The Arctic University of Norway NMBU - Norwegian University of Life Sciences UNAI - United Nations Academic Impact IAU - International Association of Universities
Countries
Contact information
Edvard Hviding, Professor, edvard.hviding@uib.no
United Nations