Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

NEW YORK — Today, the Friends of Governance for Sustainable Development announced the release of Volume 7: Interlinking Major Sustainable Development Events to Embrace Policy Coherence and Implementation of the 2030 Agenda.   Felix Dodds , Secretary of the Friends of Governance for Sustainable Development and Director of Research and Development of Multilateral Policies and International Affairs at the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainable Solutions Service (RMWSSS) at Arizona State University, and a Fellow at Stakeholder Forum, coordinated the launch of the publication through his publishing company New World Frontiers. “We are excited to announce the seventh volume of this series of books produced by the Friends group,” said Dodds. “The book is an invaluable resource that includes chapters written by nearly a dozen experts working within the UN system on a range of issues whose perspectives are crucial for anyone working to advance sustainable development at the global level.” ...

2021 was a good year I had two books out. T he first was an edited volume from the Friends of Governance for Sustainable Development and came out in March G overnance for Sustainable Development Volume 5: Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Governance Challenges .    It has produced to share widely the papers that were presented at the workshops for member States to discuss. The Group recognizes that there is an inextricable link between good governance and sustainable development and that, as the 2030 Agenda is implemented, governance challenges will need discussion and action at all levels and by all institutions. In 2020, the Group of Friends convened UN officials, experts, and representatives from government at four participatory workshops on relevant governance issues.  The workshops were organized in partnership with UN-DESA Office of Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for Sustainable Development focusing on advancing the 2030 Agenda i...

68 th session of the General Assembly Overview of events with opportunities for civil society participation around its opening week The following events during the High Level Week of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly are intended to substantively contribute to shaping the post-2015 development agenda, including the Sustainable Development Goals. Major groups of Civil society and other stakeholders will have an opportunity to engage in the inter-governmental processes, with limited access, as well as in a series of UN and/or civil society led events that will be open to all NGOs.  Participation details for each of these inter-related events are provided below. In addition, governments and/or civil society are convening side events for which dates and venues will be confirmed by late August. A provisional list of relevant side events can be accessed here:   http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/proposed-side-events-2013-special-event.pdf Friday 20 Septemb...

It is a fine day ---- We have today submitted the manuscript to  Routledge- Earthscan for the new book From Rio+20 to a New Development Agenda: Building a Bridge to a Sustainable Future By Felix Dodds, Jorge Laguna-Celis and Elizabeth Thompson http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/books/details/9780415716543/ It is a sister book to 'Only One Earth (by Felix Dodds, Michael Strauss with Maurice Strong) and picks up the story from the end of that book and takes the reader through the preparations, negotiations and the possibly road to success for 2015 in the development of new development goals. Publishing end of the year. Contents are: Part I: The Re-birth of Sustainable Development [a]President Lula da Silva’s & Brazil’s Case for Rio+20 [a]The impacts of the 2008 economic and financial crisis [b]Breaking the silos between development and sustainable development [b]The emergence of the Group of Twenty (G20) [b]The 2008 Doha Review Conference on Financing for Developme...

I find myself in London on my way to Geneva for the launch of the Katerva Sustainability Awards and of course sitting in a café to get away from the London weather. Which by the way reminds me so well why I left London to escape the dark, dreary and rainy days. As I opened my morning’s emails I find two very important emails. The first is the publishing of the much-awaited Canadian Government’s Policy Horizon’s team MetaScan 2: Building Resilience in the Transition to a Digital Economy and a Networked Society Report. The second, also much awaited, is the result of the outcome from Rio+20, to negotiate the setting up of a UN High Level Political Forum, this is to replace the dysfunctional UN Commission on Sustainable Development, and as of yesterday has now been completed. Turning first to the MetaScan 2 Report. I am huge fan of the work of the Policy Horizon foresight team  within the Government of Canada. They have a mandate: “to help anticipate emerging pol...