The Millennium Development Goals outline specific targets to be accomplished by 2015 in the fight against global poverty. What happens after 2015, though? With all the work that has to be done to meet the 2015 goals, looking beyond next year is not at the forefront of many peoples’ minds.

The United Nations has attempted to begin a global conversation about a post-2015 agenda to follow the MDGs.

U.N. leaders trying to formulate a concrete set of post-2015 goals have found that conducting a global conversation is difficult. The United Nations Development Programme sent out an online survey to 1.44 million people from 194 different countries to inquire about what they would like to see included in future goals.

Emerging priorities include education, healthcare and an improved job market.

Despite the survey’s results, the main priority for post-2015 seems to be sustainable development goals. Current research is beginning to reveal how important sustainable development and the environment are to the alleviation of global poverty.

As highlighted at a recent conference in Britain, climate change should affect the discussion of post-2015 goals greatly. It is something that was not included in the 2015 MDGs.

The MDGs related to sustainable development include biodiversity loss reduction, improved access to safe and clean drinking water, decreased number of people living in slums and incorporation of sustainable development policies into more countries’ legal systems.

Climate change hits developing countries hard, especially countries with economies that depend on farming exports. Many citizens in developing countries also depend on farming as a means of personal survival. It also  causes weather-related natural disasters that can destroy communities that lack funds to rebuild.

Discussing climate change must be done sooner rather than later.

“Everything is related to everything,” said  Tom Bigg, head of partnerships at the International Institute for Environment and Development.

The Development Cooperation Forum will work with the U.N. to determine the best course of action beyond 2015. The Forum will look at global needs, as well as the people’s wishes, to determine where the world should focus its attention after the 2015 MDGs have passed.

– Emily Walthouse

Sources: The Guardian, IIED, Thomas Reuters Foundation, UN 1, UN 2, UN 3
Photo: Free Digital Photos