SDG implementation in the UK unconvincing new IDC report finds
In September 2015, 193 UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs) – an ambitious set of 169 targets that commits all signatory countries to tackle issues from gender inequality to climate change, access to quality education and...
The Basque Declaration
On 23rd May representatives of cities, organisations, and citizens concerned about sustainable development and the future of our urban areas have been invited to endorse The Basque Declaration. This builds on the Aalborg Charter (1994) and the Aalborg Commitments...
The EU Referendum, Democracy and Sustainable Development | Blog by Graham Smith
Graham Smith is Professor of Politics at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster and a specialist in democratic innovation and citizen engagement, with a particular interest in climate politics and the representation of future generations. He...
The EU Referendum and UK Poverty
On May 24th, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published: “The first evidence-based briefing of how the outcome of the EU referendum on June 23 could affect people in poverty”. The paper was written to ensure that places and people with the lowest incomes are not ignored...
Public health in a changing climate
Whether it’s direct or indirect, climate change will have an impact on public health. A recent report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the New Economics Foundation reviews current local strategies by public health institutions to address climate change. In...
Citizens sue their governments for action on climate change
“Global warming is already disrupting the planet’s weather”, a recent New York Times article reads, “now it is having an impact on the courts as well, as adults and children around the world try to enlist the judiciary in their efforts to blunt climate change.” After...
Greater than the sum of our parts | Briefing paper on global partnerships for Goal 16
Following a workshop earlier this year, bringing together a range of global partnerships, as well as senior governmental, multilateral and civil society representatives, Saferworld has published a briefing paper: Greater than the sum of our parts – global...
Children, youth and disasters: Listening, learning, and moving towards democratic engagement
In this provocation, Prof Lori Peek, co-director of the Center for Disaster and Risk Analysis at Colorado State University, draws on her work following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 where she interviewed disaster-affected children and youth across the United States. She...
Disasters & Democracy: Spring Newsletter, April 2016
Our Spring Newsletter is out! The focus this time is on disasters and democracy, and with particular attention to the importance of youth engagement. Contributors draw on experiences in the field after earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand (Bronwyn Hayward);...
New UK Health Alliance on Climate Change to encourage healthy action on climate change
Many of the key drivers of climate change also cause poor health through air pollution, high saturated fat intake and physical inactivity, argues the recently launched Health Alliance on Climate Change. Responding to climate change, says the group of major health...
Changing behaviour to achieve progress | Blog by FDSD Trustee Bronwyn Hayward
Bronwyn Hayward is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Head of Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch NZ. She is a trustee of the FDSD and co-investigator with the ESRC Research Centre for...
Brexit: Potential environmental policy consequences for the UK | New IEEP report
A recently published report by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), in collaboration with The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB and WWF UK, considers the potential consequences a #Brexit could have on environmental policy in the UK. The research focuses on two...
Floods, community resilience and the “civic middle”: learning lessons from Leeds
The floods that hit wide areas of the UK at the end of last year were devastating for many communities. In many places local crisis management was found wanting. But in Leeds, the spontaneously self-organised volunteering infrastructures were exemplary in their...
A bold move toward public problem solving on a global scale? | Anne-Marie Slaughter on the Paris Agreement
In her recent blog for the Project Syndicate, Anne-Marie Slaughter, former president of the American Society of International Law, offers an optimistic take on the non-binding nature of the Paris Agreement. As she argues: “its deficits in this regard are its...
New chair for FDSD
John Lotherington is delighted to announce that his successor as Chair of FDSD’s Board of Trustees is Graham Smith, Professor of Politics at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster. Graham is a specialist in democratic innovation and citizen...
Winter Newsletter, Jan 2016: Democracy and Climate Politics
Our Winter Newsletter it out! With focus this time on democracy and climate politics. Interesting insights from David Kahane, Simon Burall, Andrea Westall, Halina Ward and János Zlinsky. Please get in touch at info@fdsd.org if you or your organisation would like to...
Democracy, SDGs and COP—interview with János Zlinszky
János Zlinksy, one of our longest serving Trustees and an advisor to the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, reflects on the relationship between the Paris COP and the Sustainable Development Goals Interview by Nick Aveling There’s been a lot of...
Climate change action needs more than scientific evidence | Blog by Simon Burall
Simon Burall is the Director of Involve, a think tank and charity specialising in public participation. Their mission is to inspire, innovate and embed effective citizen engagement, to enable members of the public to take and influence the decisions that affect their...
Managing the Psychological Distance of Climate Change
Climate change is a notoriously ‘distant’ risk for most people. We hear about it in the news, but it rarely seems relevant to our everyday life – “it feels ‘not here’ and it feels ‘not now’”. This sense of non-urgency couldn’t be further away from the actual impact...Sign up for newsletter
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