The Global Goals for Sustainable Development

A set of 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development were formally adopted at a special UN summit in New York on 25-27 September. The goals raise great expectations and set the stage for the next 15 years. Their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), focused mainly on the human aspects of development. The Global Goals go beyond this by integrating the role of ecosystems in sustaining human well-being. This is a major step forward, in that the new goals seek to ensure a better balance between economic growth and environmental protection.

Goal #15 is at the heart of the post-2015 agenda and dear to UNU-LRT. It addresses land degradation and desertification, which are some of the most important global environmental challenges of our times. If we succeed in halting land degradation, restoring resilient and well-functioning ecosystems, and attaining sustainable land management we will at the same time influence and achieve many of the other goals. Achieving Goal #15 will for example help alleviate poverty (Goal #1), increase food security and end hunger (Goal #2), foster economic prosperity (Goal #8), mitigate climate change (Goal #13) and increase resilience of ecosystems and societies to future challenges. Thus it is vital that substantial and focused effort is put into achieving Goal #15. UNU-LRT will continue to work within this arena and we hope you will do that as well, and spread the word to your friends and colleagues.

See UNU-LRT blog on Goal #15 in a UNU blog series on the new Global Goals for Sustainable Development.