In 2015 the "Post 2015 Development Agenda" was discussed at the UN through an unprecedented participatory process. This process culminated in an agreement on the document “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". Once adopted, it will guide the work of the international community for the next 15 years. This new Agenda opens potential room for joint work between Latin America, the Caribbean and the EU, and brings to the forefront central issues in Latin America´s path towards achieving its structural change and tackling its main debt: the persistence of inequality. (Read paper)
Alicia Bárcena Ibarra is Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) since 1 July 2008. Previously, she had served as the Under-Secretary-General for Management at United Nations Headquarters in New York, Chef de Cabinet and Deputy Chef de Cabinet to the former Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan and Program Coordinator for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Programme, among others. She was the Founding Director of the Earth Council in Costa Rica, a non-governmental organization in charge of follow-up to the agreements reached at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. Alicia Bárcena has published numerous articles on sustainable development, public policies, environmental issues and public participation. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, and holds a Master degree in Public Administration from Harvard University. She has completed the courses for a degree of Master in Ecology and has initiated studies for a PhD degree in Economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Picture: courtesy of ECLAC