Description
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal set of seventeen goals and 169 targets, with accompanying indicators, which were agreed by UN member states to frame their policy agendas for the fifteen-year period from 2015 to 2030. Written by three authors who have been engaged in the development of the SDGs from the beginning, this book offers an insider view of the process and a unique entry into what will be seen as one of the most significant negotiations and global policy agendas of the twenty-first century.
The book reviews how the SDGs were developed, what happened in key meetings and how this transformational agenda, which took more than three years to negotiate, came together in September 2015. It dissects and analyzes the meetings, organizations and individuals that played key roles in their development. It provides fascinating insights into the subtleties and challenges of high-level negotiation processes of governments and stakeholders, and into how the SDGs were debated, formulated and agreed. It is essential reading for all interested in the UN, sustainable development and the future of the planet and humankind.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Ambassador Macharia Kamau
1. A New Beginning Conceiving Sustainable Development Goals
Introduction
The Millennium Development Goals
Global Financial Crisis and the Role of the UN
The death and rebirth of Sustainable Development
Rio+20 preparatory process
UN Development Group’s initial ideas on Sustainable Development Goals
The birth of the SDGs
2. Understanding Complexity: Development or Sustainable Development Parallel Paths Emerging as One
Introduction
Preparations for 2015
The Open Working Group: An unusual negotiation process
Sustainable Development is not business as usual
Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing (ICESDF)
The UN System Task Team
Informal alliances – why are they important and how did they shape the process?
Stakeholder preparation and influence in the policy definition process
3. The Big Year: The Preparatory Process
Introduction
Moving forward from the Open Working Group (OWG)
The Third International Conference on Financing for Development
United Nations Sustainable Development Summit and the Pope’s address
Indicators – the Statistical Commission 2015
4. A Transformational Agenda: Outcomes from 2015 and What They Mean
Introduction
A journey finished another one started – retrospective look at what has been achieved
Climate Change and the 2030 Agenda: competing or complimentary agendas?
Is the UN fit to implement the 2030 Agenda?
Implementation at the National Level
Local and Sub-national level
The Role of Partnerships
Private sector
5. Understanding the Future: From 2015 to 2030, the Challenges Ahead
Introduction
Global Migration, forced Displacement a new phenomenon
Nexus: Climate Water Energy Food
From exclusion to inclusion: a new policy response to peace and security challenges
Health
Disruptive industries
Afterword 2030 Agenda adoption poem
Annex 1 Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
