2 April 2014: The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) has released a compendium of 603 existing goals and targets related to the 19 focus areas under consideration by the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The document was prepared by the Technical Support Team (TST) for the OWG, and aims to inform the second phase of the OWG’s work, to agree on and adopt a report on SDGs and targets by July 2014.

The compendium identifies “sub-areas” under each of the 19 focus areas, for a total of 138 sub-areas. Focus Area 1 on Poverty Eradication includes three sub-areas: Access to property and productive assets, finance and markets for all women and men; Eradicating absolute poverty; and Providing social protection to reduce vulnerabilities of the poor, including children, youth, unemployed, persons with disabilities, indigenous people and local communities and older persons.

The focus area with the largest list is Focus Area 16 on “Marine Resources, Oceans, and Seas”, which includes 251 existing goals and targets. At its most recent session, OWG 10, Member States proposed ideas for initial goals and targets, with the proposals numbering well over 300 potential targets. [Publication: Compendium of existing goals and targets under the 19 Focus Areas being considered by the Open Working Group] [OWG Website] [IISD RS Sources]