Cross-Discipline Evidence Principles for Sustainability Policy

Social and environmental systems are linked and, as this relationship becomes ever more apparent, governments, communities and organizations are increasingly faced with, and focused on, problems that are complex, wicked, and transgress traditional disciplinary boundaries. Indicative of this focus, 12 of the 17 United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals directly reference linkages between human development challenges and environmental health. This article in the journal Nature Sustainability suggests that evidence-based approaches to solve these complex multi-disciplinary challenges must draw on knowledge from the environment, development, and health domains. To address barriers to the consideration of evidence across domains, this paper develops an approach to evidence assessment that is broader and less hierarchical than the standards often applied within disciplines.