Thank you Mr. Co-chair,
My name is Ed Barry. I’m with the Sustainable World Initiative, and today I have the
pleasure of briefly speaking to you on behalf of the NGO Major Group.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
The human development agenda requires that we eliminate severe poverty,
increase food security, provide energy for all, and improve the economic prospects
of young people in developing countries, but the realization of that agenda
requires adequate natural resources and the preservation of a healthy
environment. We cannot separate the two. They are indivisible.
In order to ensure the operational and long term viability of our human
development agenda we must make sure that there are sufficient natural resource
goods and services available to support this agenda. Resource scarcity and the
continuing degradation of environmental systems are already impeding economic
and social development. In today’s resource-constrained world, access to natural
resources will become an increasingly important concern for all countries.
Policymakers at all levels, including finance and planning ministers in both
developed and developing nations, need to take into account natural resource
limitations and the health of the local environment. In particular, each country
must objectively evaluate the reliability of both their domestic and off-shore
resource supplies, and consider their nation’s development plans in context with a
realistic assessment of long term global resource availability.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are collectively facing today what is indeed a formidable challenge. How will
it be possible for the world to proceed with an inclusive and aggressive human
development agenda, while at the same time preserving the integrity of the earth’s
natural resource systems….for all future generations?
We would suggest that one good way to address this challenge might be to first
determine what is sustainable in relation to planetary limits, and then set a human
development course which fits within this overall maximum development scenario.
Secondly, we would suggest that it is critically important to fully and proactively
involve civil society in your SDG development processes. Civil society is ready,
willing, and able to creatively contribute. Specifically, we recommend that a
multi-stakeholder advisory group, what we refer to as the MAG, be established to
work in collaboration with your Open Working Group as you take on the challenge
of creating meaningful and hopefully transformative sustainable development
goals. The objective of the MAG would be to draw on the best and widest possible
advice, experience, and expertise within civil society, and to insure productive
linkages between your efforts and all Major Groups and stakeholders.
Lastly, we’d like to very clear in support of the merging of the two UN
development processes. We must achieve full coherence and synergy between the
UN post-2015 and the SDG processes. The world is not faced with separate
human development and environmental challenges. Rather, it is an integrated
challenge that we collectively face. Therefore, these two UN processes simply
must be merged.
Thank you for your attention.
