LAST week, the University of the Philippines (UP) hosted the 8th Asia-Pacific RCE Conference. Before the day I learned I was going to be part of the technical working group for the conference, I didn't know what RCE was. I asked the assistant who handed the memo what RCE was, and she could only manage a smile for an answer. Poor me, I got a smaller world.

Bulletin of the 6th International Conference on Environmental and Rural Development

As part of promoting the 20th Anniversary of the 1995 World Summit for Social Development and the adoption of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, The UNDESA Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD) launched a yearlong campaign called “For Inclusion. For Equality. For People”. The campaign, which is part of the wider “2015 Time for Global Action” campaign, aims to highlight the importance of unity and the need to put people at the centre of the development agenda, leaving no on behind.

As part of the efforts to improve science-policy interface in the intergovernmental processes on sustainable development at the United Nations, the Global Sustainable Development Report had posted an open call to the scientific community around the world, inviting scientists to submit briefs, highlighting specific issues, findings, or researches with a bearing on sustainable development in its three dimensions – economic, social and environment – or their inter-linkages. Briefs were submitted by end of January 2015 in any official UN language.

The SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development is an annual awards scheme designed to find the most promising, innovative and locally-led start-up social and environmental enterprises in countries with developing and emerging economies. The independent SEED International Jury of experts selects enterprises which have the potential to make real improvements in poverty eradication and environmental sustainability while contributing to a greener economy.

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The SDGs offer a "major improvement" over their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, this report by the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the International Social Science Council (ISSC) finds that of the 169 targets beneath the 17 draft goals, just 29% are well defined and based on the latest scientific evidence, while 54% need more work and 17% are weak or non-essential.