The Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) is a United Nations publication aiming to strengthen the science-policy interface at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, the main United Nations platform providing political leadership and guidance on sustainable development issues at the international level. It is one of the only two mandated reports to inform the decision-making process at the HLPF.
The GSDR adopts an assessment-of-assessments approach, documenting and describing the landscape of information on specific issues that are policy-relevant in the field of sustainable development, bringing together dispersed information and assessments.
The GSDR is complementary to other assessments and substantive reports being prepared by the UN system and other institutions; it draws upon contributions from a wide range of experts and stakeholders from across the world, bringing together diverse perspectives and disciplinary backgrounds.
The GSDR is global in coverage while taking into account the perspectives of the five UN regions.
In developing the GSDR, extensive inputs are sought from within the UN system, as well as from external experts including scientists, government officials and stakeholders at all levels, including representatives of academies of sciences and relevant expert groups.
Building on three prototype editions of the GSDR in 2014, 2015 and 2016, in the Ministerial Declaration of the 2016 HLPF, Member States decided that the GSDR should be produced once every four years to inform the quadrennial SDG review deliberations at the High-Level Political Forum under the auspices of the General Assembly, and that it should be written by an Independent Group of Scientists (IGS) appointed by the Secretary-General. The IGS would consist of 15 experts representing a variety of backgrounds, scientific disciplines and institutions, ensuring geographical and gender balance. It would be supported by a task team of six UN entities (UN DESA, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO and the World Bank).
Along with other expert organizations, CICED regularly provides inputs for the report. The past version of the report can be found here: https://sdgs.un.org/gsdr
The GSDR 2023 will be published later this year.
