House of Commons - Connected world: Agreeing ambitious Sustainable Development Goals in 2015

Connected world: Agreeing ambitious Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 - Environmental Audit Committee Contents

1 Connected world

The connected challenges of poverty and environmental degradation

1. Poverty and environmental degradation are urgent global challenges:

· One in five people in developing regions lives in extreme poverty.[1] One in four children under age five has inadequate height for their age,[2] and one in seven is underweight.[3]

· Every day in 2013, 32,000 people had to abandon their homes because of conflict or war.[4]

· One-third of urban residents in developing regions still live in slums, and urbanisation and population increases mean that the number of people living in slums increased from 760 million in 2000 to 860 million in 2012.[5]

· 13 million hectares of forest were lost worldwide each year between 2000 and 2010, either through devastation by natural causes or because the land was converted to other uses.[6]

· Global emissions of carbon dioxide in 2011 increased to 50% above their 1990 level.[7]

Tackling these issues requires a new understanding of the connections between people and planet and a global commitment to pursuing sustainable development.

The lessons from Rio and the MDGs

2. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, commonly referred to as the Earth Summit, saw the adoption of a number of crucial agreements, including the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21 and landmark Conventions on desertification, biological diversity and climate change. Twenty years later, however, as we concluded in our report on the Preparations for the Rio +20 Summit which took place in June 2012:

3. In the 20 years between the two Rio Summits, the global environment has continued to be degraded. However, there have also been some notable environmental successes through international action: the world is on the verge of eliminating ozone-depleting substances and the proportion of terrestrial and coastal marine areas under protection has increased.[9] One study estimates the impact of another area of progress—removing lead from petrol—at $2.4 trillion a year, including 1.2 million fewer premature deaths.[10] Although greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, there are hopes that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC] Conference of Parties will produce a binding climate change agreement in Paris in December 2015.

4. In 2000, states made an international development commitment through the United Nations, known as the Millennium Development Goals, to be delivered by 2015. The Government told us that "As a short, clear resolution, [the MDGs] have galvanized international action and have driven transformative change."[11] The number of people living in extreme poverty has reduced by half.[12] The likelihood of a child dying before age five has been nearly cut in half over the last two decades, so that now about 17,000 fewer children die every day.[13] The proportion of undernourished people in developing regions has decreased from 24% in 1990-1992 to 14% in 2011-2013.[14] Between 2000 and 2012, an estimated 3.3 million deaths from malaria were averted.[15] Access to an improved drinking water source has become a reality for 2.3 billion people.[16] 90% of children in developing regions now attend primary school.[17]

5. Despite the good progress on reducing poverty and improvements in health and education, however, there was less progress on the seventh of the eight MDG goals, which focused on environmental protection. Justine Greening told us "When we look back at the progress we have seen under the MDGs, one of the areas where not enough progress was made was on MDG7 in relation to environmental degradation and sustainable use of the environment. Of course, alongside that, climate change did not feature at all in the original MDGs."[18]

6. In 2015, the UN will agree a new set of development goals, following the conclusions agreed at the 2012 Rio+20 Earth Summit. These goals will incorporate and combine two previously separate processes—the Post-2015 Development Agenda intended to replace the Millennium Development Goals, which have helped to focus international aid since 2000, as well as the sustainable development commitments arising from the Rio+20 Summit.[19] These new, joint, 'Sustainable Development Goals' (SDGs) will be universal; encompassing both poverty alleviation and sustainable development, and applicable to developed as well as developing countries. As we noted in our report on the Outcomes of the Rio +20 Summit,[20] one of the most significant outcomes of that event was the international agreement on the need for those SDGs.

Agreeing new goals

7. There have been a series of processes intended to produce this new set of goals, including:

· A High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, whose report was published in May 2013.[21]

· An SDG Open Working Group, established after the Rio+20 Summit, whose outcome report was published in July 2014 and presented to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2014.[22]

· Various public consultations, including those set up by the UN System Task Team on the post-2015 Development Agenda.

· The UN Secretary General's synthesis report, The Road to Dignity by 2030, drawing together the work and results of the High Level Panel and the Open Working Group, an initial draft of which was published on 4 December 2014.[23]

THE HIGH LEVEL PANEL

8. In July 2012, the UN Secretary-General established a High-level Panel of Eminent Persons to explore the 'Post-2015 Development Agenda', to replace the MDGs when they expire in 2015. This Panel was co-chaired by the UK Prime Minister alongside the presidents of Liberia and Indonesia. The High Level Panel's report set out five "transformational shifts" needed to catalyse human development:[24]

· Leave no-one behind: a shift from reducing to ending extreme poverty, including amongst the most marginalised (disabled people; ethnic minorities, women and girls; remote communities);

· Put sustainable development at the core: integrating efforts to tackle climate change and environmental degradation within the goals;

· Transform economies for jobs and inclusive growth: harnessing innovation, technology and the private sector;

· Build peace and effective, open and accountable institutions for all: boosting peace, accountability and good governance; and

· Forge a new global partnership.

THE OPEN WORKING GROUP

9. The Rio +20 Summit concluded that:

Following the Summit, an 'Open Working Group' was established in January 2013 consisting thirty geographically representative members, including the UK negotiating jointly with Australia and the Netherlands. In July 2014 it proposed 17 goals (and 169 targets) as follows:[26]

i) End poverty in all its forms everywhere;

ii) End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture;

iii) Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages;

iv) Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all;

v) Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls;

vi) Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all;

vii) Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all;

viii) Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all;

ix) Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation;

x) Reduce inequality within and among countries;

xi) Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable;

xii) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns;

xiii) Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts;

xiv) Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development;

xv) Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss;

xvi) Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels; and

xvii) Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

Civil society organisations in general were "very pleased with the UN Open Working Group process as that open process and the participation of civil society has been much greater than in other processes."[27]

THE SECRETARY GENERAL'S SYNTHESIS REPORT

10. States agreed a resolution at the UN General Assembly on 10 September 2014 that the Open Working Group's conclusions should be the "main basis for integrating sustainable development goals into the post-2015 development agenda."[28] The UN Secretary General issued an advanced version of his SDGs 'synthesis report' on 4 December 2014.[29] This set out the basis for international negotiations in the run up to their agreement in September 2015. The process for agreeing the final goals involves the EU negotiating as a bloc, rather than individual member states making a direct input. It is expected that the European Commission will reach an agreed position on the Sustainable Development Goals in time for a European Council meeting on 18/19 December 2014 in preparation for international negotiations which will be completed in 2015.

11. The Secretary General used his report to highlight six 'essential elements' for delivering sustainable development and "help frame and reinforce the universal, integrated and transformative nature of a sustainable development agenda": Dignity, People, Prosperity, Planet, Justice and Partnership (Figure 1). He concluded that:

The year 2015 offers a unique opportunity for global leaders and people to end poverty, transform the world to better meet human needs and the necessities of economic transformation, whilst protecting our environment, ensuring peace and realising human rights.

And:

Our inquiry

12. Our inquiry has focused on the UK's aims and ambitions for the SDGs, the extent of co-ordination across Government and consultation with stakeholders in the process of negotiating goals, how the Goals will influence the UK's domestic policies and aid programmes, the accountability and reporting arrangements for the UK setting its targets and indicators for the Goals, and how performance will be reported. We took evidence from the DFID Secretary of State, development and environment NGOs, business and charities, ministers from Defra and DECC and the Director General of the Environment directorate of the European Commission. We are grateful to them all, and to our specialist adviser Farooq Ullah.[32] The inputs from all of our witnesses and their evidence were received before the Secretary General's synthesis report was published on 5 December.
Figure 1