Mapping Positive Peace Pillars and Indicators in Sustainable Development Research: Co-Benefits, Trade-Offs, and Mediating Factors

The policy recognition that peace and sustainability are intrinsically linked has led to increased scholarly attention on their nexus. In this systematic review, we focus on the indicators of positive peace and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to provide a fine-grained analysis of their co-benefits, trade-offs, and mediating factors. The literature landscape shows an increasing conceptual integration of environmental, social, and economic issues, with the SDGs serving as the central organizing paradigm. Our content analysis also reveals that positive peace acts as the mediating factor, enabling the conditions or moderating the inadvertent consequences of sustainable development. In this age of multiple, interconnected, and fast-moving crises, advancing our understanding of the peace–sustainability nexus becomes more pressing than ever. This comprehensive assessment of the pathways between positive peace and sustainable development presents a synthesis of the dominant themes and identifies the knowledge gaps in the literature, thereby informing future research and policy directions.