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‘Millenium’ makes way for 17 ‘sustainable’ development goals by 2030, at UN Summit
The UN’s Sustainable Development Summit opened with both gravitas and glamour. The opening address was by His Holiness Pope Francis, a vocal champion of the poor, the powerless and the environment.
Later, renowned singer Shakira belted out the Beatles hit ‘Imagine’, dedicating it to the two little Syrian boys who died seeking safe passage to Europe.
The UN’s 193 member States adopted 17 ambitious goals and the mind-boggling 169 targets of the new sustainable development pathway laid out for all countries of the world.
The new goals are not a simple continuation of the UN’s previous agenda, called the MDGs or Millennium Development Goals. The new goals are for both developed and developing countries.
Relevant in part to countries such as Nepal that need to still plod on towards ensuring basic services for their populations, and to those countries such as the USA that need to ‘unravel’ or unlearn their current ‘unsustainable’ model of development.
The goals, criticised by many as being too wide and too ambitious, are the result of almost three years of worldwide consultation- not just with governments but also with civil society lobby groups and an opinion survey called ‘The World We Want”. So really, there was little hope of a contained agenda.
The outcome document was in negotiation for the past eight months, and the entire monitoring framework is still being worked out. However, finally, the abstract concept of sustainable development has been whittled down to goals and targets, giving governments and policymakers a framework within which to position national development plans and strategies.
The beginnings of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) lie in the wake of the 2012 summit which looked at the state of the environment 20 years after implementing the Rio Conventions on protecting the climate, on conserving biodiversity and managing land.
The prognosis was disheartening and even life-threatening, and almost immediately, a new process was launched to design a stronger framework that both developed and developing countries need to adopt, to contain the economic development trajectory in a way that does not harm people or the planet.
Sri Lanka, as we know, fared quite well in the poverty reduction, education and health targets of the MDGs (which end this year). However, as a country, we were found lacking in areas such as nutrition, gender parity and protecting the environment.
Some of the more ambitious and interesting SDGs that will be challenging for both developed and poor countries, including middle-income countries like Sri Lanka are;
Goal 7 on ensuring decent work and dignity for the workforce- this goes beyond measuring unemployment to look at ‘conditions’ of employment.
Goal 10 on reducing inequality and income disparity- both within countries, and then among countries, tackling aspects such as safe migration and security for refugees from conflict or environmental crises.
Goal 11 on making cities livable and environment-friendly
Goal 12 on sustainable consumption is about containing greed for material goods, reducing waste and streamlining production of such goods.
Most interesting aspects of the SDGs are contained in Goal 16, which is on peaceful and inclusive societies.
The targets here measure corruption levels, violence in society, especially violence against children, and fair access to judicial redress. Goal 16 was highly contentious and heavily debated, with clear difference of opinion between developing and developed countries.
It was pushed through as a goal by richer, developed nations, while countries including India and China wanted these aspects of good governance incorporated throughout the other goals.
For countries, the work is just starting. Naturally, no country can launch into full blown implementation of the Global Goals from next month.
There idea is to take stock, prioritise goals and, in linking with the national development objectives, localise relevant goals and targets for the country.
President Maithripala Sirisena, in his address to the Summit, provided a glimpse of Sri Lanka’s priorities which will be discussed elsewhere. In the coming weeks, more detailed analysis of the new global agenda and implications for Sri Lanka will be discussed.
With declining Oversees Development Assistance, countries like Sri Lanka will be expected to fund implementation of many of these goals through domestic resources.
The West is pushing hard, if a little unfairly, for middle income countries to increase tax collection, boost remittances and cut down subsidies to fund sustainable development.
More details on the SDGs could be found at: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/ and http://www.globalgoals.org/
(The writer is a Policy Specialist at the United Nations Development Programme, Sri Lanka)