The Sustainable Development Goals: A New Resource to Support Science-Based Decision Making

At the request of UNESCO, the Center for Mathematical Research (CRM) of the University of Montreal publishes today a collection of articles It aims to highlight the essential role of mathematics in solving many planetary problems.

Freely accessible online and written by an international consortium of experts, this tool from a mathematical perspective covers a wide range of topics related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): poverty mapping, gender gap measurement, pandemic modeling, forecasting climate change, measuring biodiversity, etc.

“We hope that this collection of articles will give the reader, whether a policy maker, science consultant, diplomat, or just curious, an idea of ​​the extent and importance of mathematics in solving planetary problems,” says Christian Russo, project instigator, CRM member, and professor emeritus in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at UdeM. .

The mathematician adds that mathematical models make it possible in particular to predict the course of some extreme weather events, to project curves of group immunity and pandemic-related infection, to model vaccine frequency and to assess sustainable management of natural resources.

“We want to convince our readers that using mathematics and science in general is more than necessary to meet the most pressing challenges in the context of accelerating global change,” she adds.