Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

Javier Surasky is the chair the International Cooperation Department of the International Relations Institute of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina. He was the director of research for Cepei between 2015 and 2024. He blogs through Global Rader and has published over fifty books, book chapters, articles, and reports on the 2030 Agenda, South-South Cooperation, the UN reform, and Sustainable Development governance. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of daily life for most people inhabiting our planet. It has been incorporated into our internet search engines (Google), transportation systems (Uber, Waze, Google Maps), entertainment platforms (Netflix, Disney Channel), and work tools (ChatGPT, Dall-E, Midjourney, Canva). The list is endless and extends to areas that shape our world, from tourism (Despegar, Trivago) to warfare (lethal autonomous weapon systems), including international trade and finance. AI is transforming our societies. This is not the...

On Tuesday the 23rd of March the Friends of Governance for Sustainable Development held their first workshop of the year. Bellow is the programme and next to any speaker who used a power point yo u can find the pdf of it. The Workshop theme was "How do we Accelerate the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda?"   The Political Declaration of the 2019 SDG Summit stresses the urgent need for concerted, accelerated action by all stakeholders at all levels to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The UN Secretary-General called on all sectors of society to mobilize for a decade of action on three levels: Global action: to secure greater leadership, more resources and smarter solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals; Local action: embedding the needed transitions in the policies, budgets, institutions and regulatory frameworks of governments, cities and local authorities; and People action: including by youth, civil society, the media, the private sector, unions, academia and other stakeholde...

The link between achieving sustainable development and the principles of good governance is gaining increasing acceptance. The Rio + 20  The Future We Want Declaration, paragraph 10, stated that to achieve sustainable development goals, we need institutions at all levels that are effective, transparent, accountable and democratic. These were incorporated in Goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals and have been further elaborated as indicators. To support these goals, the Friends of Governance for Sustainable Development , an informal government group, was created in the autumn of 2011. The main objective of the Friends group is to create an informal space for governments to have discussions among themselves, backed up by expert papers when requested, on issues relating to good governance and the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD) in relation to the d implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It builds on a rich ...

The Background As those who read this blog know I have been very critical of the way that Erik Solheim has led the United Nations Environment Programme from the moment I interviewed him after his selection. I don't intend to go over those arguments again but you can read them in these blogs by me and others: Interview with Erik Solheim the new Executive Director UNEP  (July 1st 2016) UNEP and the private sector: a complicated relationship?   (May 18, 2018) Guest Blog: UNEP and the Private Sector part 2 - an IPEN Letter to SAICM Secretariat Expressing Concern about the Joint Int'l. Council of Chemical Assoc. – UNEP Study (May 23rd) Time for the UN Global Compact to Evolve into the UN Due Diligence Mechanism? A Real Chance with the 2018 Partnership Resolution  (November 1st 2018) Statement by Erik  Solheim On Saturday, I received the final report on the audit of official travel undertaken by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services. As I ...

Last week the Secretary General presented his report on Re-positioning  the UN Development System to Deliver the 2030 Agenda.  This is happening at a time when President Trump has told the State Department to reduce US funding by more than 50% to UN programs. and as he is cutting State and US AID budgets by 37%. There will be a second Secretary General Report in December. This is in accordance with the request of the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR). That document will provide further clarity on the measures and ideas mentioned in the present report, in particular regarding proposals for the improvement of the Resident Coordinator system. That report will also respond to the QCPR call for a system-wide strategic document, and will provide recommendations on how funding efforts can better align with the work required from the United Nations in response to the 2030 Agenda. So, what are the highlights of the first report? The report identifies three gu...