November 2014: A draft of the outline for the 2015 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) is now available on the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. The draft outline lists eight chapters, including a description of the aims of each chapter and key questions to be addressed.

According to the draft, ‘The science-policy interface’ chapter aims to identify elements of the science-policy interface relevant to Member States within the context of the High-level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF), particularly in relation to implementation, integration and policy coherence of sustainable development. It will also consider coverage of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by existing international assessments and linkages between international and national levels of the science-policy interface. ‘Integrated perspective on the SDGs’ will explore the SDG “system,” and assess the ability of existing scenario models and related tools to support an integrated assessment of progress and pathways towards the SDGs.

‘The oceans-biodiversity-poverty eradication nexus’ will elaborate on integrated approaches to sustainable development using an example from these sectors and selected country case studies on the benefits of integrating the nexus at the national level. ‘Disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the context of the SDGs’ will consider how science can contribute to evidence-based target setting on deaths and economic losses caused by disasters, how policymakers use findings from disaster risk scenarios, and emerging science-based solutions to disaster risk.

‘Economic growth, inclusive and sustainable industrial growth and sustainable consumption and production (SCP)’ will address the role of industrial policy in achieving inclusive and sustainable economic growth to support post-2015 objectives as well as considering other measures that could be scaled up to facilitate transitions to resource efficiency and SCP. ‘Countries in special situations’ will focus on small island developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), using examples from these countries to illustrate how science has influenced policy.

‘Science issues and solutions for the attention of decision-makers’ will review the pros and cons of methods used to identify emerging sustainable development issues and identify science issues and solutions that are not prominent in UN discussions but should be included. A call for contributions has been issued for this chapter. ‘Conclusions and the way forward’ will share key messages from the GSDR, suggestions on how the GSDR can support the HLPF’s work on the science-policy interface, and propose options for yearly editions of the GSDR.

The 2015 GSDR is expected to contribute to the HLPF’s 2015 session. The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) prepared a Prototype GSDR in 2014. [Draft Outline] [IISD RS Story on Call for Input]