Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Follow-up to the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015 and to Rio+20

This inter-agency document aims to be a modest contribution by the United Nations system to discussion of the sustainable development agenda based on common concerns. The international community is facing the countdown to timely achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. But it also has a unique opportunity to think about a new development paradigm for the planet beyond 2015, based on the Rio+20 commitments as reflected in the document The future we want. We hope that this text will stimulate and inform the debate on the new post-2015 development agenda, with a focus on sustainable development, equality and structural change, and that it will guide discussions within the region and among the global community on the steps needed to achieve a new paradigm of change. This report was prepared by technical teams from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the United Nations Development Group for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNDG LAC), as agreed at the Regional Coordination Mechanism meeting held on 24 January 2013 in Santiago and in close collaboration with the regional offices of the following agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations.