Felix Dodds is a Senior Fellow at the Global Research Institute and a Senior Affiliate at the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina, USA, and also an Associate Fellow at the Tellus Institute, Boston, USA. Felix has edited or written fourteen books on sustainable development and UN-related issues and was Chair of the 2011 UN DPI NGO Conference 'Sustainable Societies Responsive Citizens'. From 1992 to 2012 he was Executive Director of the Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future.

Ambassador David Donoghue is Ireland's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, USA. He co-facilitated, with the Permanent Representative of Kenya, the negotiations at the UN which produced the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. He also co-facilitated, with the Permanent Representative of Jordan, the negotiations which agreed the outcome of the High Level Meeting on large movements of refugees and migrants held at the UN on 19 September 2016.

Jimena Leiva-Roesch is a Senior Policy Analyst at the International Peace Institute. Previously she was a diplomat for the Permanent Mission of Guatemala to the United Nations in New York, USA. She was a lead negotiator for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and for climate change. She offers hands-on training on multilateral negotiations to diplomats and students worldwide. Jimena was an active member of the Security Council team when Guatemala was an elected member in 2012-2013.

Foreword Ambassador Macharia Kamau 1. A New Beginning Conceiving Sustainable Development Goals 2. Understanding Complexity: Development or Sustainable Development Parallel Paths Emerging as One 3. The Big Year: The Preparatory Process 4. A Transformational Agenda: Outcomes from 2015 and What They Mean 5. Understanding the Future: From 2015 to 2030, the Challenges Ahead