Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

The UN group tasked with producing a proposed set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has released a ‘zero draft’ with 17 suggested topics to replace the  Millennium Development Goals  (MDGs) that expire next year. While welcoming the draft, published last week by the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals as a good starting point for negotiations, some experts expressed disappointment that the text does not include more detail on how the goals and their related targets will be delivered in developing countries, the confirmation of which will require huge investment for in methods for observing, measuring and reporting progress. The proposed SDGs to be attained by 2030 aim to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere”, and include broad topics such as hunger,  health , gender equality ,  education ,  water  and sanitation,  energy , economic growth,  sustainable  consumption and production,  climate change , biodiversity...

Republishing: Michael Edwards - When is civil society force for social transformation  When you look at the numbers, the growth of civil society has been remarkable: 3.3 million charities in India and 1.5 million across the United States; NGOs like the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee that work with hundreds of millions of people; 81,000 international NGOs and networks, 90 per cent of them launched since 1975. That’s not counting all the street protests, social movements and informal community groups that are often omitted from the data. In the UK, for example, these latter outnumber registered charities by more than four to one. These statistics are mightily impressive - except when compared to the problems that civil societies want to solve. You could argue that things would be worse without the involvement of these groups. There’s also evidence to show that they’re making inroads around the edges of poverty and injustice. But there’s no sign that the underlying st...

Performing artists from the world over will take the stage on Friday, June 6, at the United Nations, for a unique concert hosted by the President of the General Assembly, H.E. John W. Ashe. This event shone a spotlight on the enormous significance of the year 2015: a once-in-a generation opportunity to set the world on a sustainable course and to take decisive action toward a peaceful and prosperous future for the planet and its inhabitants. Artists participating in the concert will urge global citizens to tell world leaders about the world they want in 2015 and beyond by   voting for their priorities on the MyWorld platform . The concert will celebrate the significant role artists play in informing and engaging people in positive change.  Taking the stage will be several performers from the Caribbean, President Ashe's home region, including the iconic zouk band Kassav' ,soca artists   Machel Montano   and   David Rudder   from Trinidad, and ...

The G7 Declaration  published on June 5th (World Environment Day) by the Leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission did cover the issues of the SDGs and CLimate Change. On the issue of SDGs: "The pursuit of sustainable and inclusive development and greater prosperity in all countries remains a foundational commitment that unites our people and our countries. We continue to implement the commitments we have made at previous Summits. To be accountable we will provide a report in 2015 on progress toward their attainment. We commit to work with all partners to agree an ambitious and universal post-2015 agenda, anchored in a single set of clear and measurable goals. That agenda should complete unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals. It should be centred on people and focused both on the eradication of extreme poverty, promoti...

Happy World Environment Day June 5th.  How do you solve the world's greatest water, food, climate, and energy challenges? The integrative, or nexus, approach recognizes that these issues are interconnected and require collaboration from multiple sectors to address, and ultimately solve, them. It  is increasingly clear: There is no place in an interlinked world for isolated solutions aimed at just one sector. If the world is going to reduce hunger and eradicate poverty, achieving security for water, energy and food is critical. This challenge is becoming even more critical with the impacts of climate change, and water will be the medium by which we will address much of the nexus. The video below is one of the outputs from the 2014 Nexus Conference (water-energy-food-climate). Created by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism students as an output of the Nexus 2014 Conference, this video illustrates the benefits of the nexus approach a...

Well it has happened...at last the zero draft from the co-chairs of the SDG OWG is out. First I would like to say that they and the UN DSD secretariat deserve a huge thanks for getting us here. It has been a long road and although there is much to still be done before September 2015 this is a very good start. We have had 11 SDG OWG sessions with input from experts, stakeholders and governments in a very inclusive and transparent way. So their zero draft makes the first l ist of Proposed Sustainable Development Goals to be attained by 2030 ( copy of the zero draft link is here) : End poverty in all its forms everywhere End hunger, achieve food security and adequate nutrition for all, and promote sustainable agriculture Attain healthy life for all at all ages Provide equitable and inclusive quality education and life-long learning opportunities for all Attain gender equality, empower women and girls everywhere Secure water and sanitation for all for a sustainable world En...

For those who have not been involved with the Sustainable Development Goals Open Working Group let me just explain a little about how it operates. The Rio+20 Conference agreed that: "An open working group shall be constituted no later than the opening of the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly and shall comprise of thirty representatives, nominated by Member States through the five UN regional groups with the aim of achieving fair, equitable and balanced geographic representation." Governments could not agree on the 30 members as 70 countries applied to join and so some buddy system was created for those 30 seats. It created some very interesting buddies: India / Pakistan / Sri Lanka China / Indonesia / Kazakhstan Cyprus / Singapore / United Arab Emirates Bangladesh / Republic of Korea / Saudi Arabia Iran (Islamic Republic of) / Japan / Nepal Australia/Netherlands/United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Canada / Israel / United States ...