Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

2015 will be here very soon We have come a long way from the meeting in Solo in July, 2011 when Paula Caballero Gomez from Colombia floated the idea of Sustainable Development Goals as the replacement for the MDGs in 2015 with the support of the governments of Guatemala and Peru. For those who have been part of the discussion, the last 3 and half years shows how difficult it can be to develop policy at the intergovernmental level. It also has been one of the most open and transparent processes that I have seen while working at this level for 25 years. The first few months saw the UN DPI NGO Conference in September 2011 put forward the first suggestions of goals and targets. This was followed by the government retreat in Colombia in November 2011. This was the first time the governments discussed the idea and it was interesting to see the initial opposition from a number of the development Ministries’ donor countries to the idea of anything other than an MDG+ agenda. One fe...

The Co-chairs of the UN Sustainable Development Goals Open Working Group have now produced their focus areas : Poverty eradication Food security and nutrition  Health and population dynamics Education Gender Equality and women’s empowerment Water and sanitation Energy Economic Growth Industrialization Infrastructure Employment and decent work for all Promoting Equality Sustainable Cities and Settlements Sustainable Consumption and Production Climate Marine Resources, oceans and seas Ecosystems and biodiversity Means of Implementation Peaceful and non-violent societies, capable institutions The Co-chairs paper with much more detail can be downloaded from the UN web site . How can you participate in sending your views in? Well if you are linked with any of the Major Groups Organizing Partners then they will be soliciting input asap - go to the contact page on the UN web site to find out who to contact. If you don't know what the Major Groups are then you...