Institutional Frameworks and international cooperation for Sustainable Development
Description
As far as the 2030 Agenda is concerned, Goal 16 is devoted to the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, the provision of access to justice for all and to the establishment of effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. Goal 17 is related to strengthening the means of implementation and revitalization of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.
The strengthening of the framework to finance sustainable development and the means of implementation for the 2030 Agenda is ensured by the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. The Addis Agenda is the outcome document adopted at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in July 2015 and endorsed by the General Assembly in its resolution 69/313 of 27 July 2015.
With the adoption of “Future We Want”, the outcome document of the Rio +20 conference, held from 20 to 22 June 2012, Member States decided “to establish a universal intergovernmental high-level political forum, building on the strengths, experiences, resources and inclusive participation modalities of the Commission on Sustainable Development, and subsequently replacing the Commission. The high-level political forum shall follow up on the implementation of sustainable development and should avoid overlap with existing structures, bodies and entities in a cost-effective manner.”
The High-level Political Forum on sustainable development is today the main United Nations platform on sustainable development. It provides political leadership, guidance and recommendations. It follows up and reviews the implementation of sustainable development commitments and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It addresses new and emerging challenges; promotes the science-policy interface and enhances the integration of economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.
Milestones
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January 2000 UN Forum on ForestBy Resolution 2000/35, the UN ECOSOC established the United Nations Forum on Forests as a subsidiary body aimed at promoting, on the basis of Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration and the Forest principles.
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January 1997 GA 19th Special SessionA GA Special Session (UNGASS-19) was held in June 1997 in order to review and assess progress undergone on Agenda 21. With Resolution A/RES/S-19/2 delegates agreed on the adoption of the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21. The Programme appraised progress since the UNCED, examined implementation and defined the CSD’s work programme for the period 1998-2002. For the CSD’s subsequent four sessions, poverty and consumption and production patterns were identified as dominant issues for each year by the work programme. Delegates also agreed on the sectoral, cross-sectoral and economic sector/major group themes, endorsed the IPF’s outcome and recommended a continuation of the intergovernmental policy dialogue on forests. Subsequently, the Intergovernmental Forum on Forest (IFF) was established by ECOSOC under the CSD.
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January 1996 CSD-4CSD-4 convened in 1996 and completed the Commission’s multi-year thematic programme of work and began considering preparations for the 19th Special Session of the UN General Assembly to Review Implementation of Agenda 21 (UNGASS).
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January 1996 UNCCDThe only legally binding international agreement connecting environment and development to sustainable land management, UNCCD addresses the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found. In 2007 the 10-Year Strategy of the UNCCD (2008-2018) was adopted and on that occasion, parties to the Convention further specified their goals: "to forge a global partnership to reverse and prevent desertification/land degradation and to mitigate the effects of drought in affected areas in order to support poverty reduction and environmental sustainability". The Convention was adopted in Paris on 17 June 1994 and entered into force on 26 December 1996, 90 days after the 50th ratification was received. 194 countries and the European Union are Parties as at April 2015.
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January 1994 UNFCCCThe United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed in 1992 with the aim of limiting average global temperature increases and the resulting climate change as well as coping with whatever impacts were, by then, inevitable. New negotiations were launched for strengthening the global response to climate change, when countries realized in 1995 that the provisions adopted in the Convention for emission reductions were too weak. From the new round of negotiations, the Kyoto Protocol was formulated.
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January 1994 CSD-2With the adoption of Resolution 47/191, the General Assembly agreed on the creation of the Commission on Sustainable Development. Considered as the high-level forum for sustainable development within the UN System, the Commission was designed to follow –up on the progress in implementation of the UN Earth Summit and on the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation at international, regional and local level. CSD-2, CSD-3 and CSD-4 reviewed different sectoral chapters in Agenda 21. They all considered cross-sectoral issues including finance, technology transfer, trade and the environment, and consumption and production patterns. CSD-2 in particular added panel discussions to the work method to enable participants to enter into a dialogue on the session’s agenda items.
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January 1992 Agenda 21 (Chap.38-39)Agenda 21, the Plan of Action of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), calls on the international community to provide a supportive international climate for achieving environment and development goals. Three Conventions are closely associated with the Rio Conference, namely the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD). Furthermore, the Statement of Forest Principles was also adopted at UNCED. In its Chapters 38 and 39, the Agenda addresses the institutional arrangements needed to ensure further integration of environment and development issues and it identifies the International Legal Instruments and Mechanisms to be adopted by Member States to ensure promotion of sustainable development at national and international levels.
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January 1992 UN CBDThe Convention on Biological Diversity was inspired by the rising commitment of the International Community towards sustainable development. It represents a historical step forward in the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, as well as the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.