The Sustainable Development Goals1 (SDGs) are a set of ambitious targets that seek to carry on and complete the work initiated by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which tried to tackle the indignity of poverty. The SDGs were conceived at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, 20 years after the first global conference on environment and development (known as the Earth Summit) in the same city, and were adopted by UN member states in September 2015. The SDGs also incorporate concerns raised in the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, both agreed and signed in 2015, to address the risks of climate change and natural disasters using a set of common standards and achievable targets. The 17 SDGs are meant to be viewed as interconnected targets, linking natural resource management to fostering peace and inclusive societies, reducing inequalities, and promoting economic growth.