Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

Post 2015: Success or Failure? It’s up to you…. By Felix Dodds From the first time that Colombia proposed the idea of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in July 2011, the development Ministries and many development NGOs have initially opposed or reluctantly come on board.  But now with the decision on the 25 th of December for a one track approach that attitude will need to change. The new goals developed over the next 2 years up to the Summit in 2015 will be universal unlike the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) agreed in 2000 which only dealt with developing countries. The challenges for the next period will have dual focus of addressing the eradication of poverty and sustainable development. There will be in addition to the Sustainable Development Goals Open Working Group sessions (SDG OWG) over the next year some additional meetings organized by the President of the General Assemblies Office to even more address some of the key thematic areas. The last mee...

Rapporteur:  Dr Kadir Topbaş, Mayor of Istanbul, President of UCLG and member of the High Level Panel for Post 2015 agenda. Thank you Mr./Madam Chair. ExcellencIes, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to address this session on behalf of the Local Authorities Major Group as Mayor of Istanbul and President of UCLG, reporting on our Special Event on sustainable cities in collaboration with DESA and Local authorities Major groups. The new development agenda is one and universal affecting all continents and countries. In all cases well managed urbanization with a territorial approach and bridging the rural urban divide will be key. We would like to recall the Rio outcome document reaffirming the role of all levels of government and legislative bodies in promoting sustainable development and the specific progress made at the local and subnational levels. We would further like to stress the paramount role played by the sub...

The Nexus Conference 2014 (3-7 March) is  gaining  pace Liz Thompson former Barbados Energy and Environment Minister is a confirmed speaker with Adnan Amin  Director General of IRENA and expect additional announcements in the next week.  The agenda was announced a few weeks ago and will have 8 plenary sessions and Nexus dating :-) To help the Advisory Board and Secretariat have come up with some areas that we think would be interesting abstract areas - these are only suggestions but if you are doing work in these areas do submit by November 1st details on how are on the Conference web site. Abstract suggested areas These are suggested areas for possible abstracts. They do not represent what will be chosen but areas that we will be looking at next year in the future. The nexus approach requires systemic thinking and a quest for integrated solutions to guide our decision-making about resource use and development and move to a more sustainable planet...

UNCSD: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY Felix Dodds, Fellow at the Global Research Institute UNC and Associate Fellow at the Tellus Institute I cannot believe that today will see the twentieth meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and its final session. I write as a member of a very small group of people that attended the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and all of the CSD meetings to date, giving me a relatively unique perspective. It should be remembered that the CSD was a compromise between the UK and USA, in particular, who did not want any UN institution for sustainable development, and Maurice Strong (Secretary General of Rio 1992), Norway and some developing countries who wanted to either transform the Trusteeship Council to an Ecological Security Council or create a new Council of the General Assembly. It was in fact a group of NGOs who came up with the compromise, handing the suggestion that this new body be a functional commission of the UN Economic an...

In preparation for Rio+20 I, Michael Strauss with Maurice Strong wrote a book " Only One Earth: The Long Road via Rio to Sustainable Development - looking at the history of the last 40 years and what the challenges for the future are. Of course I would love you all to read the book. If you want some teasers then I produced four podcasts which you might want to listen to: EXCERPTS FROM 'ONLY ONE EARTH' - CHAPTER 1: STOCKHOLM 1972 EXCERPTS FROM 'ONLY ONE EARTH' - CHAPTER 2: EARTH SUMMIT 199 2, RIO DE JANEIRO EXCERPTS FROM 'ONLY ONE EARTH' - CHAPTER 3: WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT , JOHANNESBURG 2002 EXCERPTS FROM 'ONLY ONE EARTH' - CHAPTER 4: RIO+20 A NEW BEGINNING It is important as many of us are preparing to attend the UN General Assembly  in ten days time (23 September) where there will be important decisions on the road to the Post-2015 - to reflect on what we have learnt in the past. The book and the podcasts try and not ...

On September 12th at 15:00 UTC/GMT (4:00pm London, 11:00am New York) , Earth Charter International will host an expert panel webinar on the post 2015 Sustainable Development agenda. In the wake of Rio+20 and the nearing of the end of the Millennium Development Goals, the international development community is hard at work to define the post 2015 agenda, which will likely be heavily influenced by the sustainable development agenda. These experts on the panel during this webinar are all sustainable development insiders with a deep wealth of knowledge and experience in the development and sustainability fields. The discussion is sure to be rich and informative. You can access the webinar by clicking on this link . http://earthcharter.wiziq.com/online-class/1356455-the-post-2015-development-agenda-and-the-earth-charter The panel speaker ares: Felix Dodds is a fellow of the Global Research Institute at the University of North Carolina and an Associate fellow at the Tellus Instit...

I thought i would update the blog on the c andidates I know have applied for  the  next Executive Director of UNEP . How about like ILO the shortlisted  candidates  should have to hold a hustings in New York for  member  states and  stakeholders . What is their vision of UNEP?  First a few comments on my thoughts ont he issue. The present debate in the UN on 'fit for purpose' is very important as many UN organizations, including UNEP, are run like late 20th Century multilateral organizations with very vertical mandates and institutional structures. The new Executive Director will need to create a more networked organization and this includes a real partnership with stakeholders. Is this possible? At the moment at UNEP there are problems around stakeholder engagement on the engagement rules with the new UNEA.  It is sad to see the discussions in Nairobi on stakeholder engagement at times it seems to be going back to pre Rio...