Together 2030
High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
12 July 2016, New York
Session 7: Science-policy interface: New ideas, insights and solutions
Statement
Delivered by Alvin K. Leong
I speak on behalf of Together 2030, a global civil society initiative. I am also part of a
network of researchers and academics. My intervention consists of two parts.
Policy design: To leave no one behind, countries need to implement the SDGs by asking
how to reach those hardest to reach, and adopting policies that are attentive to
discrimination, marginalization, violence, vulnerability and exclusion. This has
implications for policy design – as something to be addressed in the ends and means of
particular policies adopted and in screening for any unintended consequences of those
policies.
The HLPF should exercise its coordination role and follow up on implementation at all
levels, promoting and coordinating high-level initiatives emerging from the 2030
Agenda. The HLPF should also be a forum for sharing best practices and peer and
mutual learning about how to design policies that “leave no one behind”. It can ensure
that “leaving no one behind” is a principle not just found within individual national plans
but in the “global partnership for sustainable development”.
The foregoing is from the Together 2030 Written Inputs to the HLPF 2016 - From
Ambition to Implementation: Ensuring that no one is left behind - April 2016
Science-policy interface:
I would like to make two points:
(1) Building science-policy interfaces should occur at both national and subnational
levels, for example cities and metropolitan areas can implement their own sciencepolicy
interfaces to translate science into urban policy, to address their specific
challenges.
(2) The Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) is now a report that will
appear once every four years. The purpose of the GSDR is to strengthen the sciencepolicy
interface and having the GSDR appear once every four years instead of every year
is concerning. We propose that the GSDR should be supplemented every year during
the interim three years, focusing particularly on new and emerging issues and emerging
trends and actions. New and emerging challenges cannot wait four years! We hope
that the Member States will seriously consider producing an annual GSDR supplement
each year during the three year interim period.
12 July 2016, New York
Session 7: Science-policy interface: New ideas, insights and solutions
Statement
Delivered by Alvin K. Leong
I speak on behalf of Together 2030, a global civil society initiative. I am also part of a
network of researchers and academics. My intervention consists of two parts.
Policy design: To leave no one behind, countries need to implement the SDGs by asking
how to reach those hardest to reach, and adopting policies that are attentive to
discrimination, marginalization, violence, vulnerability and exclusion. This has
implications for policy design – as something to be addressed in the ends and means of
particular policies adopted and in screening for any unintended consequences of those
policies.
The HLPF should exercise its coordination role and follow up on implementation at all
levels, promoting and coordinating high-level initiatives emerging from the 2030
Agenda. The HLPF should also be a forum for sharing best practices and peer and
mutual learning about how to design policies that “leave no one behind”. It can ensure
that “leaving no one behind” is a principle not just found within individual national plans
but in the “global partnership for sustainable development”.
The foregoing is from the Together 2030 Written Inputs to the HLPF 2016 - From
Ambition to Implementation: Ensuring that no one is left behind - April 2016
Science-policy interface:
I would like to make two points:
(1) Building science-policy interfaces should occur at both national and subnational
levels, for example cities and metropolitan areas can implement their own sciencepolicy
interfaces to translate science into urban policy, to address their specific
challenges.
(2) The Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) is now a report that will
appear once every four years. The purpose of the GSDR is to strengthen the sciencepolicy
interface and having the GSDR appear once every four years instead of every year
is concerning. We propose that the GSDR should be supplemented every year during
the interim three years, focusing particularly on new and emerging issues and emerging
trends and actions. New and emerging challenges cannot wait four years! We hope
that the Member States will seriously consider producing an annual GSDR supplement
each year during the three year interim period.