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A set of 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development were formally adopted at a special UN summit in New York on 25-27 September. The goals raise great expectations and set the stage for the next 15 years. Their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), focused mainly on the human aspects of development. The Global Goals go beyond this by integrating the role of ecosystems in sustaining human well-being. This is a major step forward, in that the new goals seek to ensure a better balance between economic growth and environmental protection.

On Thursday 17 September thirteen fellows graduated from the UNU-LRT six-month training programme; seven women and six men. The graduates come from Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, and Uganda in Sub-Saharan Africa, and from Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia in Central Asia. At the graduation ceremony the UNU-LRT Director, Dr Hafdis Hanna Aegisdottir, the Permanent Secretary of State, Mr Stefan Haukur Johannesson, and the Chair of the UNU-LRT Board, Mr Sveinn Runolfsson, addressed the fellows and guest. Addresses were also given by two graduating fellows, Ms Uuganzaya Myagmarjav from Mongolia and Mr Emmanuel Chidiwa Mbewe from Malawi, who spoke on behalf of the 2015 cohort of fellows.