Bangladesh
Statement by Mr. Md. Mustafizur rahman , Deputy Permanent representative of Bangladesh during the first meeting of the 10th session of the
Open Working Group
Thank you Mr. Co-Chair,
First of all, let me clarify position of our delegation on the merger of focus areas. We do not, at this stage, propose any reduction of focus areas for the sake of reduction of number. In our view, it should depend on the targets in each focus area that we consider essential. Of course inter-linkages and overlaps would need to be taken into account. We have been consistently saying that our first job would be to prioritize areas from among the action points as targets. From this point of view, my delegation will make a few suggestions on the focus areas under consideration. First on sustainable cities and human settlement. We would generally support action points a, b, c, d, f and g. At action point ‘a’: we think it would be good if we set a realistic target, eradication of slum condition may be too much idealistic, however there is no harm to aspire to achieve such ‘b’ needs to be broaden enough as China has suggested and expand beyond transport sector only. On the focus area, promotion of sustainable consumption and production, we would re-comment to consider action point a, b, c, d, e, f and l. Some of the action points are cross-cutting and can be merged to form lesser number of targets under this focus area. One point, however, we would like to particularly mention is the issue of reduction of waste in food production and consumption. We cannot afford to and it is also not morally acceptable to waste such huge amount of food when a large number of people are going to bed hungry every night in the developing world. On the focus area, climate, we think it would be better to title it Climate Change. My delegation from the very beginning supported a standalone goal on Climate Change. We stand to this position notwithstanding the fact that it is a cross-cutting issue and that many elements of climate change can be distributed across other focus areas, also that there is a UN Triple ‘C’ process currently grappling with the matter.
Mr. Co-Chair,
The SDGs are by nature supposed to be aspirational, political pronouncement to guide national development efforts underpinning partnership and cooperation. A stand alone goal and a few suitable targets on Climate Change may be rather complimentary and inspire the discussion in the technical track to come up with strong binding agreement. And it is possible to identify some targets, and send a strong message that we care for Climate Change that enjoy global consensus, like a specific target or CO2 emission and limiting global warming to a certain degree below catastrophe level. This will not contradict or conflict with the other processes. On that consideration, we would prioritize action points a, b, d, e, f proposed in the focus area. Action point ‘b’ needs to be more specific in identifying climate vulnerable groups or countries such as LDCs and SIDs. We would emphasis on means of implementation, particularly to face the adaptation challenges and appropriate technology to pursue green path of development.
Thank you.
Open Working Group
Thank you Mr. Co-Chair,
First of all, let me clarify position of our delegation on the merger of focus areas. We do not, at this stage, propose any reduction of focus areas for the sake of reduction of number. In our view, it should depend on the targets in each focus area that we consider essential. Of course inter-linkages and overlaps would need to be taken into account. We have been consistently saying that our first job would be to prioritize areas from among the action points as targets. From this point of view, my delegation will make a few suggestions on the focus areas under consideration. First on sustainable cities and human settlement. We would generally support action points a, b, c, d, f and g. At action point ‘a’: we think it would be good if we set a realistic target, eradication of slum condition may be too much idealistic, however there is no harm to aspire to achieve such ‘b’ needs to be broaden enough as China has suggested and expand beyond transport sector only. On the focus area, promotion of sustainable consumption and production, we would re-comment to consider action point a, b, c, d, e, f and l. Some of the action points are cross-cutting and can be merged to form lesser number of targets under this focus area. One point, however, we would like to particularly mention is the issue of reduction of waste in food production and consumption. We cannot afford to and it is also not morally acceptable to waste such huge amount of food when a large number of people are going to bed hungry every night in the developing world. On the focus area, climate, we think it would be better to title it Climate Change. My delegation from the very beginning supported a standalone goal on Climate Change. We stand to this position notwithstanding the fact that it is a cross-cutting issue and that many elements of climate change can be distributed across other focus areas, also that there is a UN Triple ‘C’ process currently grappling with the matter.
Mr. Co-Chair,
The SDGs are by nature supposed to be aspirational, political pronouncement to guide national development efforts underpinning partnership and cooperation. A stand alone goal and a few suitable targets on Climate Change may be rather complimentary and inspire the discussion in the technical track to come up with strong binding agreement. And it is possible to identify some targets, and send a strong message that we care for Climate Change that enjoy global consensus, like a specific target or CO2 emission and limiting global warming to a certain degree below catastrophe level. This will not contradict or conflict with the other processes. On that consideration, we would prioritize action points a, b, d, e, f proposed in the focus area. Action point ‘b’ needs to be more specific in identifying climate vulnerable groups or countries such as LDCs and SIDs. We would emphasis on means of implementation, particularly to face the adaptation challenges and appropriate technology to pursue green path of development.
Thank you.
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