Statement delivered by Amb. Michael Grant, Deputy Permanent Representative, Canada
Stocktaking Session, January 19, 2015
Synopsis of the process
Canada is excited about the historic opportunity that is before us. We face an unprecedented opportunity to improve people’s lives, livelihoods, and prospects in every country on the planet. We have the resources and the knowledge to eliminate extreme poverty in the world. And now we are being called upon to set the Agenda for how to make it happen.
We welcome the opportunity to take stock of the various processes that were established at Rio+20 and that have brought us to this point.
The Open Working Group process is one we should celebrate. As member states, we worked together to narrow down priorities, benefiting in an unprecedented way from the expertise of leading thinkers from civil society, academia, the scientific community and the private sector.
Canada strongly believes that diverse perspectives will continue to be essential as we move forward with our work. We agreed that the OWG report should be the main input into the Post-2015 Development Agenda. It rightly should be the main input, but we should not lose sight of the other key inputs we can draw upon.
I refer specifically to the High Level Panel report, the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing, the Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution, the Secretary-General’s Synthesis Report, and the vast number of other resources that have emerged from partner organizations. All of these can help us in developing an action-oriented, concise and aspirational Agenda.
As we have outlined previously, Canada approaches the post-2015 development agenda with the following ambitions: to take up the unfinished business of the MDGs; improve on them by focusing on evidence, quality, and actionable outcomes; and make our agenda transformative by integrating the three pillars of sustainable development.
Based on this vision, allow me to expand on how we see the eventual components of this Agenda.
First, the Declaration needs to be short and inspirational, and rooted in a strong foundation of human rights. It should motivate people and nations to take action. It should highlight what is possible, what we are committing to, and how we will get there. The six essential elements from the Synthesis Report could offer a good basis to help us frame the Declaration, as they capture the key components of the Agenda and its integrated nature. They move us closer to fulfilling the mandate of Rio, which was to create an Agenda that is concise, easy to communicate, and focused. Canada believes that a high level of ambition needs to be based on a credible path to success. While we want the Post-2015 Agenda to incorporate the three dimensions of sustainable development, the Agenda itself cannot solve all of the world’s issues. We will need to be disciplined in our efforts to focus and, in so doing, move some issues to other fora. Otherwise, we risk setting ourselves up for failure.
The Goals and Targets need to be clear and comprehensive. This session is a good opportunity to remind ourselves of the mandate we set in Rio regarding the SDGs. We agreed that these goals should be action-oriented, concise and easy to communicate, and limited in number. We think this mandate remains valid and should be actively pursued.
As we move forward with our work, we look forward to hearing from the technical experts about their views on a possible indicator framework and, in the process, on the quality and measurability of the proposed targets. The technical review will be a key input for us to consider as we finalize the goals and targets. Some targets may need to be flexible, and hold the possibility of evolving as we implement the Agenda.
The Means of Implementation need to be ambitious, but realistic. There is no doubt that we need to be serious about implementation. Real sustainable development will not happen without the full engagement of all key stakeholders – governments, civil society, private sector, academics, scientists, researchers, and above all the poorest and most vulnerable. It will not happen without the harnessing of all available resources. We need to be concrete, but we also need to be mindful not to be overly prescriptive in ways that will make it difficult for us to learn and integrate lessons as we go. We also want to make sure that we build on and expand the global partnership that has already been established.
On monitoring and accountability, we have a critical opportunity to learn a valuable lesson from our MDG experience. One of the shortcomings of the MDGs was that a monitoring framework was developed too late in the process. The Post-2015 Agenda needs to do better. Canada views monitoring and accountability as a priority issue and we look forward to sharing concrete thoughts in the later session dedicated to this topic.
Allow me to conclude with a few thoughts on process. We are tasked with an enormous responsibility, and we all know our time is limited. It would also be important that whatever inputs we choose to have inform our process be provided to us in a timely fashion. This includes the outcome of the important work of the Statistical Commission and other technical experts.
We would also encourage having resource persons available in the room as we debate to continue to ensure our efforts are tested against the evidence. We agree with others regarding the suggestion to invite various local actors and policy-makers on the ground to hear their views on what works and what doesn’t in terms of implementation. And as we have previously stated, we underline the need to avoid duplication with other processes, including FFD and the UNFCCC.
Finally, we want to empower you, co-chairs, to hold the pen of successive drafts. We trust that you will strive for content that can enjoy the broadest agreement possible. We count on your strong guidance as we work towards a successful outcome.
