Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

The Friends of Governance for Sustainable Development have continued to host workshops on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2018.  Governance for Sustainable Development Volume 3: Preparing for the Heads of State Review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Paperback  was edited by Felix Dodds (Author, Editor), Akinremi Bolaji (Editor), Yeongmoo Cho (Editor), Verena Klinger-Dering (Editor), Cristina Popescu (Editor), D avid Banisar (Editor), Quinn McKew ( Editor). T he 2030 Agenda represents one of the most important sets of Global Goals that the international community has committed to. It is an unprecedented effort that embodies universal aspirations for achieving a more just, equitable, peaceful and sustainable future. It is an excellent example of successful multilateralism.  This ambitious and unique exercise represents a paradigm shift in policy-making for sustainable development. It gives a roadmap by which we all, the UN, government...

Johannes Müller, Ocean Policy Expert, OceanCare Johannes is currently undertaking his doctoral studies at the University of St. Andrews and continues to support measures aimed at mitigating underwater noise and reducing the impact of plastic pollution at OceanCare. As the world’s largest decision-making body on the Environment, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) is tasked with finding solutions to global environmental problems. From the 11 th to 15 th of March 2019 delegates, civil society representatives and other stakeholders came together in Nairobi to negotiate all outstanding resolutions, ranging from sustainable consumption to marine litter and microplastics, as well as single-use plastic. It is unfortunate that national agendas have hampered the adoption of progressive resolutions on an issue that is already recognised as a threat to the global environment. The prospect of a legally binding convention on plastic pollution was also pushed further into dist...

The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) and several global environmental instruments have taken an interest in plastic pollution, especially marine plastic litter and microplastics, recognising it as a serious and rapidly growing issue of global concern which requires an urgent and global response. An Ad-Hoc Open-Ended Expert Group (AHOEEG) was created and met twice in 2018, reporting back options for continued work that included calls for a full life-cycle approach to the problem of plastic pollution and solutions for both the prevention and elimination of marine litter. Many aspects of how to strengthen coordination and governance were also discussed, with many countries across all regions calling for a legally binding agreement on marine litter and microplastics. Representatives from members of the #breakfreefromplastic movement and broader civil society have been active through previous UNEAs, the AHOEEG, and now UNEA4 to start conversations about a possible structure...

Photo by IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis I had the pleasure of moderating Leadership 3 on    Innovative sustainable business development at a time of rapid technological changes . I was then asked to present the outcome from all the three leadership dialogues. Here is the text i presented to the UNEA-4 plenary. It is a great pleasure for me to delivery to the closing plenary of the fourth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly the key messages that resulted from the Leadership Dialogues. A common tread amongst all the dialogues is that in order to succeed, a substantial shift in sustainable consumption and production patterns needs to occur in all countries, in line with the ambitions and targets of the 2030 Development Agenda. In Leadership Dialogue 1: Environmental challenges related to poverty and natural resources management, including sustainable food systems, food security and halting biodiversity loss: much progress was highlighted both by the inv...

Dear friends Here is the slide show that Felix Dodds,  Jan Gustav Strandenaes and Mohamed Abdelraouf ran on the 13th of March in the Green Tent at the United Nations Environment Assembly 4. You can download the powerpoint from here. We covered the following issues: UNEP's Handbook for Stakeholder Engagement in UNEA: A little on Multilateral Environmental Agreements Definitions and strengths and weaknesses of NGOs, Civil Society, Major Groups and other Stakeholders, Social Movements, and Global Citizen Movement Why attend UN meetings?  – some case studies SWOT and other tools National preparation Understanding the countries, bureau and secretariat  What to do at the UN meetings? Media Sustainable Development Goals Landscape

Guest blog by Gavin Allwright is the International Windship Association Secretary General, World Wind Energy Association non-executive board member and sits on advisory committees at UN IMO etc. Expert reviewer of IPCC 1.5C report.  2018 and early 2019 have been a very significant period for wind propulsion and the shipping industry in general. We could say that a perfect storm is brewing for the uptake of primary (wind etc.) and secondary renewable energy (alternative fuels/energy storage) in shipping. Policy, Price, Perception, Providers and People are all starting to align.  This is the message that I will be bringing to Canada and the US this Spring as part of our International Windship Association tour (events from 25 March – 11 April – www.wind-ship.org ) Policy; the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is moving forward with the Sulphur cap to be implemented at the end of the year worldwide, a ban of carriage of non-compliant fuel is locked in and the...

First-ever insurance industry guide to manage environmental, social and governance risks launched at major UN-Allianz event to drive greater action 12 March 2019 —Over 200 insurance industry leaders and key stakeholders from across the globe gathered in Munich last 27 and 28 February to raise the insurance industry’s ambition in tackling the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation, social inequality, ageing populations, and major health risks. At the international event , Insuring for sustainable development: Raising the industry’s ambition , the first-ever insurance industry guide to manage environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks —or sustainability risks—was launched. The event, co-organised by UN Environment’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative (PSI)—the largest collaborative initiative between the UN and the global insurance industry—and by the global insurer, Allianz, was held at Allianz’s gl...