December 2016: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed 15 eminent scientists and experts to draft the 2019 edition of the quadrennial Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR). UN Member States requested the formation of the independent group to draft the GSDR, in the Ministerial Declaration of the 2016 High-Level Segment of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and of the 2016 session of the HLPF (E/HLS/2016/1).

The GSDR was called for by the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or Rio+20) in 2012, and seeks to inform the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), strengthen the science-policy interface, and constitute a strong evidence-based instrument to support policymakers in promoting poverty eradication and sustainable development. The report is intended to provide guidance to support implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in ways that integrate economic, environmental and social dimensions.

The next edition of the quadrennial GSDR will be published in 2019, and will be the first to inform high-level global reviews of the 2030 Agenda.

The next edition of the report will be published in 2019. It will be the first of a quadrennial series to “inform high-level global reviews of the 2030 Agenda at the UN in those years,” according to a UN press release.

Endah Murniningtyas of Indonesia and Peter Messerli of Switzerland were appointed to serve as co-chairs of the group. The other members of the independent group of scientists are: Wolfgang Lutz (Austria), Jean-Pascal van Ypersele (Belgium), Parfait Ekoundou-Enyegue (Cameroon), Katherine Richardson (Denmark), Eeva Furman (Finland), Jean-Paul Moatti (France), Ernest Foli (Ghana), David Smith (Jamaica), Muhammad Saidam (Jordan), Jurgis Staniskis (Lithuania), Gonzalo Hernández Licona (Mexico), Eun Mee Kim (Republic of Korea) and Amanda Glassman (US).

UN Secretary-General received over 60 nominations of experts, and the 15 members were appointed after “an extensive consultation process” with UN Member States and relevant UN organizations, the press release notes. The group seeks to balance a wide range of relevant scientific disciplines, expertise and regional perspectives, the UN adds. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, posted a tweet following the appointment, noting that ten of the 15 experts are from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

The group will be supported by a UN task team, which will be co-chaired by six entities: the UN Secretariat; UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the UN Environment Programme (UNEP, or UN Environment); the UN Development Programme (UNDP); the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); and the World Bank. [UN Press Release on Scientists Appointment] [GSDR 2019 Webpage] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Briefing Related to the Independent Group of Scientists] [ECOSOC HL Segment-HLPF Ministerial Declaration] [India PR Tweet]