ABSTRACT
This chapter considers what has happened since Rio+20, the state of the processes that were initiated, and how they are merging with the preparations for the final assessment of the Millennium Development Goals, which together are referred to as 'the Post-2015 Development Agenda'. The press corps in Rio de Janeiro, and in comments made since, was almost unanimous in claiming that Rio+20 had been a global disaster. The gradual assimilation of sustainable development as the only possible standard for long-term prosperity is, for starters, a major change from the situation in 2000, when Gross National Product (GNP) was thought to be the gold standard of progress. The institutional architecture, of which several key parts have already been established, is attempting to recover the centrality of the United Nations as the norm-setting forum for development. It also strives, drawing from the deficiencies of the Commission of Sustainable Development (CSD), to provide a clear differentiation between sustainable development and environmental policy-setting.
