Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

It is our pleasure to share with you the Legacy Report of Communitas, the Coalition of Cities and Regions in the new UN Development Agenda. Communitas was an international, philanthropy-funded, multi-stakeholder coalition founded to pioneer knowledge-based advocacy for the Sustainable Development Goal on Cities and Human Settlements, SDG11. Through its unique blend of technical expertise from the perspective of subnational and local practitioners, Communitas embedded the real needs of urban and territorial sustainability into intergovernmental processes, while empowering multi-stakeholder collaboration. Communitas has been recognised as a decisive player in achieving the inclusion of SDG11 among the 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Communitas also engaged intensely in the process towards the adoption of the New Urban Agenda and has been acknowledged as a...

Blog Mini Series on Multi-stakeholder Partnerships for Sustainable Development By Minu Hemmati and Felix Dodds Blog 1: Definitions of MSPs and Related Issues : Providing definitions of key terms in the debate on multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development. Blog 2: Principles and Guidance Enshrined in Existing UN Decisions on MSPs: Looking at the existing agreements and summarize the guidance provided so far in UN decisions and resolutions. Blog 3: Possible Additions to Enhance Guidance and Oversight for MSPs: Making suggestions how the guidance provided in previous resolutions could be updated and strengthened in terms of practical implementation. BLOG 2: Principles and Guidance Enshrined in Existing UN Decisions on MSPs The most comprehensive UN decision on partnerships to date is contained in paragraphs 21-24 of the ECOSOC decision at its 61st session in 2003 (see below). We are also listing other relevant UN decisions and resolutions, such as the ...

((Rogue CNN exists in a parallel universe to ours where a property developer and reality TV star gets elected President)) After so many mistakes the Trump White House has in Michael Strauss a competent and effective Press Secretary who Dr HunterThompso n would be proud of. Instead of taking the Sean Spicer APPROACH – Spicy to his Saturday Night Live friends – of defending President Trump Strauss has embraced the ‘no facts’ – ‘false news’ era with delight. In his latest press conference when asked about the administrations climate change policy he explained: “Look you guys we all know that climate change is happening and if anything, the predictions are on the conservative side. But and this is a big but the President got elected on the basis of re-opening the coal mines and it’s not going to get bad enough in his 8 years to worry about. It’s the Presidents in 2030 and beyond which will have to sort out the mess that we cause.” Such brazen truth shocked the press corps...

By Dr Minu Hemmati, MSP Institute , and FelixDodds , Tellus Institute We are producing a series of blogs around the issue of Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships (MSPs) for Sustainable Development to help increase understanding about them: Definitions of MSPs and Related Issue Principles and Guidance Enshrined in Existing UN Decisions on MSPs Possible Additions to Enhance Guidance and Oversight for MSPs This blog mini series is based on a paper we prepared for a workshop held by the Friends of Governance for Sustainable Development group in April this year: “ Principles and Practices of Multi-stakeholder Partnerships for Sustainable Development – Guidance and Oversight from UN Decisions ” We put Guidance and Oversight in the title of the paper because we believe that: ·        partnerships for sustainable development do need guidance; ·        the UN can, and should, provide such guidance to partnerships at...

Natalie Draisin:  Manager, North American Office & United Nations Representative. The  FIA Foundation is an innovative global road safety philanthropy which focuses on high impact strategic advocacy in road traffic injury prevention and motor vehicle fuel efficiency to ensure ‘Safe, Clean, Fair and Green’ mobility for all. Draisin advocated for the inclusion of road safety in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She also secured language prioritizing a safe and healthy journey to school for all children in the UN Habitat III New Urban Agenda, and road safety language in the UN High Level Political Forum 2016 ministerial declaration. UN Global Road Safety Week is coming up, May 8-14. It is an excellent opportunity to highlight the link between road safety and the UN agenda. Although it might not seem obvious at first, lowering speeds can help make progress towards a number of UN goals.    Road safety is most prominent in SDG 3.6, to half the numb...

If you are new to the wonderful world of international negotiations on sustainable development or want to understand how it all developed from its early days in the 1960s, to the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 then this is the trilogy for you. Like the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy inFive Parts – this trilogy may have future books but for now this is your guide to what was agreed when it was agreed, why it was agreed and why it was or was not implemented. These books I wrote with a set of different authors who brought their own perspectives to the book and with mine we hopefully gave you some answers. The first book of the Vienna Cafe Trilogy is “Only One Earth: The LongRoad via Rio to Sustainable Development” written with Maurice Strong the father of sustainable development and Michael Strauss a well-known journalist and press adviser. The book covers the forty years from the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment...