Arab Sustainable Development Report - 2015

This report reviews the current situation in the Arab countries in relation to sustainable development. In particular, it uses regional and global benchmarks to aid in examining progress over the past two decades, trends, and remaining gaps and opportunities. It also includes examples and cases from the region. In the absence, at the time of writing, of globally adopted SDG indicators, authors selected a set of indicators guided by a number of criteria, including data availability for Arab countries, with preference given to the Sustainable Development Indicators for the Arab Region adopted by the League of Arab States.2 Although the report covers the themes of the 17 global SDGs, it emphasizes the issues of highest priority to the Arab region. One aim of this report is to provide national stakeholders with evidence-based information to be used for establishing targets, designing policies and monitoring/reporting progress.