The next set of development goals should be underpinned by plans to measure progress and results — and to boost data infrastructures.

A SciDev.Net survey reveals the challenges of applying research insights to policy and practice, and underscores that evidence is not enough.

Making science integral to the new development agenda will need new frameworks — and new thinking about the goals.

A greater commitment to multidisciplinary research, and to local problem solving, is essential to achieving future development goals.

The UN organisation with responsibility for science should embrace its role in tackling poverty — not keep it at arm's length.

Politicians won't act to conserve biodiversity unless they have strong evidence that it is an effective strategy for combating global poverty.

An influential lecture on the cultural significance of science remains as relevant today as when it was delivered 50 years ago.

A commitment to development-oriented innovation should be high on the agenda at the upcoming MDG summit in New York.

Commodity price rises are no substitute for long-term investment in infrastructure and capacity as a means of securing sustained development.

More efforts are needed to hold the leaders of the G8 nations to commitments made at their annual summit meetings.

African ministers have committed themselves to a set of actions to boost health research in their countries. Now they must implement them.

Last week, world leaders reconfirmed their commitment to meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals, increasing the need for the goals to be grounded in both scientific and political reality.

Nalaka Gunawardene argues that better communication is needed to convey the urgency of the Millennium Development Goals — and the role of science in achieving them — to the public.

Is preserving biodiversity compatible with achieving the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals? Judging by reactions to the most recent report on global biodiversity, the answer seems to depend on where one is coming from.