Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

Perhaps the experiment with United States presidential politics has run its course. As a Brit living in the US, I wonder if the time has come for the UK to entertain the idea that they take back their former colony. Clearly as a system of government, the US has failed. The legislative branch enjoys the lowest approval ratings in history and the behavior of the present congressmen will only drive it further down. You know it is bad when   recent polling shows that voters preferring colonoscopies, cockroaches and root canals to the US Congress. To a European, the fact that a small number in congress (some estimate as few as thirty representatives can hold the whole country to ransom at all is staggering to a European. And not only are they holding their government ransom, but they are fighting to stop affordable health care- the lack of which in the US is criminal. In February 1974, President Nixon proposed comprehensive health insurance reform involving an employer mandate to...

This is a very good article from SCIDEV  http://www.scidev.net/global/science-diplomacy/feature/un-launches-new-sustainable-development-body.html   A new UN entity was inaugurated last week (24 September), the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, which will aim to provide leadership and accelerate global decision-making on  sustainable development . It also aims to enable more scientific input into  international policy  in the crucial implementation of the  Sustainable Development Goals  (SDGs) after 2015. Opening the forum's inaugural session in New York, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said it would be a key platform for examining global challenges in a "holistic and integrated manner". "This forum can be the catalyst for a strengthened global partnership for sustainable development, providing political leadership grounded in solid science," he said. John Ashe, of Antigua and Barbuda, the current president of the UN...

Post 2015: Success or Failure? It’s up to you…. By Felix Dodds From the first time that Colombia proposed the idea of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in July 2011, the development Ministries and many development NGOs have initially opposed or reluctantly come on board.  But now with the decision on the 25 th of December for a one track approach that attitude will need to change. The new goals developed over the next 2 years up to the Summit in 2015 will be universal unlike the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) agreed in 2000 which only dealt with developing countries. The challenges for the next period will have dual focus of addressing the eradication of poverty and sustainable development. There will be in addition to the Sustainable Development Goals Open Working Group sessions (SDG OWG) over the next year some additional meetings organized by the President of the General Assemblies Office to even more address some of the key thematic areas. The last mee...

Rapporteur:  Dr Kadir Topbaş, Mayor of Istanbul, President of UCLG and member of the High Level Panel for Post 2015 agenda. Thank you Mr./Madam Chair. ExcellencIes, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to address this session on behalf of the Local Authorities Major Group as Mayor of Istanbul and President of UCLG, reporting on our Special Event on sustainable cities in collaboration with DESA and Local authorities Major groups. The new development agenda is one and universal affecting all continents and countries. In all cases well managed urbanization with a territorial approach and bridging the rural urban divide will be key. We would like to recall the Rio outcome document reaffirming the role of all levels of government and legislative bodies in promoting sustainable development and the specific progress made at the local and subnational levels. We would further like to stress the paramount role played by the sub...

The Nexus Conference 2014 (3-7 March) is  gaining  pace Liz Thompson former Barbados Energy and Environment Minister is a confirmed speaker with Adnan Amin  Director General of IRENA and expect additional announcements in the next week.  The agenda was announced a few weeks ago and will have 8 plenary sessions and Nexus dating :-) To help the Advisory Board and Secretariat have come up with some areas that we think would be interesting abstract areas - these are only suggestions but if you are doing work in these areas do submit by November 1st details on how are on the Conference web site. Abstract suggested areas These are suggested areas for possible abstracts. They do not represent what will be chosen but areas that we will be looking at next year in the future. The nexus approach requires systemic thinking and a quest for integrated solutions to guide our decision-making about resource use and development and move to a more sustainable planet...

UNCSD: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY Felix Dodds, Fellow at the Global Research Institute UNC and Associate Fellow at the Tellus Institute I cannot believe that today will see the twentieth meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and its final session. I write as a member of a very small group of people that attended the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and all of the CSD meetings to date, giving me a relatively unique perspective. It should be remembered that the CSD was a compromise between the UK and USA, in particular, who did not want any UN institution for sustainable development, and Maurice Strong (Secretary General of Rio 1992), Norway and some developing countries who wanted to either transform the Trusteeship Council to an Ecological Security Council or create a new Council of the General Assembly. It was in fact a group of NGOs who came up with the compromise, handing the suggestion that this new body be a functional commission of the UN Economic an...

In preparation for Rio+20 I, Michael Strauss with Maurice Strong wrote a book " Only One Earth: The Long Road via Rio to Sustainable Development - looking at the history of the last 40 years and what the challenges for the future are. Of course I would love you all to read the book. If you want some teasers then I produced four podcasts which you might want to listen to: EXCERPTS FROM 'ONLY ONE EARTH' - CHAPTER 1: STOCKHOLM 1972 EXCERPTS FROM 'ONLY ONE EARTH' - CHAPTER 2: EARTH SUMMIT 199 2, RIO DE JANEIRO EXCERPTS FROM 'ONLY ONE EARTH' - CHAPTER 3: WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT , JOHANNESBURG 2002 EXCERPTS FROM 'ONLY ONE EARTH' - CHAPTER 4: RIO+20 A NEW BEGINNING It is important as many of us are preparing to attend the UN General Assembly  in ten days time (23 September) where there will be important decisions on the road to the Post-2015 - to reflect on what we have learnt in the past. The book and the podcasts try and not ...