Reflections on the Financing for Development Zero Draft: The Accord
Waking up to find a copy of the zero draft for Financing for
Development was not as welcome as you might think I had other plans for today
but perhaps reading it in bits was better than in one sitting.
I don’t intend to comment on updated sections relating to the
traditional Monterrey Consensus - there are a number of organizations that are
focusing on that. I will keep as I have in previous blogs to the ‘sustainable
development finance side’. After all this conference acknowledges that it is
focusing on ‘A global framework for financing sustainable development and mobilizing
the means to implement the post 2015 development agenda’ in the proposed Addis
Ababa Accord.
The zero draft for those that have not read it is broken
into two:
- The Addis Ababa Accord, and
- The Addis Ababa Action Agenda
Todays blog will focus on the Accord a following blog will
focus on the Action Agenda.
The Accord
As you might imagine it is a short and intended to be a
visionary document – only sixteen paragraphs to set the scene for those Heads of
State and Government and High Representatives that will gather in July in Addis
Ababa. It recognizes that the ‘current
policy, financing and investment patters are not delivering the future we want’.
It recognizes that there are enormous unmet financing needs for sustainable
development and that estimates show a significant shortfall.
In 1992 Maurice Strong the Secretary General for the Earth
Summit was asked by governments to request figures from the UN system for
implementing Agenda 21. The estimate came back at $625 billion a year $125
billion from developed to developing countries. The request should be asked
again now. How much will it cost to implement the SDGs per year? Countries
should be requested to report on how they are then meeting those targets. I would like to see an SDG part to all budgets
presented to parliaments.
The Accord sees the solution to this being three things: strengthening
official finance; unlocking the transformative potential of people and the
private sector. In terms of ODA the UK has been the first and only G7 country
to reach the 0.7% GNI there is clearly still
much to be done within the other G7 countries, the US gives 0.19% GNI. In
2013 ODA rose to its highest level, around $135 billion came from the 28
members of the OECD Development Assistant Committee (DAC) around $135 billion
in 2013. In addition to this a further $15.9 billion came from the European
Commission and non-DAC countries gave an additional $9.4 billion. In the area of unlocking the transformational
potential of people this is a great idea which we can all support but very
difficult to measure. On the private sector it of course vital to access the
considerable funds available through the capital markets but this must be done through
a robust, transparent and accountable regulatory framework. The Accord does ‘reaffirm’ ‘the importance of
freedom, peace, security, good governance, rule of law, sound economic policies
and solid democratic institutions at national and international levels’ – it
also talks about recognizing that effective policies, regulatory framework and appropriate
incentives at all levels are essential to a shift towards sustainable
development. As much of the money being identified will come from the capital
markets then it isn’t enough to recognize but fundamental to ‘ensure’ that
regulation is in place.
The Accord approaches the issue of the global partnership
for development with exactly the right focus that it is ‘fundamentally’ the
responsibility of governments. As it also points out other stakeholders will
have roles in helping to ensure this agenda is realized.
The Accord does commit to a ‘new basic social contract to guarantee
nationally appropriate minimum levels of social protection and essential public
services for all.’ There is a nod towards the idea of global funds similar to
the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (the GAVI Alliance), the
Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) for areas under different goals.
This is something I suggested in the paper I did for UNDESA on the ‘Multi-stakeholder partnerships: Making them work for the Post-2015 Development Agenda.’
In the area of investment in rural development and
sustainable agriculture it recognizes that agriculture is primarily financed by
the ‘private sector’ not sure what small scale food producers would see
themselves described like that. It recognizes that increased private sector
investment should be in accordance with the Committee on World Food Security’s Principles
for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems.’ Principles are good but we need are
regulatory frameworks to back up the Principles. The next 15 years are going to
be enormously challenging as the world seeks to feed an extra billion people
with an increasing water shortage in many developed and developing countries to
enable them to deal with competing demands a stronger hand of government will be
needed and this should be recognized in the Accord.
One of the other challenges of the next 15 years will be the
rapid urbanization of the world with 60% of the world’s population living in
urban areas by 2030. This will bring great stress on our resources both natural
and human. Investment in infrastructure
that supports an inclusive and sustainable industrialization and innovation is recognized
in the Accord.
Finally it was good to
see in the Accord the support for ‘implementing environment, social and
governance (ESG) reporting frameworks for the private sector to contribute to transparency
and accountability’ – something that many of us called for at Rio+20 and which
has been supported by two Secretary general Panel Reports.
So these are my comments on the Accord and soon I will follow
them up with a look at the sustainability elements of the Action Agenda.
Should the G8 be in charge of education, sustainable development and humanitarian services in the Developing world? Lesson is life come via formal and informal education, while formal education by most is valued as a human right it can be also be utilized to train and develop partakers into self-sufficient contributors and participants towards the development of sustainable societies.
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Sustainable development was coined in 1987 by the Bruntland Commission where they defined it as, 'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. Since then, sustainable development theory has been greatly expanded and these ideas have been utilised around the world. The need for development to become more sustainable is important, as many of the planet's ecosystems are degraded.commercial financing
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