Abstract
One of the next major challenges for research and policy on sustainability is setting the post-2015 Development Agenda. This challenge arises as a direct result of the formal ending of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015 and as an outcome of the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). The post-2015 Development Agenda is expected to include two agendas: one on human well-being to advance the MDG targets and the other on planetary well-being, which requires a safe “operating space” within the Earth’s life-support system. In contrast to the MDGs, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are meant to apply to both developing and developed countries and create a space for development within the stable functioning of the Earth’s systems. However, what might this all look like? For answers, this paper reviews the achievements and reflections of the MDGs to date and identifies new challenges entailed in the shift of development goals from “millennium” to “sustainable”. While most of the existing studies look at these two sets of issues separately, combining the two reveals two important features of the SDGs. First, SDGs need to integrate both human and planetary well-being in a goal, and second, goals, or sub-goals, need to be formulated at multiple levels, from global to local levels. While the MDGs represented no integrated goals, some of the existing proposals on SDGs include integrated goals. However, our analysis has shown that they do not present the vertical diffusion of goals. Considering both integration and diffusion in the architecture of SDGs is a remaining task.
Highlights
One of the major challenges for research and policy is to set the post-2015 DevelopmentAgenda
The following four issues are still to be solved and required deeper consideration, considering the developments and achievements made since the time when the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were set. They are: equity, health, education and economic growth; all are covered in the MDGs, but still remain issues unsolved
Having reviewed the experience with the MDGs, the remaining pressing issues for development and the extra pressure that hinders the achievement of better human well-being caused by the degradation of planetary well-being, where could we find spaces for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a post-2015
Summary
One of the major challenges for research and policy is to set the post-2015 Development. The Rio+20 outcome document does not clearly mention the relation between SDGs and ―Earth‘s life-support system‖, but it does mention that ―(t)he goals should address and incorporate in a balanced way all three dimensions (economic, social, environmental) of sustainable development and their interlinkages‖ [6]. In this sense, the post-2015 Development Agenda needs to address both the human well-being agenda to advance the MDGs, the bottom line of which is to satisfy basic human needs for all, and the planetary well-being agenda, which is to secure the preconditions for advancing human well-being. Each study touches upon the others in one way or another, the challenge of the current paper is to draw implications by combining the argument of the two different tracks
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
