The 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the rural development imperative

The year 2015 marks the transition from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the much broader 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the much more ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (box 1.1). This represents a paradigm shift in the development agenda. The SDGs, for the first time, establish a collectively agreed set of universal goals for an inclusive and sustainable global development process. They also represent a step change in ambition, seeking not merely to reduce poverty in all its dimensions, but to eradicate it within just 15 years. Achieving this will require a new and different approach to development, and nowhere more so than in the least developed countries (LDCs).

Related Subject(s): Economic and Social Development