The Beacon Project: Using Biodiversity and Energy justice to resolve Conflicts between Sustainable Development Goals
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Stirling
Department Name: Biological and Environmental Sciences
Abstract
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promote global economic and social prosperity while simultaneously seeking to protect the environment. All UN member states are signatories to achieving SDGs under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, competing objectives of SDGs require decision-makers to trade-off SDGs, leading to damaging and unequal distribution of costs and benefits for people and the environment, which ultimately prevents sustainable development. To address this global problem I will apply a novel approach using hydropower as a model system, to deliver the critical step change in interdisciplinary research needed to quantify the trade-offs, conflicts and synergies between SDGs and between stakeholders. This project will identify, forecast, prevent and mitigate conflicts associated with development processes, to achieve equitable sustainable development now and beyond the 2030 sustainable development targets.
Our global energy dilemma highlights and exemplifies trade-offs between SDGs. The increasing human population and growing energy demand challenges whether we can have secure, affordable and equitable energy without adversely affecting people and the environment. Solving the multifaceted challenges presented by the global energy dilemma has been hindered by the historic separation of environmental and social sciences and the humanities. This project combines these disciplines to address the complexity of energy development, stakeholder justice, and environmental sustainability. The overall aim of the project is to deliver the tools needed for equitable decision-making, by designing an innovative framework for decision-makers that explicitly considers the complex social-environmental dimensions of development.
Large hydropower schemes (dam height >15 m) bring conflicts between SDGs and stakeholders into sharp focus. More than 9700 large hydropower dams have been constructed worldwide providing energy and boosting industrial infrastructure development. However, such dams have displaced an estimated 40-80 million people, and, through reservoir creation and river flow disruption, we have lost environments that are important for biodiversity and climate change mitigation. Thus, hydropower development puts significant pressure on SDGs that focus on local livelihoods and food security, justice and accountability, water, ecosystems and global biodiversity. Despite uncertainty over future energy gains under changing climatic and rainfall patterns, national and international investment for new dams is rising.
To deliver the tools needed to ensure development processes are equitable and accountable, this project will engage multiple stakeholders, including those traditionally marginalised in the decision-making process, alongside high-level decision-makers across different socio-political and environmental contexts in Brazil, Kazakhstan, India and Scotland. Data and methods from social-environmental surveys, Earth observation, and the energy justice framework will be integrated throughout this project to develop a toolkit for local people, NGOs, civil society, and high-level decision-makers to increase equity and transparency of development processes. A network of more than 15 world-leading project partners including NGOs, international institutions, expert advisors and academic institutions actively support this research.
To achieve international sustainable development, conflicts between SDGs and stakeholders must be prevented and resolved. This project delivers the innovative interdisciplinary tools needed to change current development decision-making practice to explicitly incorporate the complex social-environmental dimensions of development. Thus, this project will ensure that global development is equitable and sustainable now and beyond the 2030 targets.
Our global energy dilemma highlights and exemplifies trade-offs between SDGs. The increasing human population and growing energy demand challenges whether we can have secure, affordable and equitable energy without adversely affecting people and the environment. Solving the multifaceted challenges presented by the global energy dilemma has been hindered by the historic separation of environmental and social sciences and the humanities. This project combines these disciplines to address the complexity of energy development, stakeholder justice, and environmental sustainability. The overall aim of the project is to deliver the tools needed for equitable decision-making, by designing an innovative framework for decision-makers that explicitly considers the complex social-environmental dimensions of development.
Large hydropower schemes (dam height >15 m) bring conflicts between SDGs and stakeholders into sharp focus. More than 9700 large hydropower dams have been constructed worldwide providing energy and boosting industrial infrastructure development. However, such dams have displaced an estimated 40-80 million people, and, through reservoir creation and river flow disruption, we have lost environments that are important for biodiversity and climate change mitigation. Thus, hydropower development puts significant pressure on SDGs that focus on local livelihoods and food security, justice and accountability, water, ecosystems and global biodiversity. Despite uncertainty over future energy gains under changing climatic and rainfall patterns, national and international investment for new dams is rising.
To deliver the tools needed to ensure development processes are equitable and accountable, this project will engage multiple stakeholders, including those traditionally marginalised in the decision-making process, alongside high-level decision-makers across different socio-political and environmental contexts in Brazil, Kazakhstan, India and Scotland. Data and methods from social-environmental surveys, Earth observation, and the energy justice framework will be integrated throughout this project to develop a toolkit for local people, NGOs, civil society, and high-level decision-makers to increase equity and transparency of development processes. A network of more than 15 world-leading project partners including NGOs, international institutions, expert advisors and academic institutions actively support this research.
To achieve international sustainable development, conflicts between SDGs and stakeholders must be prevented and resolved. This project delivers the innovative interdisciplinary tools needed to change current development decision-making practice to explicitly incorporate the complex social-environmental dimensions of development. Thus, this project will ensure that global development is equitable and sustainable now and beyond the 2030 targets.
Planned Impact
All UN member states are signatories to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Conflicts between SDGs and between stakeholders with competing objectives prevents achievement of sustainable development. The innovative decision-making framework developed in this project, which provides the mechanisms to increase the equity, transparency and accountability of development processes will therefore be of broad direct and indirect benefit to local people, NGOs, civil society, the private sector and financing bodies, governments and intergovernmental panels. Wider impact is ensured because the decision-making framework is scalable and adaptable to different scenarios of SDG conflict.
At the global level, key beneficiaries of the decision-making framework are high-level decision-makers such as UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF), which sets global sustainable development policy. This project delivers the evidence and tools to tackle conflicts between SDGs, which will therefore assist in setting the sustainable development agenda beyond the 2030 targets. The framework will also provide the tools for international financial institutions e.g. The World Bank and private sector entities responsible for large infrastructure development, to plan projects that fully consider and mitigate the social-environmental dimensions of development through space and time. The evidence and tools produced by this project therefore benefit local people, NGOs and those working in human rights and environmental law, by increasing the equity, transparency and accountability of development processes.
In the UK, this project will provide the pathways to change sustainable development strategy that fully considers the complexities of energy development, stakeholder justice, and environmental sustainability. This project works in Scotland specifically and the evidence and tools for equitable development will therefore benefit the Scottish Government Hydro Nation programme, which is committed to developing water resources for maximum economic benefit both in Scotland and internationally.
Due to the wide range of direct and indirect beneficiaries, including local people, national decision-makers, NGOs and intergovernmental panels, outputs from this project have been designed to be widely accessible, including through an innovative visualisation of global energy justice related to dam development. All data will be permanently available and accessible via the University of Stirling dataSTORRE repository. A dedicated project website will describe and signpost all project activity and infographics for project outputs will be produced, ensuring maximum openness of the project.
Timescales for impact:
Over the project lifetime (0-7 years)
- Local people traditionally marginalised in decision-making
- Groups working on adaptive management solutions e.g. Amazon Dams Network
- Human rights and energy lawyers seeking mechanisms for increased accountability and equity in development decision-making e.g. AIDA Americas
- Project partners sharing knowledge and building capacity via 'partner forum'
Mid-project (4 years)
- UN High Level Political Forum
- NGOs e.g. International Land Coalition and International Institute of Environment and Development seeking evidence and mechanisms for sustainable development
- Scottish Government Hydro Nation programme
- Public interest via visualisation of energy justice
- International funding institutions and private sector developing large infrastructure
Long-term (7+ years)
- Lasting benefits to stakeholder groups engaged in project workshops, by building the foundation for continued dialogue between different stakeholders at the local and national scales
- Civil society via change in global sustainable development policy by improved consideration of the complexities of energy development, stakeholder justice, and environmental sustainability
At the global level, key beneficiaries of the decision-making framework are high-level decision-makers such as UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF), which sets global sustainable development policy. This project delivers the evidence and tools to tackle conflicts between SDGs, which will therefore assist in setting the sustainable development agenda beyond the 2030 targets. The framework will also provide the tools for international financial institutions e.g. The World Bank and private sector entities responsible for large infrastructure development, to plan projects that fully consider and mitigate the social-environmental dimensions of development through space and time. The evidence and tools produced by this project therefore benefit local people, NGOs and those working in human rights and environmental law, by increasing the equity, transparency and accountability of development processes.
In the UK, this project will provide the pathways to change sustainable development strategy that fully considers the complexities of energy development, stakeholder justice, and environmental sustainability. This project works in Scotland specifically and the evidence and tools for equitable development will therefore benefit the Scottish Government Hydro Nation programme, which is committed to developing water resources for maximum economic benefit both in Scotland and internationally.
Due to the wide range of direct and indirect beneficiaries, including local people, national decision-makers, NGOs and intergovernmental panels, outputs from this project have been designed to be widely accessible, including through an innovative visualisation of global energy justice related to dam development. All data will be permanently available and accessible via the University of Stirling dataSTORRE repository. A dedicated project website will describe and signpost all project activity and infographics for project outputs will be produced, ensuring maximum openness of the project.
Timescales for impact:
Over the project lifetime (0-7 years)
- Local people traditionally marginalised in decision-making
- Groups working on adaptive management solutions e.g. Amazon Dams Network
- Human rights and energy lawyers seeking mechanisms for increased accountability and equity in development decision-making e.g. AIDA Americas
- Project partners sharing knowledge and building capacity via 'partner forum'
Mid-project (4 years)
- UN High Level Political Forum
- NGOs e.g. International Land Coalition and International Institute of Environment and Development seeking evidence and mechanisms for sustainable development
- Scottish Government Hydro Nation programme
- Public interest via visualisation of energy justice
- International funding institutions and private sector developing large infrastructure
Long-term (7+ years)
- Lasting benefits to stakeholder groups engaged in project workshops, by building the foundation for continued dialogue between different stakeholders at the local and national scales
- Civil society via change in global sustainable development policy by improved consideration of the complexities of energy development, stakeholder justice, and environmental sustainability
Organisations
- University of Stirling (Fellow, Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Southampton (Collaboration)
- University of Florida (Project Partner)
- State University of Santa Cruz (Project Partner)
- James Hutton Institute (Project Partner)
- University of Kent (Project Partner)
- International Institute for Environment and Development (Project Partner)
- World Bank (Project Partner)
- Taraz State University (Project Partner)
- University of Dundee (Project Partner)
- University of St Andrews (Project Partner)
- Madiodio Niasse Inc Consultants (MNI) (Project Partner)
- International Fund for Saving the Aral S (Project Partner)
- University of East Anglia (Project Partner)
- University of Edinburgh (Project Partner)
- International Land Coalition (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
Isabel Jones (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications

Bauld J
(2022)
Can diet niche partitioning enhance sexual dimorphism?
in Ecology and Evolution

Jones IL
(2022)
Achieving international biodiversity targets: Learning from local norms, values and actions regarding migratory waterfowl management in Kazakhstan.
in The Journal of applied ecology


Rakotonarivo S
(2021)
The role of incentive-based instruments and social equity in conservation conflict interventions
in Ecology and Society

Tigga NP
(2023)
Efficacy of novel attention-based gated recurrent units transformer for depression detection using electroencephalogram signals.
in Health information science and systems

Van Der Sande M
(2022)
Soil resistance and recovery during neotropical forest succession
in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Description | New collaboration for a workshop and guide relating to equitable research partnerships |
Organisation | University of Southampton |
Department | ESRC National Centre for Research Methods |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | I contributed to a workshop which brought together international researchers to discuss experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to international research, and contributed to the development of a "Wayfinder" guide summarising workshop discussions. |
Collaborator Contribution | The NCRM was actively involved in the workshop and facilitated both the workshop and report being produced. |
Impact | A "Wayfinder" guide has been produced as part of a series produced from the NCRM Changing Research Methods for Covid-19 Research Project. The guide is titled "The NCRM wayfinder guide to equitable research relations in and after Covid-19" and is the result of multi-disciplinary discussions across the biological and environmental sciences; medical and health sciences; social sciences and humanities. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Title | Power Up! |
Description | The "Power Up!" game for mobile devices puts players in the role of sustainable development decision-makers. Detailed human decision-making data about difficult Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) trade-offs are collected through gameplay. "Power Up!" is a step-change in how mobile games can be used to directly engage people in research-led data collection at the scales needed to tackle global challenges. |
Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Impact | The "Power Up!" game was launched at COP26 (November 2021) and in that month alone there were >700 players generating data on >57,000 decisions about sustainable development. Players receive real-time feedback on the consequences of their sustainable development choices, and thus immediate impact from engagement with the topic of Sustainable Development trade-offs is realised. |
Description | Interview for national news |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Press release on the launch of the "Power Up" game at the start of COP26, leading to media interviews for radio (Central FM) and press coverage, including BBC Scotland. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-59090167 |
Description | Invited seminar speaker, DICE, University of Kent |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited seminar to introduce The Beacon Project research programme and discuss the broad themes of Sustainable Development Goals, human decision-making and trade-offs. This seminar generated a lot of discussion and many questions. The host institution reported that students really valued the seminar as part of their study programme. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Invited speaker for CSaP Policy Fellow seminar series |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Brief presentation given followed by a discussion with CSaP (Centre for Science and Policy, University of Cambridge) Policy Fellows. The presentation introduced the theme of the Fellowship research, as well as soliciting feedback on how policy-makers view the recently developed "Power Up!" mobile phone game that aims to generate a global dataset on human sustainable development decision-making that can assist real-world decision-making. The purpose of the seminar was to spark new dialogue and knowledge-sharing surrounding the broad theme of trade-offs between Sustainable Development Goals. The seminar was attended by around 20 Policy Fellows and CSaP reported that Fellows had been highly engaged by the research and provided valuable additional feedback following the seminar; a news article has been written by a CSaP Policy Intern about the seminar. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/policy-fellowships/policy-fellows/ |
Description | Online mini-lecture as part of COP26 public engagement |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Mini-lecture produced and recorded, freely available online, as part of the University of Stirling COP26 knowledge exchange and public engagement programme. The mini-lecture outlines the broad research themes of the project as well as highlights the freely available "Power Up!" game, which is an online game that people can engage with and demonstrate how they would make difficult sustainable development choices: all data are collected building a global database of human decision-making surrounding Sustainable Development Goal trade-offs, with the aim of these data being used as a real-world decision-support tool in the future. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://cop26lectures.stir.ac.uk/2021/11/01/using-biodiversity-and-energy-justice-to-resolve-conflic... |
Description | Panel member discussing the importance of interdisciplinary research in the context of COP26 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Panel member discussing the role and importance of interdisciplinary research in tackling global challenges. The panel discussion was held shortly after COP26 and the panel discussion aimed to synthesise the emerging needs for interdisciplinary research following COP26 outcomes. The panel discussion was part of the University of Stirling's 'COP26 knowledge sharing series' and was freely available online. Panel members were from across the natural and social sciences and the humanities. The panel discussion sparked questions from online attendees. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Press release about the "Power Up" game |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Press release about the "Power Up!" game for mobile phones led to an enquiry about the "Power Up!" game being incorporated into a professional development module for school leaders and middle managers on making decision trade-offs (Centre for Educational Leadership, Schools Division, Ministry of Education, Singapore) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Press release for release of "Power Up!" game |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Press release on the release of the "Power Up!" game for mobile phones. The press release resulted in the Science Museum (London) requesting more information on gamified research and a discussion about games and research, with the possibility of involvement at an event at the Science Museum. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.stir.ac.uk/news/2021/november-2021-news/new-video-game-puts-players-in-the-shoes-of-cop2... |
Description | Research presented in COP26 'Green Zone' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Research, specifically relating to the "Power Up!" game for mobile devices, was presented by the project PI at both the UKRI and COP26 Universities Networks stands, within the public-facing COP26 'Green Zone'. Being present on the stands with posters, postcards, business cards and a video elicited conversations with an estimated 70-100 people who were not previously aware of the research, nor aware of the "Power Up!" game. In concert with media activities, this engagement at COP26 resulted in >700 players engaging with the "Power Up!" game, generating >57,000 decisions on sustainable development, representing the start of building a global database of human decision-making surrounding difficult Sustainable Development Goal trade-offs. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Team member delivering a workshop on "The future of games in research" |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | This was a one-hour online workshop for the 30th International Congress for Conservation Biology. As a team we gave an overview of how we have used games in research and help 'breakout' discussions on different topics to facilitate knowledge exchange on e.g. ethics when using games for research. The discussions had during the workshop has prompted us to consider holding a small conference dedicated to the topic of using games in research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Website created to share research activities and outputs |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Website created for The Beacon Project with the primary purpose of sharing project activities and outputs widely and visibly to all audiences |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.thebeaconproject.net/ |