United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for the opportunity to make a few brief remarks at this
very important first meeting of the Open Working Group. It is a
privilege to contribute to this outcome of Rio, which underscored
that sustainable development is the only way forward, both for
people and the planet.
We are faced with a tall challenge here – creating goals for
sustainable development that will bring together the economic,
social and environmental dimensions of well-being in a manner that
ensures the progress we make today does not limit our aspirations
for a sustainable future. I am sure UN Member States will prove
more than equal to the task, and I would reiterate, as UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon underscored yesterday, the UN system is at
your disposal in supporting this journey.
As the Open Working Group meets this week, the work that will, I
hope, feed your deliberations has been underway for some time. The
work of the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on Post-2015; the
technical work of the UN Task Team, including its initial report
“Realizing the Future we Want for All”; the results of the UN
Development Group-led consultation process on post-2015; the SG’s
report to the General Assembly in September 2013: there are many
streams of work ready to be tapped.
But drawing on the results of all this work, the need for only one,
unified agenda for development after 2015 has become clear.
As part of the commitment of the UN Development Group (UNDG)
to support you, on March 21st, the UNDG will present the emerging
findings of the national, thematic regional and global consultations.
Entitled "The Global Conversation Begins", the report will be made
available online at the same time, along with all the raw data on
which it is based. I would encourage all Member States to consider
this a valuable source of information and insight as you take your
work forward.
What we are hearing in through the consultations resonates very
strongly with what I heard here in the room yesterday, including
that the SDGs should aim towards eradicating poverty and reducing
inequality, safeguarding the environmental resources we depend on,
and shifting our trajectory to sustainable consumption and
production.
Speakers rightly underscored the need to maintain continuity with
our current shared agenda for development, expressed through the
MDGs, and to build on the lessons learned, experiences, gaps and
missed opportunities of the MDGs.
By delivering on the MDGs, the credibility of future goals will be
strengthened.
Significant gaps remain, however, between delivering on the MDGs
and delivering on the Millennium Declaration from which they were
drawn.
And new issues that have gained importance since the MDGs were
formulated, not least in relation to jobs and the economy,
governance, security from violence and disasters, and a better
understanding of our planetary boundaries. Future goals could
address these concerns, and what we are hearing so far from the
consultations suggests that they should.
A clear value of the MDGs was that they focused our attention on a
simple set of concrete goals and targets, that helped establish
priorities and rally broad support.
Despite the complexity of the challenge ahead, the post-2015
development agenda, and the goals therein, should strive to retain
that same simplicity.
We in the UN system stand ready to support you.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for the opportunity to make a few brief remarks at this
very important first meeting of the Open Working Group. It is a
privilege to contribute to this outcome of Rio, which underscored
that sustainable development is the only way forward, both for
people and the planet.
We are faced with a tall challenge here – creating goals for
sustainable development that will bring together the economic,
social and environmental dimensions of well-being in a manner that
ensures the progress we make today does not limit our aspirations
for a sustainable future. I am sure UN Member States will prove
more than equal to the task, and I would reiterate, as UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon underscored yesterday, the UN system is at
your disposal in supporting this journey.
As the Open Working Group meets this week, the work that will, I
hope, feed your deliberations has been underway for some time. The
work of the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on Post-2015; the
technical work of the UN Task Team, including its initial report
“Realizing the Future we Want for All”; the results of the UN
Development Group-led consultation process on post-2015; the SG’s
report to the General Assembly in September 2013: there are many
streams of work ready to be tapped.
But drawing on the results of all this work, the need for only one,
unified agenda for development after 2015 has become clear.
As part of the commitment of the UN Development Group (UNDG)
to support you, on March 21st, the UNDG will present the emerging
findings of the national, thematic regional and global consultations.
Entitled "The Global Conversation Begins", the report will be made
available online at the same time, along with all the raw data on
which it is based. I would encourage all Member States to consider
this a valuable source of information and insight as you take your
work forward.
What we are hearing in through the consultations resonates very
strongly with what I heard here in the room yesterday, including
that the SDGs should aim towards eradicating poverty and reducing
inequality, safeguarding the environmental resources we depend on,
and shifting our trajectory to sustainable consumption and
production.
Speakers rightly underscored the need to maintain continuity with
our current shared agenda for development, expressed through the
MDGs, and to build on the lessons learned, experiences, gaps and
missed opportunities of the MDGs.
By delivering on the MDGs, the credibility of future goals will be
strengthened.
Significant gaps remain, however, between delivering on the MDGs
and delivering on the Millennium Declaration from which they were
drawn.
And new issues that have gained importance since the MDGs were
formulated, not least in relation to jobs and the economy,
governance, security from violence and disasters, and a better
understanding of our planetary boundaries. Future goals could
address these concerns, and what we are hearing so far from the
consultations suggests that they should.
A clear value of the MDGs was that they focused our attention on a
simple set of concrete goals and targets, that helped establish
priorities and rally broad support.
Despite the complexity of the challenge ahead, the post-2015
development agenda, and the goals therein, should strive to retain
that same simplicity.
We in the UN system stand ready to support you.
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