In September, a United Nations summit of heads of state will adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — a set of 17 goals and 169 targets to guide international development. A diverse range of indicators and monitoring strategies is being proposed, covering every dimension of development, from human well-being to the environment1.Next week, high-level political representatives meeting in Addis Ababa for the International Conference on Financing for Development will discuss how to fund the SDGs. The participating governments, development institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and business stakeholders will negotiate an agreement on domestic commitments and international action around financing initiatives.The SDG monitoring framework makes great demands on nations — it must help countries to implement strategies and allocate resources, measure progress towards sustainability and hold stakeholders to account1. A country found to be failing in sustainable forestry, for example, may choose to invest more in forestry or receive penalties and lose aid. Target-setting is trendy among aid and development organizations as well as in multilateral agreements for accountability, impact and value for money.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1038/523152aAltmetric score:
Dimensions Citation Count:
Publication year
2015
Authors
Hubbard D; Fenton N; Claxton K; Luedeling E; de Leeuw J; Shepherd K D
Language
English
Keywords
development, sustainable development goals, policy, decision-making, farmers
