Will the global impact of climate change strike home in Paris? By Jimena Leiva Roesch The UN-brokered climate change conference in Paris began on November 30. Despite the recent terrorist attacks that rocked Paris and the subsequent high alert that remains in place, President Francois Hollande affirmed that “the international... Continue reading

Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations and the Libra Full Moon A significant event in the heavens occurred during the period of the Sustainable Development Summit at UN Headquarters in New York. The full moon (with the sun in Libra) was late in the evening of Sunday, the final day... Continue reading

A blueprint for ending world poverty can indeed change the world - Quartz Continue reading

Global Goals campaign seeks to make sustainable development famous | Global development | The Guardian ... "Amina J Mohammed, the UN secretary general’s special adviser on post-2015 development planning, said communicating the goals was important because the more people knew about the SDGs, the likelier leaders were to put them... Continue reading

The Woman Who Could Stop Climate Change - The New Yorker A Reporter at Large AUGUST 24, 2015 ISSUE The Weight of the World Can Christiana Figueres persuade humanity to save itself ? BY ELIZABETH KOLBERT The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or U.N.F.C.C.C., has by now been... Continue reading

The NGO community, including a representative of World Goodwill, met at the UN on 13 August to discuss both the process and the outcome of working on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The meeting focused on the nature and quality of civil society advocacy and the mechanisms needed to support... Continue reading

On Thursday, 30 July 2015, just hours before governments began their final negotiations, a Transformative Agenda for Sustainable Development, World Goodwill was represented at a side event, “Preparing for the implementation phase of the post-2015 development agenda.” There was a visionary air to the gathering. The Ambassador of South Africa,... Continue reading

Ever since the first United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 - known as the Earth Summit, it has been recognized that achieving sustainable development would require the active participation of all sectors of society and all types of people. Toward that end, nine "Major Groups" or sectors... Continue reading

Glee, relief and regret: Addis Ababa outcome receives mixed reception | Global development | The Guardian UN secretary general hails Addis Ababa development finance summit a success but failure to establish new global tax body draws criticism. World leaders at the financing for development summit in Addis Ababa have reached... Continue reading

'We can be the first generation that ends poverty' We need food instead of fine words at the development finance table in Addis Ababa, and leaders must pledge the resources to ensure an equal share for all Ban Ki-moon An African proverb teaches that “fine words do not produce food”.... Continue reading

Jonathan Glennie from the Guardian ~ New development goals need to be ambitious, actionable and accountable | Global development | The Guardian The post-2015 sustainable development goals are comprehensive and visionary – now they must be translated into a workable action plan at national level The great strength of the... Continue reading

World Goodwill was represented at one of the last side events of the High Level Political Forum (HLPF): “Involving civil society in the implementation of the post-2015 agenda” which was organized, in part, by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), a group of European NGOs. Around 90 representatives gathered... Continue reading

The High Level Political Forum of Sustainable Development (HLFP) is the main UN platform on sustainable development, providing political leadership, guidance and recommendations. It addresses new and emerging challenges, and enhances the integration of economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The HLPF is meeting this year, under the... Continue reading

AN AUSTRALIAN scientist has discovered that giant, invisible, moving plasma tubes fill the skies above Earth. It’s a finding that was initially met with a considerable degree of scepticism within the field of astrophysics, but a University of Sydney undergraduate student Cleo Loi, 23, has proven that the phenomenon exists. Continue reading

4 May 2015 – To say that 2015 is a big year for sustainable development may be an understatement given that, over the course of six months beginning in July, countries have the opportunity to take decisions that will determine the global course of action to end poverty, promote prosperity,... Continue reading

How solar magnetism and lightning may be connected Continue reading

The Millennium Development Goals Report for 2014 is out. ‎www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/MDG/english/UNDP_MDGReport_EN_2014Final1.pdf The Report is in response to the wishes of the General Assembly for periodic assessment of progress toward the MDG's. Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, brings to our attention that at this time, "Member States are now fully engaged... Continue reading

Check out this article on the SDG's, just published by the International Peace Institute. It is a combined project by Jimena Leiva-Roesch of the Guatemala Mission to the UN who worked on the negotiation of the General Assembly's recent Open Working Group set of 17 Goals; inspired Tunisian thinker Youssef... Continue reading

One of the first questions asked about the new Sustainable Development Goals being developed on behalf of and by all of us at the United Nations is: How will the Goals be funded? Where will the money come from to achieve any of the specific targets by 2030? Another way... Continue reading

STICK an electrode in the ground, pump electrons down it, and they will come: living cells that eat electricity. We have known bacteria to survive on a variety of energy sources, but none as weird as this. Think of Frankenstein's monster, brought to life by galvanic energy, except these "electric... Continue reading

In 2015 the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) come to an end. Governments agreed on a set of eight goals for human development that they could achieve by the year 2015 through cooperation, and they laid out a plan of action detailing how they would achieve each goal and... Continue reading

There is a historic process of dialogue and negotiation currently underway as the United Nations seeks to define a new set of goals for the post 2015 world. What vision of the future will inspire and drive the United Nations agenda? How will the UN plan to achieve the goals... Continue reading

Study suggests pylons and wires that stretch across many landscapes are having a worldwide impact on wildlife - see http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/12/animals-powerlines-sky-wildlife Continue reading

On 12 July 2012, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution to mark 20 March as International Happiness Day. The initiative was brought forth by the country of Bhutan, a country which has recognized the supremacy of national happiness over national income for over 40 years. Bhutan had also proposed,... Continue reading

The process of reaching some consensus on new human development goals is well underway at the UN. In addressing the question, "What will our goals be after 2015?", the Millenium Development Goals are seen as being successful in moving us to where we are today. Now the focus is shifting... Continue reading