ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book looks at the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and examines how they changed the way that United Nation (UN) multilateral sustainable development negotiations are conducted. It provides challenges, crises, and change that characterized the tumultuous first decade and half of the new millennium. The book examines how the UN General Assembly chose to put into action the language in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development outcome document setting forth the mandate for the elaboration of the goals. It focuses on the negotiations and drama surrounding the goals themselves, with particular emphasis on some of the more difficult negotiations, and describes the key players and outcomes to achieve a better understanding of how agreement was reached on each goal.
