20 June 2014: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon published a report on ‘Options for the scope and methodology for a global sustainable development report’ (GSDR) (E/2014/87). The report was prepared pursuant to UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution 67/290 on the format and organizational aspects of the high-level political forum on sustainable development (HLPF), which it said should strengthen the science-policy interface by bringing together diverse information and assessments, including in the form of a GSDR.

The report puts forward several options for the scope and methodology for a GSDR, based on responses from several Member States and UN entities to a questionnaire on the subject. The options also draw on lessons learned from a multi-stakeholder process to produce a prototype edition of a GSDR, in order to illustrate the potential content and process for such a report.

According to the report’s section on ‘Lessons learned for future editions,’ assessments can be clustered in three broad groups: intergovernmental scientific assessments; scientific-technocratic assessments; and scientific research collaborations. The report notes that experts prefer the conventional UN model for flagship publications, a multi-stakeholder model with national contributions, or the model used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). As noted in the report, experts from developing countries expressed more skepticism on the intergovernmental panel model, in view of its focus on peer-reviewed knowledge dominated by Western journals.

The report also acknowledges crowd-sourcing as a useful tool for identifying emerging issues that scientists recommend decision makers consider for action. As the issues identified through crowd-sourcing were found to differ significantly from issues highlighted in expert group meetings and from issues identified by researchers, a GSDR might benefit from encouraging a wide range of participation through multiple channels.

According to the report, case studies illustrate the benefits of integrated approaches focusing on issue clusters, rather than sectors or themes, as they can help in identifying innovative solutions.

The full Prototype Global Sustainable Development Report was launched on 1 July 2014. [Global Sustainable Development Report Website] [Publication: Options for the Scope and Methodology for a Global Sustainable Development Report: Report of the Secretary-General]