SDG 15 - Life on Land

On the eve of the (virtual) United Nations 75th anniversary event and the Global Goals Week authors presented this year's global civil society report Spotlight on Sustainable Development.

 

If you missed the virtual launching event you can watch the recording here.

Find the report & further information here.

 

Global Civil Society Report on the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs

New York, 18 September 

The COVID-19 crisis and the worldwide measures to tackle it have deeply affected communities, societies and economies around the globe. The implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been put at high risk in many countries. COVID-19 is a global wake-up call for enhanced international cooperation and solidarity.

But calls for “building back better” by just pushing the reset button will not change the game. We need structural changes [...]

Global civil society report assesses structural obstacles and institutional gaps in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda

New York, 8 July 2019: “The world is off-track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Most governments have failed to turn the transformational vision of the 2030 Agenda into real transformational policies. Even worse, xenophobia and authoritarianism are on the rise in a growing number of countries.”

“The implementation of the 2030 Agenda is not just a matter of better policies. It requires more holistic and more sweeping shifts in how power is vested, including through institutional and governance [...]

By Lim Li Ching and Lim Li Lin, Third World Network (TWN)

The state of our natural world – the biological diversity that is critical for life on earth – is in great peril. Action to stem the loss of biodiversity, including through the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 15, is urgently needed. Under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), efforts are underway to develop a post-2020 biodiversity framework. It is imperative that key governance issues are addressed. Key among [...]

By Marina Lent, Global Policy Forum

Fulfillment of the vision laid out in the 2030 Agenda means creating conditions in the inextricably related economic, environmental and social dimensions of life that enable people to individually and collectively create and enjoy their vision of a good life in a manner that also permits the flourishing of the planet.

Individual and collective visions of a good life will occasionally conflict or even preclude the realization of one over another. But the essence [...]

By Jessica Dempsey, University of British Columbia

Conservation finance, private equity funds, land and rainforest bonds: all are attempting to ‘unlock’ the supposed trillions of dollars waiting around to finance the global environmental agenda. [fn] UNEP (2011) and World Bank (2015). [/fn] A recent report by Credit Suisse, World Wildlife Fund and McKinsey claims that conservation could generate all the funding needed to conserve worldwide biodiversity if main investor segments, including high-net-worth individuals, retail and institutional investors, allocated only “1% [...]

Addressing environmental and human health risks simultaneously

By the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) [fn] This contribution is based on IPES-Food (2017). [/fn]

Although they are described in different bodies of literature, discussed in different fora, and addressed (if at all) by different policies, a whole range of severe human health risks are closely connected to food system practices – and to each other. Most of these impacts fall under the following five categories:

1.     Occupational hazards: Physical and mental health impacts [...]

By Stefano Prato, Society for International Development, Elenita Daño and Trudi Zundel, ETC Group, Lim Li Ching and Chee Yoke Ling, Third World Network

Food is at the core of the nexus between identities, health, ecology and livelihoods, an intrinsic space where different important dimensions of life converge. Yet, policy discussions and deliberations that impact on food and food systems are often fragmented and incoherent. This chapter explores the close connection between these different domains and offers feasible pathways on [...]

Civil Society activists critique first week of deliberations at High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

New York City, 14 July 2017: With the first week of deliberations at the 2017 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development coming to a close this Friday at the UN in New York, civil society activists are criticizing a piecemeal approach to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Especially worrisome to activists is a growing gap between aspirational goals and a lack of proper and comprehensive means of implementation.

On many occasions – during side-events as well [...]

Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2017

New York, 10 July 2017: A global coalition of civil society organizations and trade unions presents today the report Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2017. It is published on the opening day of the High Level Political Forum at the United Nations in New York. The report provides the most comprehensive independent assessment of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).