. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article in the Huffington Post by Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations

Having two parties agree on a common goal can be a challenge. Having 193 parties agree to 17 of them is, to understate it, uncommon. So when the Sustainable Development Goals are adopted this week by 193 UN Member States, it’s fair to say we will be witnessing something historic.

Having all nations concur on a path forward for the entire planet and its peoples is unprecedented, and indeed, an accomplishment in and of itself.

But despite the enormity of the task, setting the goals was the easy part. Achieving them is where the hard work begins in earnest. With 17 goals that integrate all aspects of our economies, societies and the environment, the challenge is formidable. That these goals apply to all nations — developed and developing — means that the challenge is a universal one.

The cross-cutting, global nature of the goals necessitates a degree of cooperation as unprecedented as the goals themselves.

Nations of the world recognized this fact as the goals were being developed. To help enable the coordination needed to achieve them, member states included what might be called a meta-goal: SDG 17. The intent of Goal 17 is to advance the notion of partnerships, from local to global, that will be fundamental to achieving the other 16 SDGs.

We have seen the power of partnerships and cooperation in the 193-nation consensus on a sustainable future. That power must now be harnessed to take us there.

Having all countries of the world on board is only the beginning. Sustainable development will need participation and cooperation between governments, the private sector and civil society.

Why is this so? Aside from the fact that the SDGs are shared goals for all humanity, it comes down to an unyielding reality: no single institution possesses the resources and competencies needed to achieve these goals alone.

Investment on a massive scale will be required in sectors such as energy, infrastructure, transport and information technology to support sustainable-development objectives.

Technology, policy coherence and governance will also need to be aligned with the goals of sustainable development.

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Despite the vested interests of companies and governments, Can we make progress toward sustainable development?

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When it comes to financing, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, some $5-7 trillion will be needed annually to achieve the SDGs.

Public finance can only contribute so much.

Consider the investments required to adapt to climate change over the coming decades. Climate resilience will be a critical component of sustainable development. According to UNEP’s first Adaptation Gap Report, the global investment required for adaptation to climate change is likely to hit $300 billion per year until 2050 — possibly rising as high as $500 billion.

In 2013, the total amount of public climate finance was $137 billion.

Making up the difference seems like a daunting task.

This is where potential of global partnerships comes into play. In 2013, private climate financing totaled $193 billion.

This is still short of what is needed for climate finance, let alone the trillions more required to support sustainability across all sectors over the coming decades. But it is a point on a trend that shows an increase in sustainable investments over time from both public and private sectors.

These investments are already resulting in remarkable changes. Take renewable energy as an example, in 2014, about half of all energy-generating capacity built in the previous year was renewable. The Africa Renewable Energy Initiative is working to mobilize billions of dollars in public and private financing to achieve 10,000 MW of installed renewables capacity on the continent by 2020.

These remarkable statistics speak to two shifts that will need to continue in order to achieve the SDGs. The first is increased alignment of public-policy and private-sector initiatives. The second is the ability of public finance to catalyze private investment.

On technology, policy and governance, we have already seen the potential of partnerships to change the world.

Thirty years ago, the international community came together to tackle the challenge of the growing hole in the ozone layer. The result was the Montreal Protocol and the phasing out of ozone-destroying cholorfluorocarbons (CFCs). Now, the ozone layer is on track to heal by mid-century.

The UNEP-supported Partnership for Clean Fuel and Vehicles played an important convening role in phasing out lead in fuel, which has resulted in a dramatic reduction of lead-exposure health problems.

And currently, the 100-member Climate and Clean Air Coalition, which UNEP hosts, is actively working to reduce air pollution.

Cooperation engenders success. That’s why partnerships like these are at the core of the goals of sustainable development. No one government — and not even 193 of them — will be able to realize sustainable development without working together.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by the United Nations Development Program

The 193 Member States of the United Nations reached agreement today [August 2 ]on the outcome document that will constitute the new sustainable development agenda that will be adopted this September by world leaders at the Sustainable Development Summit in New York.

Concluding a negotiating process that has spanned more than two years and has featured the unprecedented participation of civil society, countries agreed to an ambitious agenda that features 17 new sustainable development goals that aim to end poverty, promote prosperity and people’s well-being while protecting the environment by 2030.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the agreement, saying it “encompasses a universal, transformative and integrated agenda that heralds an historic turning point for our world.”

“This is the People’s Agenda, a plan of action for ending poverty in all its dimensions, irreversibly, everywhere, and leaving no one behind. It seeks to ensure peace and prosperity, and forge partnerships with people and planet at the core. The integrated, interlinked and indivisible 17 Sustainable Development Goals are the people’s goals and demonstrate the scale, universality and ambition of this new Agenda.”

Mr. Ban said the September Summit, where the new agenda will be adopted, “will chart a new era of Sustainable Development in which poverty will be eradicated, prosperity shared and the core drivers of climate change tackled.”

He added that the UN System stands ready to support the implementation of the new agenda, which builds on the successful outcome of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, and which, he said, will also contribute to achieve a meaningful agreement in the COP21 in Paris in December.
UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said “This agreement marks an important milestone in putting our world on an inclusive and sustainable course. If we all work together, we have a chance of meeting citizens’ aspirations for peace, prosperity, and wellbeing, and to preserve our planet.”

More than 150 world leaders are expected to attend the Sustainable Development Summit at the UN headquarters in New York between 25 to 27 September to formally adopt the outcome document of the new sustainable agenda.

The new sustainable development agenda builds on the success of the Millennium Development Goals, which helped more than 700 million people escape poverty. The eight Millennium Development Goals, adopted in 2000, aimed at an array of issues that included slashing poverty, hunger, disease, gender inequality, and access to water and sanitation by 2015.

The new sustainable development goals, and the broader sustainablity agenda, go much further, addressing the root causes of poverty and the universal need for development that works for all people.

The preamble of the 29-page text, “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” states, “We are resolved to free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet.” It continues, “We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path. As we embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind.”

Rio+20 and the intergovernmental process

At the Rio+20 Conference of 2012, Member States agreed to launch a process to develop a set of sustainable development goals, which will build upon the Millennium Development Goals. The Millennium Development Goals have proven that goal-setting can lift millions out of poverty, improve well-being and provide vast new opportunities for better lives. It was agreed that the new goals would be global in nature and universally applicable to all countries while taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and respecting national policies and priorities.

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( Click here for the French version of this article or here for the Spanish version.)

Can UN agencies help eradicate poverty in the world?

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The negotiations were co-facilitated by the UN Permanent Representative of Ireland, Ambassador David Donohue, and the UN Permanent Representative of Kenya, Ambassador Macharia Kamau, over two years. The inclusive and transparent consultations by Member States, with the strong engagement of civil society and other stakeholders, have served as a basis for the conclusion of the intergovernmental negotiations on the emerging universal and people-centred agenda.

Core elements of the agreed outcome document

The outcome document highlights poverty eradication as the overarching goal of the new development agenda and has at its core the integration of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The emerging development agenda is unique in that it calls for action by all countries, poor, rich and middle-income. Member States pledge that as they embark on this collective journey, no one will be left behind. The ‘five Ps’—people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership—capture the broad scope of the agenda.

The 17 sustainable goals and 169 targets aim at tackling key systemic barriers to sustainable development such as inequality, unsustainable consumption and production patterns, inadequate infrastructure and lack of decent jobs. The environmental dimension of sustainable development is covered in the goals on oceans and marine resources and on ecosystems and biodiversity, bringing core issues into the goal and target framework.

The means of implementation outlined in the outcome document match its ambitious goals and focus on finance, technology and capacity development. In addition to a stand-alone goal on the means of implementation for the new agenda, specific means are tailored to each of the sustainable development goals.

Member States stressed that the desired transformations will require a departure from “business as usual” and that intensified international cooperation on many fronts will be required. The agenda calls for a revitalized, global partnership for sustainable development, including for multi-stakeholder partnerships. The agenda also calls for increased capacity-building and better data and statistics to measure sustainable development.

An effective follow-up and review architecture – a core element of the outcome document – will be critical to support the implementation of the new agenda. The High Level Political Forum on sustainable development, set up after the Rio+20 Conference, will serve as the apex forum for follow up and review and will thus play a central role. The General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and specialized agencies will also be engaged in reviewing progress in specific areas.

Based on the outcome document, the agenda will include a Technology Facilitation Mechanism to support the new goals, based on multi-stakeholder collaboration between Member States, civil society, business, the scientific community, and the UN system of agencies. The Mechanism, which was agreed at the Addis Conference in July, will have an inter-agency task team, a forum on science, technology and innovation, and an on-line platform for collaboration.

The successful outcome of the Addis Conference gave important positive momentum to the last stretch of negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda. It is expected that the consensus reached on the outcome document will provide momentum for the negotiations on a new binding climate change treaty to culminate at the Climate Change Conference in Paris from 30 November to 11 December 2015.

The draft agreement can be found here.

. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT .

An article by WWF (reprinted according to Creative Commons Attribution)

Faced with an unprecedented surge in wildlife crime, the UN today adopted a historic resolution committing all countries to ramp up their collective efforts to end the global poaching crisis and tackle the vast illegal wildlife trade. Initiated by Gabon and Germany and co-sponsored by 84 other nations, the UN General Assembly resolution, Tackling the Illicit Trafficking in Wildlife, is the result of three years of diplomatic efforts and is the first time that every nation has acknowledged the seriousness of wildlife crime and the urgent need to join forces to combat it.

caption: © Sarah Goddard / WWF

“The UN resolution marks a new phase in the fight against wildlife crime, which is threatening countless species with extinction while jeopardizing national security and sustainable development,” said Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International. “This landmark resolution proves that ending wildlife crime is no longer just an ‘environmental’ issue and not just limited to a few countries: it has become a priority for every nation.”

With elephant populations collapsing in Mozambique and Tanzania and record numbers of rhinos being killed in South Africa, the poaching crisis is clearly undermining global conservation efforts. But the UN resolution also spells out the broader effects of wildlife crime, which undermines good governance, the rule of law and the well-being of local communities as well as financing criminal networks and funding armed conflict.

“Just weeks before the UN meets to finalize the Sustainable Development Goals, it is significant that every country has signed up to tackle the growing threat organized wildlife crime poses to sustainable development,” said Lambertini.

Recognizing that only a comprehensive approach can curb the current crisis, all 193 UN member states agreed to enhance regional and international cooperation along the entire illegal wildlife trade chain, including measures to stop the poaching, trafficking and buying.

Along with strengthening judicial processes and law enforcement, the resolution encourages countries to actively involve local communities in the fight against the illicit trade by enhancing their rights and capacity to manage and benefit from wildlife resources.

“Nepal has already proved that this comprehensive approach works, having achieved three years of zero poaching of rhinos since 2011 thanks to a combination of high-level political will, dedicated rangers, and genuine community participation – now it is up to other countries to follow Nepal’s lead and the measures outlined in this historic resolution,” said Elisabeth McLellan, Head of the Wildlife Crime Initiative, WWF International.

Attracted by the relatively low risks and high returns, organized crime networks have muscled their way into the illegal wildlife trade, bringing with them more sophisticated poaching and trafficking methods – and greater violence and corruption.

In response, the resolution highlights the transnational and organized nature of crimes that impact the environment and stresses the need for countries to counter corruption and address money laundering linked to wildlife crime.

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What is the relation between the environment and peace?

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“If countries fully implement the resolution, wildlife crime will become far riskier and far less rewarding,” said McLellan. ”The resolution’s strong reporting mechanism should ensure that real progress is made and that any critical gaps are effectively addressed.”

Starting in 2016, the UN secretary general is tasked with presenting an annual report on global wildlife crime and countries’ implementation of the resolution, together with recommendations for further action. Already lined up for debate next year is the possible appointment of a special envoy – a move that WWF believes would promote greater awareness and help hold countries to account.

“WWF has played a key role in shifting global attitudes towards wildlife crime over recent years, highlighting its impact on communities and on dwindling populations of elephants, rhinos, tigers and other species,” said Lambertini. “WWF will now focus on assisting countries in their crucial efforts to implement the resolution and help end the terrible global scourge that is wildlife crime, once and for all.”