Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

Guest blog: Lenni Montiel: Senior UN Development Leader (Ret.) | Former UN Assistant Secretary-General |UNDP Resident Representative | Governance, Public Policy & Multilateral Diplomacy | Leadership Advisor & Trainer | Chevening Scholar. Lenni writes on LinkedIn about the UN and international development. Originally published here. S pain and Barbados. One from Europe, one from the Caribbean. Now co-leading the Sustainable Development Goals. The UN Secretary-General has appointed Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain as Co-Chair of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocates, alongside Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, who has held the position since 2022. Spain succeeds Canada, with Sánchez replacing former Prime Minister Trudeau in this leadership role. This pairing is strategic. Barbados, under Mia Mottley, has become one of the world's leading voices on climate action, debt reform, and financing for sustainable development. Spain has consistently posit...

    In September 2025, the United Nations Secretary-General has appointed an Independent Group of Scientists (IGS ) to draft the 2027 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR).  As mandated by United Nations Member States, the 2027 GSDR will inform the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development  and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) , particularly the SDG Summit in September 2027 , providing scientific guidance on the state of sustainable development globally, addressing emerging challenges, and offering actionable recommendations for governments and other stakeholders to better understand and navigate the complex relationships among social, environmental and economic development objectives in the last three years of SDG implementation and beyond.   Contribute your inputs now to the 2027 GSDR!   To support the wo...

Welcome to 2026 and the need for an even more  impactful stakeholder engagement in the UN processes. Chris Spence and Felix Dodds will be running a  two-day Zoom workshop on Environmental, Climate, and Sustainable Development  Lobbying at the United Nations ,  8:00 AM–2:00 PM  (New York time),  January 26 and February 2, 2026 . Although focused on the sustainable development world, most of what we cover is also relevant to any issue you are engaging in at the UN.  $589 Developed countries and $240 Developing Countries and Students. A lot of organizations  waste a considerable amount of funds  sending their staff to a UN meeting without being prepared in understanding how the meeting operates, how to influence policy before, during, and ensure an effective follow-up. This workshop is designed to help your  staff be effective from day 1  – actually, well before day 1!!! A small investment  NOW  will pay huge d...

This is Episode 2 of our series based on From Rio+20 to a New Development Agenda: Building a Bridge to a Sustainable Future by Felix Dodds , Jorge Laguna-Celis , and Liz Thompson. Over five episodes, we’re exploring the ideas, negotiations, and ripple effects that shaped the landmark 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20. Twenty years after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, "The Earth Summit", the Rio+20 conference in 2012 brought life back to sustainable development by putting it at the centre of a new global development partnership, one in which sustainable development is the basis for eradicating poverty, upholding human development and transforming economies.  Written by practitioners and participants involved in the multilateral process of negotiations, this book presents a unique insider analysis of not only what happened and why, but also where the outcomes might impact in the future, particularly in the UN de...

By  Felix Dodds  and  Chris Spence  | Originally published here on Inter Press Service While it may be difficult and painful, the UN Secretary-General is right to embrace change, believe Prof. Felix Dodds and Chris Spence The world needs the UN, now more than ever. But we have also experienced firsthand how maddeningly inefficient and bureaucratic it can be. No wonder some critics want to defund it, the authors argue. Credit: United Nations SAN FRANCISCO, California / APEX, North Carolina, US, May 16 2025 (IPS)  - The United Nations has been called many things in its time: A champion of human rights. The world’s peacekeeper and provider of disaster relief. A leader on climate change, sustainable development, cutting poverty, and combating disease. The world’s single most important organization.  But also: Bureaucratic. Byzantine. Disorganized. Duplicative. Fragmented. Frustrating. Which is it? The correct answer is, probably...

     Background: The NGO Branch, at the Office of Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for Sustainable Development in UN DESA, is pleased to invite interested NGOs to a briefing session on applying for ECOSOC consultative status. The session will be conducted on 6 May 2025 from 11:30 am - 12:30 pm (NYT). The session will provide information on the process of applying for consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.   Register here: https://events.te...