Originally published on the CGS blog on October 9, 2013.
One of the key outcomes of UN Week was an important development in development: the UN General Assembly formally adopted language that makes the post-2015 agenda focus on what our Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should be and how we should attain them by 2030. Over the next two years, at a series of meetings and conferences, diplomats and bureaucrats will be deciding on the nuts and bolts of the successor to the Millennium Development Goals.
Why does this matter? And after endless frustration over environmental action of any kind at the UN, how can we make the SDGs make a difference?
First, it matters that the UN agreed to make the Sustainable Development Goals the focus of the post-2015 development agenda because the gains made by seeking the Millennium Development Goals are only sustainable with a long-term focus on environmental goals. Studies consistently show that the global poor are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and it’s not the only environmental challenge we face: land degradation, desertification, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, and human outcomes like food security and access to water matter as well. If Millennium Development Goals like decreasing poverty, child survival rates, or rates of HIV/AIDS are achieved only to be dashed as communities become newly stressed due to drought, or famine, or natural disasters, then what did we really achieve?
Second, the fact that the states who make up the General Assembly have agreed to integrate sustainability into traditional poverty and global health goals means we’re making progress, even if it’s tenuous, on convincing developing countries that environmental goals are in their interest. Their narrative has long held that since modern industrialized states didn’t have environmental standards as they became the economic powerhouses they are today, developing states should have few restrictions, too–this has especially been the claim of China, Brazil, and India, for instance. And these states had been trying to keep these goals separate. The fact that they joined the international consensus means, to some extent, that we’re making progress on getting political leaders in these states to recognize the potentially devastating consequences to them and to their citizens if we don’t take the environment seriously.
Third, this is an important step toward re-invigorating action on global environmental goals. Major industrialized countries like the US and Canada have opted out of the Kyoto Protocol, and developing countries’ emissions targets are non-binding. Progress has stalled on the global diplomatic front where the environment is concerned. But most importantly, perhaps, we’ve learned a lot since the original Rio Conference in 1992 and the signing of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997–while emissions are still an important part of our understanding of climate change and our legacy to the future, we now understand that fighting environmental problems is about more than just government treaties and legislation. We have to involve businesses, NGOs, and local organizations to help us plan for disasters, provide for water and food security, design urban areas, preserve native species, and much more. We know now that providing for humanity’s long-term health is about more than just government yammering–it’s about all of us working together at the local, regional, and global level to mitigate the disasters we know are coming and to prevent the problems to which we are clearly contributing. The Sustainable Development Goals and the process that creates them will provide us with a public measuring stick to work with and a new public standard to which we can hold all our leaders–public, private, and non-profit–accountable.
Finally, how will having the SDGs on the post-2015 agenda make a difference for the environment? After all, we’re just a year removed from the Rio+20 Summit on Sustainable Development and we just had a massive IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report explaining what we know about climate change and how it may affect us in the short- and long-term. Isn’t the environment getting enough attention?
Of course not.
It’s been a while, so you may have forgotten that there was a mass walkout from–and mass dissatisfaction with–the Rio+20 Summit. People were frustrated that the final result of that process was an overly bureaucratic, please-everyone document that actually committed to not-so-much. But when the General Assembly approved treating SDGs as an integral part of the post-2015 development agenda, we took the first real step toward realizing what those protestors actually hoped for: real action. The Millenium Development Goal process has used achievable, measurable goals, that member states, NGOs, UN bodies, and even lending institutions can use as policy priorities. Imagine if these kinds of goals were set for the environment and sustainable development.
Now imagine if you got input into what those environmental goals are. That, above all, is the opportunity this news affords us: the chance to get involved and make a difference on a global scale.
And while the UN is and will remain an inter-governmental body, there are plenty of organizations that inform those governments on how to make decisions–including this one! You might also want to connect with the US Mission to the UN directly to inform their participation in discussions. Or comment on this post below to let us know what you think!
