Broadening the Environmental Dimension in the Post-2015 Development Agenda

The MDGs recognise the nexus between human development and environmental sustainability through MDG 7. After more than a decade, however, the global progress on MDG 7 targets and indicators pales in comparison with progress on other MDGs. Even in an upper-middle-income economy like Malaysia, environmental sustainability is hardly an integral part of development practice despite its appreciation in key development policy documents. Albeit concise and measurable, MDG 7 has not only failed to produce enough positive results, it also fails to reflect the gravity of environmental challenges when it was conceived in early 2000. More acutely, there are emerging biophysical and economic realities at the global level demanding new development strategies. To stay relevant, sustainable development should be moved centre-stage in the quest to reimagine the international development agenda after 2015.