Items tagged:

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

We have 144 items tagged with ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’.
  • More than 250 participants shared their experiences and examples of good practice at CBA12 (Photo: Teresa Corcoran/IIED)

    How can insights from CBA12 inform global discussions on the SDGs and resilience?

    Delegates to this week's UN High Level Political Forum on sustainable development will be considering the subject of resilience. Clare Shakya highlights some of the insights from CBA12 in Malawi that are relevant

    16 July 2018 | Blog | Climate change
  • Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim speaking the World Economic Forum in 2017 (Photo: Jakob Polacsek/World Economic Forum, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Q&A: getting indigenous women's voices heard on the SDGs

    Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim discusses the challenges facing indigenous women in Chad and how to get sustainable development policies in place that really support their needs

    15 May 2018 | Article | Climate change
  • A tea picker from Cianten, within the boundaries of Mount Halimun Salak National Park in West Java, starts collecting tea leaves in a basket at 6am (Photo@ CIFOR, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Harnessing #MeToo momentum to drive climate action

    Guest blogger Christiana Figueres calls upon women and girls across the world to channel the energy behind the #MeToo movement to bolster the global fight against climate change

    9 April 2018 | Blog | Climate change
  • In Tanzania, former artisanal mining licensees Mwanahamisi Mzalendo and Mwanamkasi Rasi are among entreprenurial women who have pooled their resources to create a quarrying business. They control the day-to-day running of the quarry, including supervising labourers, dealing with the local authorities, and taking care of the site's environmental footprint (Photo: Magali Rochat/IIED)

    Q&A: Women are driving the change we need

    Fatima Denton describes how women's voices are becoming more prominent in policy circles but why more work is needed for this change to make a real difference to women on the ground

    8 March 2018 | Article | Gender
  • With water shortages in Lebanon, many households have water storage facilities

    Getting Lebanon’s water flowing: using new SDG data in an urban crisis

    Anna Walnycki explains how reliable, disaggregated data on water access – supported by the framework of the SDGs – could help tackle the challenges facing Lebanon's water sector

    19 February 2018 | Blog | Urban
  • The logo for the Sustainable Development Goals (Image: the United Nations)

    Public-private partnerships and aid's 'private turn': addressing the investment law dimensions

    Public-private partnerships are emerging as important vehicles for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Their legal and financial implications must be carefully considered

    30 January 2018 | Blog | Economics
  • The Earth is reflected in a drop of water on a leaf (Photo: Juan Horna, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Changing landscapes: key issues for action on sustainable development in 2018

    As we face up to the challenges of the coming year, how does the global landscape for sustainable development look? IIED director Andrew Norton offers his thoughts on the key debates and changes we may see during 2018, and what they might mean for IIED's work

    5 January 2018 | Blog | Climate change
  • Natural capital accounting can help monitor progress against Sustainable Development Goals indicators (Photo: Rosalind Goodrich/IIED)

    Making the link between the SDGs and natural capital accounting

    There is a risk that policymakers working on the Sustainable Development Goals see the 17 goals as 17 separate issues and fail to integrate efforts to achieve them. Rosalind Goodrich reports on a forum that looked at how natural capital accounting can encourage an integrated approach to achieving the SDGs and provide useful information for policy decisions

    3 January 2018 | Blog | Natural resource management
  • September 2015: on the eve of the United Nations summit to agree the 2030 Agenda, a film introducing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals is projected onto the UN headquarters building (Photo: UN Photo/Cia Pak)

    Effective evaluation for the Sustainable Development Goals

    Evaluation processes will play a key role in national and global review systems for the Sustainable Development Goals.IIED and EVALSDGs are publishing a series of briefings about evaluation designed to help promote effective conduct and use of evaluation in SDGs implementation, follow-up and review.

    21 October 2017 | Project | Monitoring, evaluation and learning
  • A still from IIED's animation about the SDGs (Image: Hands Up/IIED)

    Animations: explaining the SDGs in three minutes

    The wide-reaching agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals was brought to life in an animation commissioned by IIED

    21 August 2017 | Article | Communication
  • A conservation agriculture demonstration at the Golden Valley Agricultural Research Trust, Zambia. Conservation agriculture can increase productivity and improve soil structure (Photo: Barbara Adolph/IIED)

    Social and environmental trade-offs in African agriculture

    In sub-Saharan Africa, achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of 'zero hunger' (SDG2), while reducing inequalities (SDG10) and conserving ecosystems (SDG15), is a big challenge. A new IIED-led research project aims to develop knowledge, relationships and research capacities to address this task

    10 August 2017 | Project | Food and agriculture
  • IIED aims to contribute to the achievement of change which benefits poor people and the environment. The institute's strategy for the next two years has been published (Photo: Mike Goldwater/IIED)

    Engaging for change – refreshing our strategy for the next two years

    IIED's new strategy update will sharpen our focus on how we tackle the challenges of climate action, global social justice and sustainable development over the next two years

    9 August 2017 | Blog | Communication
  • More than 70 people joined the webinar about evaluation and voluntary national reviews. You can watch a recording of the webinar at the bottom of this page (Image: IIED)

    Evaluations, reviews and assessments are key to embedding the SDGs

    How can we embed the Sustainable Development Goals into development processes to reach the tipping point that we desperately need for dealing with the big challenges of our time? This blog by Stefano D'Errico follows up a joint UNICEF/EVALSDGs webinar in New York

    19 July 2017 | Blog | Monitoring, evaluation and learning
  • Durban Beach, South Africa (Photo: Darren Glanville, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Investing in natural capital to deliver the SDGs and reduce poverty

    With the meeting of the UN High-level Political Forum on sustainable development under way, Paul Steele discusses how natural capital can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and lift the poorest out of poverty

    17 July 2017 | Blog | Climate change
  • People from villagers of Wakesi village, Nyanza Province, Kenya walk down a dirt road (Photo: Robin Wyatt)

    Independent Research Forum (IRF): supporting change for a sustainable future

    The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides an opportunity for countries to transform their development pathways. This level of change is uncharted territory for many countries, and creates new challenges

    26 June 2017 | Article | Governance
  • The UK flag and the logo for the Sustainable Development Goals

    Sustainable development in the UK – an issue for party manifestos?

    A cross-party report finds the UK government is falling behind on its commitment to sustainability but the election provides an opportunity for all parties to show the way forward.

    3 May 2017 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • Community-led mapping in the informal settlement of Mathare in Nairobi, Kenya, helps to record and reflect local people's needs and priorities (Photo: Sohel Ahmed)

    Q&A: Why do we need a philosophy for better evidence?

    Stefano D'Errico talks about how better evidence can help decision makers make better policy, and help realise the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals

    14 March 2017 | Article | Monitoring, evaluation and learning
  • Diagram showing change at different scales (Image: Stefano D'Errico/IIED)

    Monitoring, evaluation and learning capacity development

    IIED values monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) as an important tool for research and influence to foster sustainable development. We work with NGOs, communities, and local and national authorities to enhance their institutional MEL capacities

    1 March 2017 | Project | Monitoring, evaluation and learning
  • Hilsa fish at a wholesaler fish market in Dhaka (Photo: Ina Porras/IIED)

    The hilsa fishing ban: good for the fish, but good for the fisher?

    Seasonal fishing bans are helping to recover stocks of Bangladesh's national fish, the hilsa. Bigger fish are fetching better prices and – from traders to retailers − many people along the value chain are benefiting. But a new IIED study shows how one group is slipping through the net: the fishermen and women

    28 February 2017 | Blog | Fisheries
  • IIED's three-and-a-half minute film to communicate the ambitions and universal reach of the SDGs had been viewed almost 20,000 times by February 2017 (Image: IIED/Hands Up)

    IIED's work on the post-2015 agenda

    It took three years of international negotiations to agree the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the agenda for 2030. The scope and ambition of the SDGs resonate with IIED's work for a fairer and greener world

    27 February 2017 | Article | Governance
  • A demonstration of solar PV products by the Energy and Environment Partnership in Tanzania's southern Iringa Region gathers an audience of all ages (Photo: EEP Southern and Eastern Africa, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Bringing solar out of the shadows

    For Tanzania to meet its energy needs - and in a way that is sustainable - huge levels of finance are required to boost its decentralised energy sector. But the latest research shows current funding flows are way off target.

    20 February 2017 | Blog | Climate change
  • Colombia's government and left-wing insurgents sign a historic agreement ending 52 years of conflict. Some commentators suggest the peace process has opened the way for major progress on the SDGs (Photo: Gobierno de Chile, Creative Commons via Wikimedia)

    SDGs: from adopted framework to political force for change

    One year on from the Sustainable Development Goals coming into effect, IIED asks whether the international consensus underpinning the goals is strong enough to drive the shift from vision to creating real political change

    17 February 2017 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • High-tech trawlers in the Faroe Islands. Ninety-five per cent of this tiny nation's exports is made up of fish (Photo: antonalfred, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Turning the tide: creating incentives for sustainable oceans

    The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are in place, but are policy makers ready and willing to bite? Dave Steinbach explains why now is the time to move from intent to action – and outlines a new approach on how to deliver SDG 14.

    17 January 2017 | Blog | Fisheries
  • What lies in store for the Earth in 2017? (Photo: Charles Strebor, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Fighting for the future – sustainable development and the battle for ideas in 2017

    Following the landmark global agreements on sustainable development sealed in 2015, including the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change, the end of 2016 prompted the question: can the world sustain this hard-fought momentum?

    4 January 2017 | Blog | Climate change
  • The cover of Vision 2030 Jamaica

    One people, one vision

    Countries with a strong sustainable development planning framework are finding that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) work best as a political motivator for domestic action, rather than as a literal set of targets. Tighe Geoghegan explains the political case for SDGs from a Jamaican perspective

    22 December 2016 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • Financiers, decision makers, practitioners and researchers from across the globe gathered to share lessons and their experience in channelling finance to local levels (Image: Matt Wright/IIED)

    Money where it matters: how to deliver finance to the local level

    At an IIED-hosted event, financiers, decision makers, practitioners and researchers tackled three key questions on how to get climate finance to where it's needed most

    15 December 2016 | Blog | Climate change
  • Fishermen offloading their morning catch from a fishing boat in Kalindi, West Bengal (Photo: Souvik Das Gupta, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Creating waves for small-scale fisheries

    Dave Steinbach identifies three approaches to help ensure small-scale fishers are not left behind in ambitious new development agendas

    17 November 2016 | Blog | Fisheries
  • A water tap in Rwanda. Measuring sustainability of investments in water and sanitation makes more sense than focusing on annual freshwater withdrawal and access to improved water and sanitation (Photo: A'Melody Lee/World Bank, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Making World Bank aid sustainable

    Clare Shakya sets out seven ways the World Bank can make its development aid sustainable and inclusive.

    10 October 2016 | Blog | Climate change
  • Old Indonesia coins. In Indonesia, like the UK, the income of the poorest 40 per cent has to grow at twice the rate of the national average if the income gap is to stay the same (Photo: Anis Eka, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    How serious are the SDGs about tackling inequality?

    The international commitment to reducing inequality marks a welcome breakthrough. But without clearer targets for measuring progress, driving change to tackle rising inequality will be a challenge

    4 October 2016 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • Village councils or panchayats have not been involved in India's approach to the SDGs so far (Photo: UN Women Asia and the Pacific)

    Are citizens being left behind by India's approach to the SDGs?

    Although India has taken some important steps to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, there is still not enough participation in developing plans and not enough information has reached citizens

    26 September 2016 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • Dharavi slum, Mumbai, India (Photo: Akshay Mahajan, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Data that supports local development

    Global goals and targets often rely on national data, but local data are needed to inform action on the ground and to monitor progress on the goals

    22 September 2016 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • Getting water from a tanker in Vijinapura, India. Partnerships between local government and slum/shack dweller organisations can help deliver urban development goals (Photo: cstepin, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Why do we ignore the local processes that deliver global goals in urban areas?

    International agencies must support local processes if we are to achieve ambitious global goals – so benefits reach urban communities on the ground whose needs these goals are set up to meet

    16 August 2016 | Blog | Urban
  • A family in Tarialan, Uvs Province, Mongolia, uses a solar panel to generate power for their ger, a traditional Mongolian tent (Photo: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Why social inclusion matters for green growth

    From wetland protection in South Africa to scrapping fossil fuel subsidies in Indonesia, the best climate policies are pro-poor

    11 August 2016 | Blog | Climate change
  • As a mountainous country, Bhutan faces particular environmental challenges (Photo: Göran Höglund, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Q&A: A pragmatic approach

    Chime Wangdi from Bhutan explains how her country's philosophy of seeking Gross National Happiness aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals

    27 July 2016 | Article | Policy and planning
  • Black grouse fight in Vaala, Finland. The country is committed to protecting biodiversity under its implementation of the sustainable development goals (Photo: Markus Varesvuo/NPL/Barcroft)

    Will the UK be left behind on sustainable development?

    The global goals, which UN members signed up to last year, are for all countries, not just poor ones. How is the UK going to implement them?

    25 July 2016 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • Maintaining the solar street lighting in the village of Tinginaput, India. SDG 7 calls for access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all (Photo: UK Department for international Development Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Poverty Environment Partnership issues call to action on 2030 Agenda

    A new report urges structural reforms to end extreme poverty and tackle climate change and the loss of environmental assets during the next 15 years

    13 July 2016 | News | Policy and planning
  • Women from Paraguay's Ita Guasu indigenous community discuss their community development plan. Civil debate and value-based decision making will be key to implementing the SDGs (Photo: USAID, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Positioning the SDGs within the politics of national development

    Reconciling diverse visions of sustainable development will be key to SDG progress

    12 July 2016 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • A wholesale fish market in Cox's Bazar on the Bay of Bengal. Fishing communities need access to finance and infrastructure such as clean water, refrigeration and transport (Photo: Aftab Uzzaman, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Untangling the net: what does 'leave no one behind' mean for fishers?

    The ambition of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and their 169 targets, according to the introductory text, is to 'leave no one behind'. But what does it mean in practice? This blog aims to explain this by focusing on the small-scale fishery sector in a developing country – specifically using the case of a fishing community in the Lower Meghna Basin in Bangladesh

    11 July 2016 | Blog | Fisheries
  • Eight development experts, including Oxfam GB's Irene Guijt, were interviewed about reimagining development for the Least Developed Countries (Image: IIED)

    How are the LDCs defining a new sustainable development agenda?

    IIED talks to development experts from around the globe to find out how the Least Developed Countries are working to define new ways forward for sustainable development

    8 July 2016 | News | Climate change
  • IIED and the Independent Research Forum hosted side events at the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in Jul

    2016 UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

    IIED was involved in three side events at the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development from 11-20 July, 2016

    7 July 2016 | Article | Policy and planning
  • Women learning how to install and maintain solar home systems in the rural town of Bogra, northern Bangladesh (Photo: ILO, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Five challenges for Least Developed Countries in the post-2015 era

    Can the Least Developed Countries reimagine development? A meeting in London looked at the key issues

    28 June 2016 | Blog | Poverty
  • Images of the UK and EU flags, IIED director Andrew Norton says: "Losing membership of the European Union must not mean that the UK withdraws from the great global challenges of our time" (Photo: Reuters, via Google Licence)

    Navigating uncharted waters: the EU referendum, the spirit of Paris, and the SDGs

    IIED's director Andrew Norton argues that a spirit of internationalism must live on in the UK following the seismic shock of Brexit

    27 June 2016 | Blog | Climate change
  • Six representatives of developing country governments – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Mozambique, Nepal and the Philippines – shared their experiences of rolling out the sustainable development agenda at the 21st Poverty Environment Partnership meeting (Image: IIED)

    Country progress on putting the sustainable development goals into action

    The 21st Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP) meeting, held earlier this month by IIED and partners, focused on putting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into action

    23 June 2016 | Blog | Poverty
  • Mobile phones being sold in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Access to information and new technologies will be key to help delivering transformational change to the world's poorest countries (Photo: ConDev Center, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Painting a new picture of development

    Can the Sustainable Development Goals trigger a new approach to development in the world's Least Developed Countries? A dialogue event explored the potential

    17 June 2016 | News | Policy and planning
  • Around 80 per cent of schools in Haiti are privately run, and the good ones too expensive for children from poor areas like Cité Soleil (Photo: Breezy Baldwiin, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Ending endemic violence through education in Cité Soleil

    How to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for children growing up in a violent slum? An innovative project in Haiti faces big challenges

    10 June 2016 | Blog | Governance
  • In 2010 a catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti. Six years later, there has been progress in rebuilding, but much remains to be done (Photo: iolanda, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Q&A: LDC Independent Expert Group chair on the SDGs and tackling inequality

    Former Prime Minister of Haiti Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis discusses the challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals and reducing inequalities related to gender, trade and climate change

    8 June 2016 | Article | Governance
  • Smog over Kathamandu. Air pollution in Nepal's capital regularly breaches the World Health Organisation's safety guidelines (Kashish Das Shrestha)

    Clearing the air in Kathmandu

    As one of the world's fastest urbanising countries, how can Nepal manage growing demand for transport and electricity, while ensuring clean air?

    7 June 2016 | Blog | Energy
  • A street in Freetown, Sierra Leone: involving growing low-income urban populations in urbanising countries will help result in more inclusive urbanisation (Photo: bobthemagicdragon, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    In the world's poorest countries, cities could be the Sustainable Development Goals test

    Ahead of next week's dialogue event on the challenges and opportunities posed to Least Developed Countries by the Sustainable Development Goals, Gordon McGranahan examines how cities and urbanisation can contribute to attaining development goals.

    7 June 2016 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • An image of the outside of a Malawi bank, showing a ramp installed for wheelchair users. Generally the country is lagging behind in terms of provisions for people with disabilities (Photo: Steve Sharra)

    People with disabilities struggle in Malawi's cities

    How can the Sustainable Development Goals help children with disabilities in Malawi's cities?

    6 June 2016 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • An image of villagers in a remote village in northern Bangladesh proudly displaying their first solar panel, purchased with a micro loan. Bangladesh aspires to be one of the world's largest solar providers (Photo: ILO in Asia and the Pacific, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Q&A: A shift in mindset for the LDCs

    The Least Developed Countries need a new way of thinking if they are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, says Saleemul Huq

    3 June 2016 | Article | Governance
  • An image of crouching community members in a village in Champasak province, Laos identify areas where open defecation is taking place ahead of implementing sanitation measures (Photo: Viengsompasong Inthavong/World Bank, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    An urban approach to 'leaving no one behind'

    Taking an urban approach can help identify who is at risk of 'being left behind' and how this can be avoided

    2 June 2016 | Blog | Urban
  • An image of the front of a stationary train on the Addis Ababa light rail system, which opened in 2015, and was the first to be built in Sub-Saharan Africa. The two railway lines, which have their own dedicated power grid, demonstrate how Ethiopia is seeking low-carbon energy initiatives (Photo: Wikipedia, via Google licence)

    Q&A: Linking low-carbon pathways with the SDGs

    Youba Sokona discusses the challenges and opportunities around low-carbon development in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals

    30 May 2016 | Article | Policy and planning
  • An image of a man with a wheelbarrow in the Kibera informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, the biggest in Africa and one of the biggest in the world. The rights of all must be incorporated into the 'new urban agenda' (Photo: Steffan Jensen/www.reversehomesickness.com, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Recognising urban rights: global debates and local struggles

    Global debates can help frame how human rights in the city are recognised but are often far removed from processes that affirm rights at local level

    26 May 2016 | Blog | Urban
  • An image of a man faking injury being treated by a Bangladesh firefighter as part of a training exercise on collaborative search and rescue operations, helping the city to respond more effectively to disasters (Photo: Oregon National Guard, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Q&A: Making the SDG agenda work for LDCs

    Farah Kabir discusses how the Least Developed Countries have been driving their own sustainable development, and outlines what's needed for these vulnerable countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

    25 May 2016 | Article | Climate change
  • An image of women selling produce in an internally displaced persons camp, near Tawilla in North Darfur. The 'leave no one behind' agenda aims to ensure the poor are included in sustainable development (Photo: UNAMID, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Unpacking what we mean by 'leave no one behind'

    'Leave no one behind' is emerging as a central principle of the Sustainable Development Goals. In practice it will be interpreted in a number of ways

    24 May 2016 | Article | Policy and planning
  • An image showing two men on the roof of a school in Zambia carrying out a macrosolar installation. Sustainable energy solutions for Least Developed Countries were discussed at the event in London (Photo: Steve Woodward)

    Reimagining development in the LDCs: what role for the SDGs?

    The challenges and opportunities that the Sustainable Development Goals create for Least Developed Countries were discussed at an event in London in June

    9 May 2016 | Article | Climate change
  • Residents of Sitio San Roque, Philippines, watch a demolition team tear down their houses during an eviction (Photo: Alamy)

    Briefing: Will Habitat III produce an effective "new urban agenda?"

    On Thursday, May 5, 2016 IIED is hosting a discussion meeting that will bring together four leading experts on urbanisation and development to look at at the prospects for Habitat III, the global summit on housing and sustainable urban development. The event will also see the launch of the April issue of Environment & Urbanization

    6 April 2016 | News | Urban
  • Water kiosks in Zambia provide safe drinking water for poor households in peri urban areas of Chipata. Careful consideration of the affordability of water services for the urban poor is vital to provide universal and equitable access to safe and affordable water for everyone by 2030 (Photo: SuSanA Secretariat, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Improved water access unaffordable for urban poor

    On World Water Day, a new briefing shows that the urban poor are missing out on the benefits of 'improved' water services because the costs are too high

    22 March 2016 | Blog | Urban
  • The UN poster showing all 17 sustainable development goals (Image: UN photo)

    Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): IIED and the new global agenda on sustainable development

    In September 2015, the global community agreed the Sustainable Development Goals, setting out new development priorities for all countries, post-2015. The 17 new goals have been designed to integrate global ambitions on tackling poverty, reducing inequality, combating climate change, and protecting ecosystems including oceans, forests and biodiversity. It is an ambitious and universal agenda.

    15 March 2016 | Article | Governance
  • Women in Dhaka, Bangladesh queue to get access to a raised tube well; local indicators about access to water are essential for the SDGs (Photo: Development Planning Unit, UCL, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Where are the local indicators for the SDGs?

    As discussions on the SDG indicators are under way in New York, David Satterthwaite asks where are the indicators that report on local needs and support local action in urban areas

    9 March 2016 | Blog | Urban
  • The Bairro Proletário do Dique in Rio de Janeiro was settled in the 1960s. The local infrastructure remains poor (Photo: Mariana Gil/EMBARQ Brasil, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Is more inclusive urbanisation essential to the 2030 Agenda?

    Efforts to better accommodate rural migrants moving to cities could play an important part in resolving conflicts in the 2030 Agenda and ensuring no-one is left behind

    2 March 2016 | Blog | Urban
  • Building an embankment in the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh has been forced to learn how to cope with the realities of climate change (Photo: Espen Rasmussen/PANOS)

    Does "leave no-one behind" risk too narrow a focus?

    "Leave no-one behind" has become a key phrase in interpreting the Sustainable Development Goals, but we should think carefully about what it implies

    1 March 2016 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • Meceburi Forest, Mozambique: a young woman harvests casava (Photo: Mike Goldwater/IIED)

    Seeds of the post-capitalist forest?

    Could innovative local organisations working with forests, together with the Paris climate agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and global financial crisis help deliver us into a post-capitalist era

    11 February 2016 | Blog | Forests
  • Pakistan's Sarhad Rural Support programme deals with constant uncertainty and disruptive events. Here goods are delivered to flood victims in Chitral (Photo: Gul Hamaad Farooqui, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    What can Southern NGOs teach us about disruptive change?

    Interviews with Southern NGOs reveal valuable lessons in how to see disruptive change as a force for good – and highlight how donors and Northern partners can provide more effective support

    26 January 2016 | Blog | Natural resource management
  • Surveys of the priorities of the private sector often ignore vital informal economies, such as this one in Hanoi (Photo: Bill Vorley/IIED)

    Shaking up the private sector

    The private sector has a key role to play in the new sustainable development agenda, says IIED's Mick Blowfield, but let's keep multinationals' commitment to change in perspective

    22 January 2016 | Blog | Economics
  • An Ethiopian government delegation learns about energy innovations in a climate smart village in Kenya. Ethiopia's government hopes to combine climate resilience with economic growth (Photo: CGIAR, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    What's happening to aid to the Least Developed Countries?

    New figures show an overall decline in aid to the world's Least Developed Countries, yet commitments made in Paris and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda call for more aid, not less

    18 January 2016 | Blog | Climate change
  • A local farmer uses manual callipers to measure a tree. Measuring trees in person can be cheaper and just as accurate (Photo: Geoff Wells)

    The Paris Agreement, SDGs and simple local monitoring

    How can we minimise monitoring costs and make sure that money intended for local "development" ends up with the people who need it?

    7 January 2016 | Blog | Forests
  • Women harvest their rice crop in Meceburi forest reserve, near Nampula, Mozambique (Photo: Mike Goldwater)

    Food demand and forests in sub-Saharan Africa

    With the support of country partners, IIED is conducting research to better understand existing and future competition and trade-offs between food production and natural forests, and the implications for land use policies in sub-Saharan Africa

    30 November 2015 | Project | Biodiversity
  • A new map produced by IIED shows seven types of innovative governance. Click on the image to see the map (Image: IIED)

    Driving change by supporting action at the local level

    A new mapping project highlights the importance of local action in delivering global change

    24 November 2015 | Blog | Climate change
  • Plan Vivo partners at a conference in Sweden commit to actively engage in the implementation and accountability of the SDGs (Photo: Plan Vivo Foundation)

    The SDGs speak and we like what we hear

    Smallholder and community carbon projects have shown they can deliver local benefits and promote climate resilience. Now the Plan Vivo Standard and its partners, representing the oldest ethical carbon standard, have pledged their commitment to the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals

    15 October 2015 | Blog | Climate change
  • The 2014/15 Annual Report sets out key ways IIED and partners have worked to ensure the SDGs are set for success (Image: We Are Tangerine/IIED)

    2014/15 annual report: our work on a sustainable future

    The Sustainable Development Goals set the development agenda for decades to come. How will IIED's work feed into the SDG agenda?

    13 October 2015 | Article | Communication
  • Mumbai's Dharavi settlement has a thriving informal economy. The government's redevelopment schemes have been hit by controversy and stalled for more than a decade (Photo: Jon Hurd, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    The SDGs don't adequately spell out cities' role in implementation

    The new development framework lays out a groundbreaking vision on the common good. But it doesn't say enough about how this is to be achieved, by whom and with what funding

    12 October 2015 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • Testing the water in Kenya's Tana River watershed. The river's ecosystem is being affected by a range of factors. Public and private organisations are exploring ways to improve ecosystem management (Photo: Georgina Smith/CIAT, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    'Sustainable development science' for transforming our world

    IIED's Steve Bass proposes a 10-year review of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment as a guide for taking forward the SDGs

    9 October 2015 | Blog | Governance
  • The Potato Park, Peru, which hosted a previous meeting of the International Network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples (Image: IIED)

    Mountain communities rebuild diverse, climate-resilient crops

    The Sustainable Development Goals have been agreed, but for mountain communities around the world this action can't come quickly enough. Climate change is already here, threatening their food security, nutrition and livelihoods

    6 October 2015 | News | Climate change
  • Community participation, with a strong focus on women, such as this women's savings group in Southern India, is vital to develop slum-friendly cities (Photo: Maria Andersson/Individuell Människohjälp, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    What might slum dwellers want from the SDGs?

    Jockin Arputham has been fighting for the rights of slum dwellers for nearly 50 years. Ahead of World Habitat Day, he highlights what the Sustainable Development Goals could mean for slum dwellers

    5 October 2015 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • Farmers in Guangxi and Yunnan provinces in Southwestern China have responded to climatic adversity by innovating to increase productivity using less water (Image: IIED)

    Why listen to and support the most vulnerable?

    Four reasons why the voices of the most vulnerable must be heard and prioritised if we are to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals leave no one behind

    2 October 2015 | Blog | Climate change
  • Among IIED's work on ways to ensure that the benefits of energy systems reach the people who currently lack access to energy are energy labs in Tanzania, explains Ben Garside (Image: IIED)

    Understanding the SDGs: powering Goal Seven

    IIED senior researcher Ben Garside says the Sustainable Development Goal on energy will be a powerful driver for development

    24 September 2015 | News | Energy
  • Our successful animation was devised to popularise the Sustainable Development Goals. But that doesn't mean we didn't make mistakes (Image: IIED/Hands Up)

    Global goals, global audience – how well did we score?

    IIED's animation about the Sustainable Development Goals took us into new territory – but what were we trying to achieve?

    18 September 2015 | Blog | Communication
  • A fish market in Vĩnh Trường, Vietnam. More than 300 million people are directly or indirectly employed by the fisheries sector, and must be addressed by the oceans SDG (Photo: Khánh Hmoong, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    A sustainable ocean by 2030

    A Sustainable Development Goal for oceans, seas and marine resources is a significant milestone, but how will it be financed and who will benefit?

    14 September 2015 | Blog | Fisheries
  • The focus of Green Economy Coalition convener Oliver Greenfield is on the SDG targets and indicators, and how that can lead to a green economy (Image: IIED)

    Sustainable goals for a sustainable green economy

    The Sustainable Development Goals set the priorities for a more sustainable, green economy, but that means that how we assess and measure that economy needs to change, argues Oliver Greenfield

    11 September 2015 | News | Green economy
  • Kenya: Farmers visit a crop trial site to select the best sorghum varieties for climate resilience. Most climate change adaptation is done day-to-day by farmers, pastoralists, fishers and the urban poor. (Photo: S. Kilungo, CCAFS, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    The SDGs must carry us beyond Paris to 2030

    The Sustainable Development Goals, to be agreed in New York later this month, are a key step on the road to a climate agreement in Paris in December, but must set the agenda for resilient low carbon development beyond Paris to 2030

    10 September 2015 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • A typhoon hits shanties in Manila. Urban governments, which are already struggling to provide basic infrastructure services, also need to build resilience to climate change (Photo: Ernie Penaredondo/Global Water Partnership, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    The SDGs and 'a new urban agenda'?

    If the world delivers on the Sustainable Development Goals, will IIED be out of a job? The SDGs may have a lot to say about what needs to be achieved but not about how, by whom and with what funding and support. There is hardly any mention of local government and local civil society. But you cannot meet the commitments listed above or indeed most of the other goals and targets in urban areas without their support.

    8 September 2015 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • Essam Yassin Mohammed argues that Goal 14 cannot be seen in isolation from the other Sustainable Development Goals (Image: IIED)

    Understanding the SDGs: the importance of Goal 14

    Conserving our oceans and marine resources is critical to an integrated approach to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, argues Essam Yassin Mohammed

    7 September 2015 | News | Fisheries
  • IIED produced an animation to raise awareness of the SDGs and the potential of the new development agenda (Image: IIED/Hands Up)

    Global goals for sustainable development

    The final text of the Sustainable Development Goals marks an important advance for the international development community, but enormous challenges still lie ahead

    2 September 2015 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • A farmer in southern Mozambique carries greens back to his family from a project that has been backed by the Climate Investment Fund, which is working with the African Development Bank on a pilot program for climate resilience (Photo: CIF Action, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Climate finance for sustainable development: regional forum

    IIED is co-hosting a regional forum with UNDP in Jakarta, Indonesia, to share learning and experience on making sure climate finance works for sustainable development

    28 August 2015 | Blog | Climate change
  • In a video interview, IIED chief economist Paul Steele argues that the universal nature of the goals show that 'development' extends beyond aid (Image: IIED)

    A step change in our approach to development

    IIED's chief economist Paul Steele says the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognise the crucial challenge of achieving zero poverty and zero net emissions

    27 August 2015 | News | Economics
  • A toilet block in Mumbai, India, where people living in different informal settlements experience distinct forms of inadequate sanitation (Photo: Renu Desai)

    Sanitation in informal settlements: a networked problem

    Can understanding how people perceive sanitation help achieve sustainable access to sanitation in cities?

    26 August 2015 | Blog | Urban
  • Strategy and Learning Group director Tom Bigg gives an overview of the SDGs (Image: IIED)

    Understanding the SDGs: Tom Bigg

    In the first of a series of video interviews with IIED experts working on issues relating to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Strategy and Learning Group director Tom Bigg highlights the importance of their universality

    21 August 2015 | News | Policy and planning
  • The Independent Expert Group has produced a series of publications (Image: IIED)

    The work of the Least Developed Countries Independent Expert Group

    Since its creation in 2013, the Least Developed Countries Independent Expert Group (IEG) has provided an independent voice for sustainable development of LDCs, contributing ideas, expertise and challenges to international debates

    7 August 2015 | Article | Governance
  • The Least Developed Countries Independent Expert Group (Image: IIED)

    Least Developed Countries Independent Expert Group

    The Least Developed Countries Independent Expert Group is an informal group of individuals with a deep commitment to sustainable development and an understanding of the challenges to achieving it in the world's poorest countries

    3 August 2015 | Article | Governance
  • The Mercato in Addis Ababa is Africa's largest market. This month there was another major gathering in Addis Ababa as thousands of politicians, policymakers and civil society leaders came together for the third Financing for Development summit (Photo: alvise forcellini, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Why universality is a taxing agenda…

    IIED's director Andrew Norton reflects on the Financing for Development conference in Addis and the challenge of 'universality'

    20 July 2015 | Blog | Economics
  • How can decentralised finance drive sustainable development? A new interactive story produced by IIED's Human Settlements Group highlights successful examples from the global South (Image: Kiln/IIED)

    It's the thought that counts: how can Addis deliver for the world’s poorest?

    When the world's leaders meet in Addis to decide how they fund the SDGs, the real question is whether this money will support the world's poorest to shape their own futures

    8 July 2015 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • A satellite phone provided by Télécoms Sans Frontières, with European Commission funding, enables a man from Tanna island to finally talk to loved ones ten days after communications were cut off by Cyclone Pam in March 2015 (Photo: TSF, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Finance, Addis and the Sustainable Development Goals

    Ahead of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, some of the world's Least Developed Countries have been sharing their priorities

    7 July 2015 | News | Climate change
  • Delegates at the 20th Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP) meeting integrate poverty and environmental issues into the global agenda in Edinburgh in late May (Photo: Matt Wright/IIED)

    Putting ourselves out of business – forward planning for the PEP

    The 20th Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP) meeting focused on the opportunities for an integrated approach to development as embraced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but recognised that key challenges still remain to make implementation a reality

    29 June 2015 | Blog | Poverty
  • A women carries supplies through a flooded street in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, after thousands were displaced following floods in 2014. Studies have shown that, when they are socially or economically disadvantaged, more women die in hurricanes and floods (Photo: United Nations Photo, Creative Comms via Flickr)

    Will climate change render the SDGs impossible?

    Later this year, countries will be meeting at a UN Summit in New York to agree on a set of post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will build on the Millennium Development Goals

    19 June 2015 | Blog | Climate change
  • 2015 is a critical year for sustainable development: IIED is tracking the route to Paris and COP21 in December (Image: IIED)

    Walking along the road to Paris

    Much is at stake in 2015 – IIED's director Camilla Toulmin looks at how far we have come, the obstacles that remain, and what we need to do if we are to bring about change

    15 June 2015 | Blog | Climate change
  • Campaigners celebrate the UK becoming the first G7 country to enshrine in law the UN-agreed target of spending 0.7 per cent of GDP on oversea aid (Photo: UNA-UK via Google licence)

    Cameron can assure a lasting legacy

    A constant feature of David Cameron's premiership has been as champion of international development, including unwavering support for Britain's overseas aid contribution

    7 June 2015 | Blog | Climate change
  • IIED's animation explains what the Sustainable Development Goals are and highlights why they matter (Image: IIED/Hands Up)

    Animating the universal ambition of the SDGs

    The Sustainable Development Goals' (SDGs) aspirational, wide-reaching agenda for change is brought to life in a new animation, commissioned by IIED

    3 June 2015 | Article | Policy and planning
  • Should public money from Europe used to build wind farms, such as this one in Mulan, around 170km north east of Harbin City in Heilongiang, China, constitute official development assistance? (Photo: Land Rover Our Planet, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Development finance and climate finance: achieving zero poverty and zero emissions

    Ahead of the Financing for Development conference in Addis, Paul Steele asks whether changes are needed to the way we address climate and development finance

    1 June 2015 | Blog | Climate change
  • The Poverty-Environment Initiative is celebrating its 10th anniversary at a meeting with partners in Edinburgh, Scotland (Photo: Matt Wright/IIED)

    Taking an integrated approach to eliminating poverty and sustaining natural resources

    As the UNDP-UNEP Poverty Environment Initiative celebrates its 10th anniversary in Edinburgh, guest blogger Michael Stanley-Jones explains how its integrated approach is key for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals

    28 May 2015 | Blog | Poverty
  • 10 Downing St. creative commons, MOD

    IIED responds to UK election outcome

    IIED hopes the new Conservative government will demonstrate UK leadership on inclusive citizenship and green prosperity on the global stage

    8 May 2015 | News | Communication
  • Deforestation in Bhutan: forests are a prime example of how an integrated approach to policymaking can prevent benefits in one area undermining wellbeing elsewhere (Photo: Curt Carnemark/World Bank, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Integration: will the UN Forum on Forests lead the way?

    Ahead of the UN Forum on Forests meeting in New York, IIED’s Jonathan Reeves argues that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals – particularly for forests – depends upon integration and compromise and asks whether the political will exists to lay aside egos and break down institutional barriers

    1 May 2015 | Blog | Forests
  • Saleemul Huq, left, discusses 2015's big issues with negotiators and ambassadors from the Least Developed Countries in New York in early April (Photo: Claire Hatfield/IIED)

    2015: a critical year for the Least Developed Countries

    As four major strands of global decision-making come together in 2015, IIED senior fellow Saleemul Huq explains why they are so important for the world's least developed countries

    17 April 2015 | Blog | Climate change
  • Securing land rights for indigenous peoples, such as these members of the Xingu tribe, pictured in Brazil, is critical to alleviating poverty (Photo: Rights and Resources Initiative)

    Securing indigenous and community land rights in the future we want

    Explicit inclusion of secure land rights for local communities and indigenous peoples is key to "leaving no one behind" in global Sustainable Development Goals, writes Jenny Springer of Rights and Resources Initiative

    24 March 2015 | Blog | Land acquisitions and rights
  • Public protests against new dams in Patagonia. RIMISP's study shows the need for public consultation on major infrastructure projects (Photo: Glenn Switkes/International Rivers, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    Learning the lessons from Chile's energy transformation

    The SDGs promise transformational change – but how is this delivered? A new study from RIMISP, a partner of the Independent Research Forum (IRF), looks at how major change came about in Chile's energy sector

    23 March 2015 | Blog | Energy
  • The United Nations headquarters in New York City (Photo: Wally Goetz, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    The right to sustainable development: what the post-2015 agenda declaration should say – but won't

    Negotiations underway this week will focus on the declaration text for the Sustainable Development Goals. Jonathan Reeves suggests this is an ideal opportunity to raise global ambition – but says the signs are not good

    18 February 2015 | Blog | Climate change
  • Modern energy services are crucial to economic development. In Afghanistan, less than 10 per cent of the population has access to the electricity grid. French NGO GERES has been working to introduce low-cost passive solar building designs, reducing fuel poverty (Photo: Oriane Zera, GERES, Creative Commons, via Flickr)
  • The Swiss ski resort of Davos, which hosts the World Economic Forum (Photo: swiss-image.ch/Michael Buholzer, Creative Commons via Flickr)

    The glass is half full: in 2015 we need to demand that our leaders deliver

    As leaders from politics, business and civil society gather in the Swiss ski resort of Davos for the World Economic Forum, IIED's chief economist argues that "hope" is the most scarce resource

    21 January 2015 | Blog | Economics
  • Surveying residents in the settlement of Tank Mohalla, Bangalore, India (Photo: CSTEPIN, Creative Commons, via Flickr)

    Local democracy as a substitute for data (and rather a good substitute too)

    Why is there so little data on who faces poverty and where they live? David Satterthwaite examines why 'better' data is better than 'more' data

    16 January 2015 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • Negotiations went long into the night at COP20 in Lima, Peru, but the road to dignity seems no clearer (Photo: Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores Gonzalo Gutiérrez Reinel, via Creative Commons)

    Can the road to Paris lead to the road to dignity?

    After climate negotiations drew to a close in Lima, Jonathan Reeves reflects on the UN Secretary General's synthesis report on the post-2015 agenda and asks whether the "road to dignity" will take us to the right destination.

    15 December 2014 | Blog | Climate change
  • A view of the Houses of Parliament, home of the Environmental Audit Committee which has warned that the government risks undermining new global development goals (Photo: Skeeze, via pixabay)

    SDGs 'not just for overseas'

    In its latest report, the UK parliament's Environmental Audit Committee has warned that the government risks undermining new global development goals, following evidence that the UK has been seeking to limit their scope and ambition

    15 December 2014 | News | Governance
  • IIED director Camilla Toulmin enjoys the 12th D&C Days event at COP20 in Lima, Peru (Photo; Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre)

    Zero-zero, dolphins and conversations for change

    IIED director Camilla Toulmin reflects on her trip to Lima for the COP20 Development and Climate Days

    11 December 2014 | Blog | Climate change
  • Peru’s Belen Valley is a landscape largely uninhabited by humans, but home to hummingbirds, the spectacled bear and more than 50 species native to the area (Photo: Leendeleo via Flickr)

    Have your say: Join the discussion on enabling forest landscapes to score Sustainable Development Goals

    IIED will co-host a discussion at the Global Landscapes Forum in Lima, Peru, on Saturday on how forest landscapes can score Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

    3 December 2014 | News | Climate change
  • The capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, is one of the world's largest cities. It is surrounded by rivers and lies only a few metres above sea level. The urban poor living in flood-prone areas are most threatened by climate change (Photo: David Dodman/IIED)

    The IPCC and an urbanising planet

    The IPCC's Fifth Assessment gets the importance of understanding and acting on urbanisation

    6 November 2014 | Blog | Climate change
  • Lushoto, Tanzania: Farmers are being encouraged to diversify into agroforestry. Here a tree nursery group discusses the challenges and opportunities (Photo: P Kimeli/CCAFS)

    Look beyond the trees: the SDGs will have to do more than just 'protect forests'

    A UN working group has drafted targets to succeed the Millennium Development Goals, which will expire next year. IIED's assessment finds a strong set of targets, but also trade-offs and missing issues

    4 November 2014 | Blog | Forests
  • Care workers in Guinea put on protective clothing (Photo: EC/ECHO)

    Ebola – what must we learn?

    The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is launching an unprecedented appeal in response to the Ebola crisis, but what lessons must we learn if we are to effectively and equitably tackle future shocks of this scale?

    30 October 2014 | Blog | Gender
  • IIED director Camilla Toulmin gave a lecture at the University of Sussex on 23 October (Photo: Chatham House)

    Toulmin lecture: How can the Least Developed Countries be heard?

    IIED director Camilla Toulmin will discuss how the Least Developed Countries get their voices heard in international negotiations when she delivers a lecture on 23 October

    21 October 2014 | News | Climate change
  • A host of government leaders made pledges at the 2015 UN Climate Summit hosted by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon (Photos: Saleemul Huq/IIED)

    A week that may change the world

    It's been a busy week for IIED senior fellow Saleemul Huq, with plenty of action unfolding on the climate change front in New York. Here he provides an inside look into what transpired, and some reflections on how the recent events may impact upcoming climate negotiations

    25 September 2014 | Blog | Climate change
  • Prakash Mathema speaking at the opening ceremony of the 8th annual conference on community-based adaptation to climate change (CBA8) held in Kathmandu, Nepal in April 2014 (Photo: IIED)

    Q&A: Helping the poorest nations with development goals

    The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) want their voices heard at climate and development talks. They will need a range of support to build their capacity to meet their development goals

    19 September 2014 | Article | Climate change
  • Drought affects Xinjiang Province, a consequence of climate change (Photo: Simon Lim)

    Well-financed climate change action must be central to the post-2015 goals

    Climate change and sustainable development are inextricably linked. It is critical, therefore, that the post-2015 sustainable development agenda fully embeds climate change

    4 September 2014 | Blog | Climate change
  • A tanker delivers water to residents in Retiro, a shanty town in Buenos Aires (Photo: Mark Edwards)

    Urban water and sanitation

    With water and sanitation recognised as human rights, IIED has been working with local partners to identify how sanitation can be improved in deprived urban locations

    1 September 2014 | Project | Poverty
  • Poultry farming is part of the sustainable agriculture system, along with crop production and fisheries, at Songhai Centre, in Porto Novo, Benin (Photo: Mark Surman via Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

    LDC experts to share ideas on building productive capacity

    How can Least Developed Countries (LDCs) progress so they are no longer held back by extreme poverty? A conference next week in Cotonou, Benin, will address this issue, bringing together ministers and experts from LDCs, along with UN representatives and development experts.

    25 July 2014 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • Meceburi Forest, near Nampula, Mozambique (Photo: Mike Goldwater)

    The Musketeers of development

    Does the zero draft of the Sustainable Development Goals take enough note of the crucial interdependencies between goal areas?

    16 July 2014 | Blog | Forests
  • Street scene, Karachi, Pakistan. Photo by Fareena Chanda

    Can we change the goals of development without changing the implementers?

    The latest draft of the Sustainable Development Goals and targets contains a stunning list of commitments, but fails to address how we will achieve them.

    9 July 2014 | Blog | Urban
  • Urban-rural linkages have been 'beefed up' in the latest draft of the UN's Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals

    OWG 'zero draft' is a huge step forward: now let's get practical

    ​The OWG's 'zero draft' on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a marked improvement on previous versions, but we still have a long journey ahead

    20 June 2014 | Blog | Policy and planning
  • People need at least US$50 to survive for a month in Hanoi. This is twice the official urban poverty line (Photo via Commons Wikimedia/Google licence)

    If we don't count the poor, the poor don't count

    Research in several countries shows how governments and development agencies undercount the scale and depth of urban poverty

    12 June 2014 | Blog | Poverty
  • Two forest farmers from Ghana, including the head of a local community forest group, alongside some cocoa beans (Photo: Duncan Macqueen/IIED)

    Integrating forests into the post-2015 development framework

    This IIED project aimed to install forest-related targets and indicators into the post-2015 development framework, contributing towards notional goal areas on poverty reduction and equality, economic growth and employment, food security, water and energy, climate change, ecosystems and biodiversity

    21 May 2014 | Project | Forests
  • Participants in the gender and environmental change workshop discuss REDD+ (Photo: Lucile Robinson/IIED)

    Making gender equality a global and local reality

    The UNFCCC has taken significant steps to promote women's increased participation in the global climate change negotiations process. It's a gain for gender equality, but gaps remain

    21 May 2014 | Blog | Climate change
  • Residents of an informal settlement in Pune, India, discuss the results of a survey and how best to upgrade their homes and settlement, guided by Mahila Milan, a grassroots network formed by savings groups of women slum and pavement dwellers (Photo: SPARC)

    Wanted: Urban data revolution for post 2015 sustainable development goals

    Around a billion people live in informal urban settlements that lack essential services and security, so the concerns of these people should be high on the agenda when agreeing a new set of sustainable development goals

    16 April 2014 | Blog | Poverty
  • In the absence of electricity, students in Bangladesh are given charger lights so they can study at home (Photo: G.M.B. Akash/PANOS)

    Ensuring an Energy Sustainable Development Goal delivers for poor people and the planet

    In late February, discussions over the post-2015 development agenda reached a milestone. The co-Chairs of the Open Working Group (OWG), the body tasked with preparing a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposal for consideration by the UN General Assembly in September 2014, issued a "Focus Areas Document".

    25 March 2014 | Blog | Energy
  • Demonstrating the use of alternative building materials at the Jinja Building Materials Training Centre, Uganda. (Photo: David Dodman)

    Reducing risks to urban health and building climate resilience

    Climate change, health and urban resilience are all connected, and this means research and policy in these arenas must join up

    17 March 2014 | Blog | Climate change
  • A dilapidated road is repaired in the West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya, India (Photo: Rikynti Marwein via Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

    Transforming growth for least developed countries

    A focus on four key priorities could help Least Developed Country governments lift their citizens out of poverty by generating inclusive growth

    10 March 2014 | Blog | Economics
  • Rosebell Kagumire was among the delegates at the conference discussing the post-2015 development framework: priorities for the least developed countries, in late January (Photo: Matt Wright/IIED)

    Media missing from UN drive to engage millions on post-2015 development agenda

    Rosebell Kagumire says consultations on the future of global development framework should involve journalists or they will fail to reach the masses.

    4 February 2014 | Blog | Communication
  • The post-2015 development agenda must recognise that the fates of forests and people are entwined. Credit: Duncan Macqueen

    Saving the forests for last – in the hope, at last, of saving the forests

    The Sustainable Development Goals must not only mention saving the world's forests, but also explain how to do this.

    31 January 2014 | Blog | Forests
  • Wilton Park is the venue for a conference on sustainable development goals from January 29-31 (Photo: Wilton Park)

    Post-2015 development framework: priorities for LDCs – coverage from Wilton Park

    From January 29-31, Wilton Park hosted a conference enabling frank and open dialogue between those in the political process of setting 'sustainable development goals' and those in least developed countries (LDCs) who will need to implement the goals.

    30 January 2014 | Feature | Governance
  • Fish for sale in a Sri Lankan market. Credit: Dhammika Heenpella (Flickr / http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

    Ten ways to ensure there are plenty more fish in the sea

    Sustainable fisheries must be central to the new global development goals that all nations will pursue from 2015, says Essam Yassin Mohammed.

    28 January 2014 | Blog | Fisheries
  • Wilton Park is the venue for a conference on sustainable development goals from January 29-31 (Photo: Wilton Park)

    Conference to refocus post-2015 development agenda on poorest nations' priorities

    New 'sustainable development goals' for all nations to adopt in 2015 could deepen problems in the least developed countries (LDCs) if they fail to take account of these nations' priorities and the international nature of challenges they face.

    27 January 2014 | News | Climate change
  • A line of Christmas trees. Photo: Brett Flanders (Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

    Sustainable development requires an infusion of love

    Next year, new Sustainable Development Goals will set our trajectory into an increasingly uncertain future. But country delegations are arguing over the wrong thing

    20 December 2013 | Blog | Forests
  • Young people in Okola, Cameroon, cluster around a Global Positioning System that they are using to create a community map with geographical features.

    Future world: addressing the contradictions of planet, people, power and profits

    Our new paper on global trends aims to provoke debate as part of the process of developing IIED’s new five-year strategy. Read it and tell us what you think.

    7 June 2013 | Blog | Natural resource management
  • A mom and her newborn baby at the Maternal & Child Health Training Institute in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

    New international development goals: score or miss?

    The UN Secretary General's High-Level Panel has published their set of recommendations for international development. What is the verdict? How do they ‘score’?

    5 June 2013 | Blog | Green economy

  • Moving beyond the preamble to creating a new story at Rio+20

    The panelists, Tony Cunningham MP (Labour), Martin Horwood MP (Liberal Democrats),

    24 May 2012 | Blog | Energy
  • Izabella Teixeira, Minister of Environment of Brazil, taken during the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2011.

    Influencing the outcomes at Rio+20

    IIED is playing an important role in getting government representatives and environmentalists together at our

    24 May 2012 | Blog | Governance

  • Green Economy Coalition gives Rio 2012 text a Grade B

    Twenty years on from the first summit on sustainable development, yesterday the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Bureau released th

    13 January 2012 | Blog | Green economy

  • Earth Summit 2012: Crucial opportunity that needs broader buy-in

    As shoppers in New York surged through streets and avenues bedecked with festive offerings, delegates from around the world were summoning up the collective will to make something of the crucial opportunity presented by the Earth Summit in Rio

    20 December 2011 | Blog | Green economy
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