Latest

• Major Groups and Other Stakeholder's Compilation Document on SD Goals and Targets
• Major Groups Compilation Summary of OWG10

Major Groups and other Stakeholders can contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals process through Thematic Clusters. Each Cluster is coordinated by Steering committees, who are responsible for preparing joint position papers for consideration of the Open Working Group. Click here to read more.

A renewed global partnership for development
In today's increasingly integrated world, the post-2015 development agenda must be conceived as a truly global agenda with shared responsibilities for all countries. The world has changed fundamentally since the adoption of the Millennium Declaration. It is faced with new challenges and opportunitie...

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Embedding the Environment in Sustainable Development Goals
One of the principal outcomes of Rio+20 was the call to produce a set of universally applicable sustainable
development goals (SDGs) that balance the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable
development. This Paper provides advice and guidance on how environmental sustain...

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Energy: A Brief Discussion on Goals, Targets and Indicators
Sustainable Energy is a key enabler of sustainable development for all countries and all people. Energy is vital for alleviating poverty, improving human welfare and raising living standards. Energy has been a central concern to humankind throughout its long history. The adequate provision of energy...

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Finance for Food Security and Rural Development: Challenges and Opportunities
Poverty remains largely a rural problem. Globally, about 1.2 billion people live on less than US$1.25 a day. About 870 million people suffer from hunger. And 76 per cent of the world’s very poor people live in rural areas. Most of them are excluded from the formal financial system.

An inclu...

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Global Development Goal Setting as a Policy Tool for Global Governance: Intended and Uintended Consequences
Global development goals have become increasingly used by the United Nations and the international community to promote priority global objectives. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the most prominent example of such goals, but many others have been set since the 1960s. Despite their promi...

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Global Goals as a Policy Tool: Intended and Unintended Consequences
Despite the increasing use and influence of global goals, little has been written about goal setting as a particular type of policy instrument in global governance. According to the UN intellectual history project (jolly et al, 2009), goal setting originated in the 1960s and made a major contributio...

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How to build sustainable development goals: integrating human development and environmental sustainability in a new global agenda
Combining human development and environmental objectives is firmly on the agenda for a new set of global priorities after 2015. The High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons endorsed this approach in the Monrovia communiqué, outlining a vision for a new development agenda that is “people centred and plane...

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IUCN VIEWS ON THE POST 2015 DEVELOPMENT AGENDA AND THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
This document summarises the points the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) considers essential in the discussion on the post-2015 development agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Separate IUCN position papers and policy briefs on specific issues are under developme...

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Sustainable development goals for people and planet
Planetary stability must be integrated with United Nations targets to fight poverty and secure human well-being, argue David Griggs and colleagues.

The United Nations Rio+20 summit in Brazil in 2012 committed governments to create a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) that would be ...

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The Global Conversation Begins
Emerging views for a new development agenda

The United Nations and partners have launched an unprecedented series of consultations with people the world over to seek their views on a new development agenda to build on the successes of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

This g...

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TST ISSUES BRIEFS - A compendium of issues briefs prepared by the United Nations inter-agency technical support team for the United Nations General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals
This document is a compilation of issues briefs produced by the United Nations Technical Support Team in support of the General Assembly Open Working Group.

The Technical Support Team was established pursuant to paragraph 249 of the Rio+20 outcome document, the Future We Want. The TST is co...

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UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda
Review of the contributions of the MDG Agenda to foster development: Lessons for the post-2015 UN development agenda

This note is not about providing new detail to the observed progress made towards the MDGs; rather, it aims to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the MDG agenda in steeri...

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One of the main outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012, was the agreement by Member States to launch a process to develop a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Rio+20 did not elaborate specific goals but stated that the SDGs should be limited in number, aspirational and easy to communicate. The goals should address in a balanced way all three dimensions of sustainable development and be coherent with and integrated into the UN development agenda beyond 2015. A 30-member Open Working Group (OWG) of the General Assembly is tasked with preparing a proposal on the SDGs.

The Open Working Group was established on 22nd of January 2013 by decision 67/555 (see A/67/L.48/rev.1) of the General Assembly. The Member States have decided to use an innovative, constituency-based system of representation that is new to limited membership bodies of the General Assembly. This means that most of the seats in the OWG are shared by several countries.

The Rio+20 outcome document The Future We Want states that, at the outset, the OWG will decide on its methods of work, including developing modalities to ensure the full involvement of relevant stakeholders and expertise from civil society, the scientific community and the United Nations system in its work, in order to provide a diversity of perspectives and experience.

In its first session, the Open Working Group elected two co-chairs. The OWG is co-chaired by Mr. Csaba Kõrösi, Permanent Representative of Hungary, and Mr. Macharia Kamau, Permanent Representative of Kenya.

B. Sustainable development goals

245. We underscore that the Millennium Development Goals are a useful tool in focusing achievement of specific development gains as part of a broad development vision and framework for the development activities of the United Nations, for national priority-setting and for mobilization of stakeholders and resources towards common goals. We therefore remain firmly committed to their full and timely achievement.

246. We recognize that the development of goals could also be useful for pursuing focused and coherent action on sustainable development. We further recognize the importance and utility of a set of sustainable development goals, based on Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, which fully respect all the Rio Principles, taking into account different national circumstances, capacities and priorities, are consistent with international law, build upon commitments already made, and contribute to the full implementation of the outcomes of all major summits in the economic, social and environmental fields, including the present outcome document. The goals should address and incorporate in a balanced way all three dimensions of sustainable development and their interlinkages. They should be coherent with and integrated into the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015, thus contributing to the achievement of sustainable development and serving as a driver for implementation and mainstreaming of sustainable development in the United Nations system as a whole. The development of these goals should not divert focus or effort from the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

247. We also underscore that sustainable development goals should be actionoriented, concise and easy to communicate, limited in number, aspirational, global in nature and universally applicable to all countries while taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and respecting national policies and priorities. We also recognize that the goals should address and be focused on priority areas for the achievement of sustainable development, being guided by the present outcome document. Governments should drive implementation with the active involvement of all relevant stakeholders, as appropriate.

248. We resolve to establish an inclusive and transparent intergovernmental process on sustainable development goals that is open to all stakeholders, with a view to developing global sustainable development goals to be agreed by the General Assembly. An open working group shall be constituted no later than at the opening of the sixty-seventh session of the Assembly and shall comprise 30 representatives, nominated by Member States from the five United Nations regional groups, with the aim of achieving fair, equitable and balanced geographic representation. At the outset, this open working group will decide on its methods of work, including developing modalities to ensure the full involvement of relevant stakeholders and expertise from civil society, the scientific community and the United Nations system in its work, in order to provide a diversity of perspectives and experience. It will submit a report, to the sixty-eighth session of the Assembly, containing a proposal for sustainable development goals for consideration and appropriate action.

249. The process needs to be coordinated and coherent with the processes to consider the post-2015 development agenda. The initial input to the work of the working group will be provided by the Secretary-General, in consultation with national Governments. In order to provide technical support to the process and to the work of the working group, we request the Secretary-General to ensure all necessary input and support to this work from the United Nations system, including through establishing an inter-agency technical support team and expert panels, as needed, drawing on all relevant expert advice. Reports on the progress of work will be made regularly to the General Assembly.

250. We recognize that progress towards the achievement of the goals needs to be assessed and accompanied by targets and indicators, while taking into account different national circumstances, capacities and levels of development.

251. We recognize that there is a need for global, integrated and scientifically based information on sustainable development. In this regard, we request the relevant bodies of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates, to support the regional economic commissions in collecting and compiling national inputs in order to inform this global effort. We further commit to mobilizing financial resources and capacity-building, particularly for developing countries, to achieve this endeavour.

Member states represented in the Open Working Group:

The Rio+20 outcome document The Future We Want requested the Secretary-General of the United Nations to ensure all necessary input and support to the Open Working Group from the United Nations system, including by establishing an inter-agency technical support team.

This UN System Technical Support Team (TST) consists of over 40 UN entities and works under the umbrella of UN System Task Team on the post-2015 development agenda.

Co-chairs: UN-DESA and UNDP

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Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) International Labour Organization (ILO) International Maritime Organization (IMO) International Monetary Fund (IMF) International Organization for Migration (IOM) International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS) Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) United Nations Department of Political Affairs (UN-DPA) United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) United Nations Environment United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) United Nations Global Compact United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office (UN-PBSO) United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) United Nations Regional Commissions United Nations University (UNU) United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) World Bank Group World Health Organisation (WHO) World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) World Meteorological Organization (WMO) World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) World Trade Organization (WTO)