The science of building a perfect world from Road to Paris, Science for Smart Policy

Science, technology and medicine are of course integral to the development of economies. Indeed, fundamentally, development is about wider access to precisely these things. But what does science have to tell us about the development process itself, about whether the objectives we choose are achievable, desirable? Is there a ‘more scientific’ approach to the goals we set ourselves?

The global leaders and stakeholders behind the forging of a new, universal set of goals that are to guide international development and transform the world into a single prosperous, modernized unit by 2030 certainly think so. Crafted by representatives from some 70 United Nations member states in consultation with civil society over the past two years, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, or just SDGs, are the follow-up to the Millennium Development Goals that had been agreed by governments in 2000. This year, 2015, was the date by which the planet was supposed to have achieved the eight MDGs: eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; universal primary education; promotion of gender equality; reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health; combatting HIV/Aids, malaria and “other diseases”; ensuring environmental sustainability; and development of a global partnership for development.

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