Commons Cluster and Commons Action for the United Nations
IMPLEMENTING THE SDGS IN AN INCLUSIVE, COMPREHENSIVE AND INTEGRATED MANNER SO AS TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ENHANCE THE RULE OF LAW
Rob Wheeler robwheeler22@gmail.com
Institute for Planetary Synthesis, Global Ecovillage Network and Commons Action for the United Nations
The international community, United Nations, and its member states have made tremendous strides in moving forward with sustainable development in recent years. We have agreed on ambitious commitments and agreements covering pretty much all sectors and topic areas of the economy and society. Means have and are being developed to involve all levels of government and to include all stakeholders in implementation and decision making processes.
And yet we know that sufficient action is still not being taken to deal adequately with many of our most pressing and urgent global challenges. Something more is needed to enhance the rule of law; ensure that the SDGs will be carried out in an effective manner; and to more so to engage the world's people to help in solving our primary problems and creating a more sustainable world.
During the Open Working Group sessions on the SDGs it has been repeatedly stated that we need to develop and implement goals in a way that is integrated across the 3 dimensions of sustainability, across all sectors of the economy and society, and from the local to global level.
With the SDGs we have a major opportunity to do something new that will have a dramatic impact on the extent to which humanity is able to transition to a truly sustainable, just and equitable future leading to prosperity for one and all.
We suggest that the international community ought to develop an integrated, comprehensive, inclusive, coherent and effective framework for both developing and implementing the SDGs, along with the associated Targets and Indicators.
Many international conventions and agreements have been adopted and agreed to that cover pretty much every aspect of sustainable development. Unfortunately, many of the world's people either do not know about these agreements nor really what is contained within them. Even worse, they do not know what they could do to help implement them.
The SDGs provide us with an excellent opportunity to do something about this. Each of the Goals, along with its associated Targets and Indicators, could be linked with the relevant international and multi-lateral agreements and conventions that deal with the same issue area and subject matter. Indeed the SDGs could provide a wonderful way to quickly and succinctly tell the world's
people what has been agreed to and what is expected of government and the world's people at all levels.
The SDGs should include and be based upon the development of a Comprehensive Framework for, and the means to, implement and achieve all of the various international agreements that have been adopted in a fully integrated manner, across all levels of government, while recognizing the interlinkages that exist across all sectors of society and the economy. There would probably be no better way to ensure the SDGs will be developed and implemented, particularly at the national and sub-national level, in a coherent and integrated manner.
Indeed, the SDGs, Targets and Indicators should be used to provide a foundational basis for the further development and implementation of the local and national sustainability strategies, along with the action plans on sustainable consumption and production, that the UN Member States have repeatedly agreed to develop. A global process should then be put in place to ensure that the strategies and action plans are used to fully achieve the Goals, Targets and Indicators -- with a full report back system established under and within the new HLPF to ensure that this process is implemented everywhere in a fully inclusive, effective, coherent, and integrated manner.
This could be done through and in collaboration with the Global Network of National Councils for Sustainable Development. See: http://ncsds.org
Adequate support also needs to be provided by the international community under the new Comprehensive Framework to ensure that all countries and regions have sufficient resources to be able to fully achieve all of the agreements and commitments, along with the new SDGs, Targets and Indicators, that have been made to date.
Engaging the world's people and societal and governmental organizations through such a Comprehensive Framework for implementing the SDGs, and its associated processes, would provide an urgently needed means to enhance the rule of law and embed sustainable development as a fundamental operating principle both within our societies and in governance processes.
Rob Wheeler robwheeler22@gmail.com
Institute for Planetary Synthesis, Global Ecovillage Network and Commons Action for the United Nations
The international community, United Nations, and its member states have made tremendous strides in moving forward with sustainable development in recent years. We have agreed on ambitious commitments and agreements covering pretty much all sectors and topic areas of the economy and society. Means have and are being developed to involve all levels of government and to include all stakeholders in implementation and decision making processes.
And yet we know that sufficient action is still not being taken to deal adequately with many of our most pressing and urgent global challenges. Something more is needed to enhance the rule of law; ensure that the SDGs will be carried out in an effective manner; and to more so to engage the world's people to help in solving our primary problems and creating a more sustainable world.
During the Open Working Group sessions on the SDGs it has been repeatedly stated that we need to develop and implement goals in a way that is integrated across the 3 dimensions of sustainability, across all sectors of the economy and society, and from the local to global level.
With the SDGs we have a major opportunity to do something new that will have a dramatic impact on the extent to which humanity is able to transition to a truly sustainable, just and equitable future leading to prosperity for one and all.
We suggest that the international community ought to develop an integrated, comprehensive, inclusive, coherent and effective framework for both developing and implementing the SDGs, along with the associated Targets and Indicators.
Many international conventions and agreements have been adopted and agreed to that cover pretty much every aspect of sustainable development. Unfortunately, many of the world's people either do not know about these agreements nor really what is contained within them. Even worse, they do not know what they could do to help implement them.
The SDGs provide us with an excellent opportunity to do something about this. Each of the Goals, along with its associated Targets and Indicators, could be linked with the relevant international and multi-lateral agreements and conventions that deal with the same issue area and subject matter. Indeed the SDGs could provide a wonderful way to quickly and succinctly tell the world's
people what has been agreed to and what is expected of government and the world's people at all levels.
The SDGs should include and be based upon the development of a Comprehensive Framework for, and the means to, implement and achieve all of the various international agreements that have been adopted in a fully integrated manner, across all levels of government, while recognizing the interlinkages that exist across all sectors of society and the economy. There would probably be no better way to ensure the SDGs will be developed and implemented, particularly at the national and sub-national level, in a coherent and integrated manner.
Indeed, the SDGs, Targets and Indicators should be used to provide a foundational basis for the further development and implementation of the local and national sustainability strategies, along with the action plans on sustainable consumption and production, that the UN Member States have repeatedly agreed to develop. A global process should then be put in place to ensure that the strategies and action plans are used to fully achieve the Goals, Targets and Indicators -- with a full report back system established under and within the new HLPF to ensure that this process is implemented everywhere in a fully inclusive, effective, coherent, and integrated manner.
This could be done through and in collaboration with the Global Network of National Councils for Sustainable Development. See: http://ncsds.org
Adequate support also needs to be provided by the international community under the new Comprehensive Framework to ensure that all countries and regions have sufficient resources to be able to fully achieve all of the agreements and commitments, along with the new SDGs, Targets and Indicators, that have been made to date.
Engaging the world's people and societal and governmental organizations through such a Comprehensive Framework for implementing the SDGs, and its associated processes, would provide an urgently needed means to enhance the rule of law and embed sustainable development as a fundamental operating principle both within our societies and in governance processes.
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