Scoring goals for sustainable development

With the Millennium Development Goals set to expire in 2015, the negotiation process to set the new UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is in full swing. In fact, the UN’s Open Working Group on SDGs recently released a ‘zero’ draft of goals and targets, that will pave the way for submitting a final proposal to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2014. IIED has been contributing to the SDGs drafting process as a member of the Independent Research Forum (IRF2015) — an alliance of sustainable development think tanks that aims to influence thinking and provide expert analysis on the post-2015 agenda.

Localising transparency: Exploring EITI’s contribution to sustainable development

Countries dependent upon exploitation of natural resources often suffer from the ‘resource curse’, characterised by poor economic growth, low living standards, corruption, and political authoritarianism. Civil society organisations have been campaigning for voluntary and legal transparency in natural resource sectors. These efforts helped to establish the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). This paper considers whether ‘localising’ the transparency agenda – ie making it more relevant to local communities directly affected by extractive industry operations – might increase its potential to deliver sustainable development and poverty alleviation objectives within resource-dependent countries.
 

Agroecology - What it is and what it has to offer

Green economies in the Caribbean: perspectives, priorities and an action learning agenda

A review of China’s rangeland management policies

Specialisation or diversification? Divergent perspectives on rice farming in three large dam-irrigated areas in the Sahel (Also available in French)

Exploring energy priorities: a community workshop tool

In order to design effective, participatory and sustainable energy access interventions that are in sync with real community priorities, it is necessary to understand and capture nuances of community energy needs and preferences across the target population. In South Africa, the CHOICES community energy project organised ‘energy options’ workshops to discuss and prioritise local energy needs. The workshops highlighted important variation within and between types of communities (urban, rural and informal) and geographical locations within the target region.

Coverage of conference on innovations for equity in smallholder payments for ecosystem services now available

We hosted a conference that aimed to explore the latest thinking on how to make schemes that compensate protectors of natural resources fairer and more inclusive, earlier this year in Edinburgh.  Video highlights of the sessions are now available to watch and presentations available on Slideshare.

Researcher – Forest Team

The Forest Team are seeking a Researcher to contribute to and further develop the research, capacity-building and policy work of the Forest Team, with particular focus on investing in locally controlled forestry in Africa, Asia and Latin America
Closing date: 4pm (BST) Wednesday 2nd July 2014
 

Assistant Coordinator – Partnerships

The Partnerships team is seeking an enthusiastic and efficient administrator to work with the Senior Coordinators to provide administrative support to Partnerships in all aspects of its work.
Closing date: Monday 7th July at 12noon (London time)