UN secretary general says
no plans to reduce sustainable development goals
In his report, Ban Ki-moon backs the
17 goals and 169 targets proposed by the UN working group, despite the
difficulty member states may have in communicating them
2015: the year of sustainable development
2015 will be one of
our greatest opportunities to change the world
The year 2015 will be
our generation’s greatest opportunity to move the world toward sustainable
development. Three high-level negotiations between July and December can
reshape the global development agenda, and give an important push to vital
changes in the workings of the global economy. With United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call to action in his report The Path to Dignity, the
Year of Sustainable Development has begun.
In July 2015, world
leaders will meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to chart reforms of the global
financial system. In September 2015, they will meet again to approve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
to guide national and global policies to 2030. And in December 2015, leaders
will assemble in Paris to adopt a global agreement to head off the growing
dangers of human-induced climate change.
Sustainable development goals could be compromised by cuts, MPs warn UK
House of
Commons committee fears Britain’s wish to reduce goals from 17 to 12 would
undermine environmental sustainability
Britain will undermine the UN’s sustainable
development goals (SDGs)
by trying to reduce their numbers and continuing to give tax breaks and
susbsidies to the fossil fuel industry, a powerful group of MPs has warned.
The targets, which will be
approved in September 2015, when the millennium
development goals expire,
will set all countries objectives for poverty reduction, social development and
protection of the planet. But MPs on the House of Commons environmental audit
committee said they feared that if the 17 goals proposed were reduced to 12, as
Britain wants, environmental sustainability was likely to be sacrificed,
with dangerous consequences.
“The UK must not risk
undermining the sustainable development goals. Any continued argument for a
smaller number of goals, in the face of the secretary general’s
recent guidance, risks creating unnecessary divisions between
countries when it should be seeking to build support for ambitious action,”
they said.
2015: the year businesses recognize that climate change is real
It would be an understatement to say that a lot happened in
2014.
There was pervasive civic
and social unrest across the US, bringing issues like racism and justice to the
forefront yet again, as well as a historic agreement
with China to mitigate
carbon emissions. Meanwhile, India enacted a law requiring companies to spend 2% of their net
profits on social development, the Philippines suffered
yet another big typhoon, and the Ebola crisis killed more than 7,000
people in west Africa.
Then there were the media shakeups, including buyouts at the New
York Times, a mass exodus at the
New Republic and a shift in
Bloomberg’s top ranks.
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/dec/24/2015-predictions-business-climate-change-environment-justice-future
Global Sustainable Development Report
Bringing together great global issues at the
UN: peace and security, freedom, development, environment. Since the creation
of the United Nations, the world’s peoples have aspired to make progress on the
great global issues of peace and security, freedom, development, and environment.
At the end of World War II the primary focus was on peace which was sustained
globally throughout the cold war, but broken locally in many places. From the 1950s,
the aspiration of freedom was expressed in the struggle to end colonialism and
oppression, and later to extend human rights. The success in attaining national
independence was followed in the 1960s by a focus on economic development to
provide the basic necessities for the poorest two-thirds of the world and
higher standards of living for all. In the 1970s, global values for nature and
the environment emerged, as illustrated by the UN Conference on the Human
Environment held in Stockholm in 1972.
http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/1454Prototype%20Global%20SD%20Report.pdf
A NEW GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP: ERADICATE
POVERTY AND TRANSFORM ECONOMIES THROUGH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The Panel came together with
a sense of optimism and a deep respect for the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). The 13 years since the millennium have seen the fastest reduction in
poverty in human history: there are half a billion fewer people living below an
international poverty line of $1.25 a day. Child death rates have fallen by
more than 30%, with about three million children’s lives saved each year
compared to 2000. Deaths from malaria have fallen by one quarter. This
unprecedented progress has been driven by a combination of economic growth,
better policies, and the global commitment to the MDGs, which set out an
inspirational rallying cry for the whole world.
Given this remarkable
success, it would be a mistake to simply tear up the MDGs and start from
scratch. As world leaders agreed at Rio in 2012, new goals and targets need to
be grounded in respect for universal human rights, and finish the job that the
MDGs started. Central to this is eradicating extreme poverty from the face of
the earth by 2030. This is something that leaders have promised time and again
throughout history.
Today, it can actually be
done.
TRENDS IN SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT AFRICA REPORT
The Department of Economic
and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interface
between global policies in the economic, social and environmental spheres and
national action. The Department works in three main interlinked areas: (i) it compiles,
generates and analyses a wide range of economic, social and environmental data
and information on which Member States of the United Nations draw to review
common problems and to take stock of policy options; (ii) it facilitates the negotiations
of Member States in many intergovernmental bodies on joint courses of action to
address ongoing or emerging global challenges; and (iii) it advises interested
Governments on the ways and means of translating policy frameworks developed in
United Nations conferences and summits into programmes at the country level
and, through technical assistance, helps build national
capacities.
Progress towards Sustainable
Development in Africa Summary Report
This report was prepared for
the Rio+20 UN Summit1
and presents a synopsis of efforts made
by the region, starting from
the Earth Summit in 1992 (the Rio Summit), through the World Summit on
Sustainable Development (Rio+10), to the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable
Development (Rio+20),
scheduled for 20-22 June 2012, and is thus a guide to the extent to which the
Africa region has implemented international and regional commitments on
sustainable
development.
African countries have been
growing at a relatively fast rate since the beginning of the new millennium,
which in turn has led to improvements in several areas such as trade,
mobilization of government revenue, infrastructure development, and the
provision of social services and vice versa. Indeed, over the period 2001–2008,
Africa was among the fastest growing regions in the world economy, and it is
interesting to note that this improvement in growth performance has been widespread
across countries. Despite the progress that has been made by the region over
the last decade, the current pattern of growth is neither inclusive nor
sustainable. There are
various reasons for this.
An Action Agenda for Sustainable
Development REPORT FOR THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL
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