D Development Cannibalism and the Sustainable Development Goals Benedict Arko Department of Geography Education, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana Definitions In an allusion to cannibalism which refers to the eating of one by another of one’ s own species, “development cannibalism” refers to the situation where one development organization with the aim of improving its capacity to achieve set goals deploys various strategies to draw in resources belonging to another development entity which are critical to the survival or success of that orga- nization leading to that entity’ s eventual collapse. To illustrate, development cannibalism is when actors responsible for implementing development program A use various strategies covert, overt, or both to entice or draw in resources of development program B they consider necessary for their pro- gram to succeed leading to the collapse of devel- opment program B. These resources may be staff, key partners, funds, etc. The sustainable development goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 goals adopted by the United Nations as “the blueprint to achieve a better and more sus- tainable future for all” (United Nations 2020). The United Nations (undated) describes the SDGs as “integrated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the eco- nomic, social and environmental.” The SDGs were adopted in September 2015 as a follow-up to the millennium development goals (MDGs). The intention is to continue and finish the work started with the MDGs. Implementation of the SDGs started in 2016 with the end date being 2030. The 17 SDGs come with 169 targets and 232 indicators (SDG Tracker 2020). While the targets specify the goals, the indicators represent the measures by which the attainment of the tar- gets can be tracked (SDG Tracker 2020). Introduction This entry draws attention to development canni- balism, a phenomenon in the development arena, which is an antithesis to the 17 SDGs, namely, partnerships for the goals. Partnership for the SDGs has been defined as multi-stakeholder ini- tiatives voluntarily undertaken by governments, inter-governmental organizations, major groups, and other stakeholders whose efforts are contrib- uting to the implementation of inter-governmen- tally agreed development goals and commitments (Stibbe et al. 2019). The focus of the SDG 17 is to “strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development” (Zuklin 2019). There are 19 targets and 25 indicators to the SDG 17 (SDG Tracker 2020). However, central for the discussion in this © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Partnerships for the Goals, Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71067-9_105-2