By Philip Vaughter, UNU-IAS, ESD

This article is part of UNU’s “17 Days, 17 Goals” series, featuring research and commentary in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, 25-27 September 2015 in New York City.

By Christopher Doll, UNU-IAS

This article is part of UNU’s “17 Days, 17 Goals” series, featuring research and commentary in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, 25-27 September 2015 in New York City.

Goal #11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

This article is part of UNU’s “17 Days, 17 Goals” series, featuring research and commentary in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, 25-27 September 2015 in New York City.

Goal #3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

This article is part of UNU’s “17 Days, 17 Goals” series, featuring research and commentary in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, 25-27 September 2015 in New York City.

Goal #2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture

by Zinaida Fadeeva

This new blog series covers all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, with insights from UNU researchers around the world. Please check unu.edu for the full series ahead of the Sustainable Development Summit in New York on 25-27 September 2015. 

SDG Series:

Goal 1: End Poverty

Goal 2: No Hunger

Read more on this article here.

Please find below the link to the final approved version of the UNEP discussion paper, that was released on Monday at the start of IN 3 of the post-2015 development agenda discussions in New York. The purpose of the paper is summarized on the back cover, as below, and the document also contains an executive summary. 

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.