Are developed countries trying to reduce political space to discuss sustainable development?
As I write this blog Committee 2 is discussing whether the annual resolution on Agenda 21, Johannesburg Plan of Action and Rio+20 should be scrapped. The resolution has been extremely important in the last few years for the discussion of subjects such as the High Level Political Forum and the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, the regional dimension of sustainable development and Sustainable Consumption and Production. Since last year, some developed countries started to challenge the very existence of the resolution. Their argument is that it is no longer needed because the 2030 Agenda should cover all aspects of the three previous conferences. Although the 2030 Agenda does cover many of the aspects of Agenda 21, Johannesburg Plan of Action and Rio+20 it does not cover all and reduces the space YET AGAIN for debate and discussion on sustainable development. In response to the concerns expressed by developed countries, G77 proposed this year to shift the focus of the resolutio