11 July 2016: The 2016 meeting of the High-Level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF) opened at UN Headquarters in New York, the US, under the theme, ‘Ensuring that no one is left behind.’ On the Forum’s first day, the first report of the UN Secretary-General on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was presented to Member States. The HLPF will reflect on experiences and lessons learned during the first few months of SDG implementation, and will result in a ministerial declaration, as well as a President’s summary of discussions.
The HLPF is the central platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs. The meeting, which is convening under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), will include plenaries, moderated dialogues and a three-day ministerial segment. Twenty-two countries will present voluntary national reviews. The meeting will also reflect on the science-policy interface, mainstreaming the SDGs, monitoring progress and implementation of the SDGs, multi-stakeholder engagement, and the challenges with mobilizing means of implementation (MOI), among other issues.
Oh Joon, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea and ECOSOC President, opened the Forum by noting that the role of the HLPF in follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda is extremely important in charting the way forward in new and innovative ways. Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, highlighted six elements for success: leadership; institutions; interlinkages; monitoring; an agenda for all, with contributions from all; and international development cooperation. He said the HLPF’s review of SDG implementation must be robust, voluntary, effective, participatory and integrated.
During a panel, ‘Where do we stand at year one’ on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs, Wu presented the UN Secretary-General’s report on ‘Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals’ (E/2016/75). The inaugural report provides an overview of progress and challenges in implementing the 17 SDGs, and is based on the proposed global indicator framework developed by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) and agreed by the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) in March 2016.
Moderator Paula Caballero Gomez, World Bank, encouraged participants to move from incrementalism towards structural shifts to achieve the promise of the SDGs. Debapriya Bhattacharya, Centre for Policy Dialogue, highlighted the challenge of estimating the finance needed to achieve the SDGs, and said the report could be more comprehensive in the area of global partnerships. Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), emphasized the need to first lift up those that are the most vulnerable and marginalized, underscored the importance of national baselines for measuring progress and called for investment in data sources. José Maria Viera, World Blind Union, called on States to guarantee sustained stakeholder participation through consultations, and noted the critical role of access to information in making participation a reality. Martin Tsounkeu, African Development Interchange Network, noted gaps in integrating the SDGs into national plans, relating to how participatory assessment processes are, and the inclusion of qualitative aspects into national statistics.
Participants then convened in three sessions on: envisioning an inclusive world in 2030; lifting people out of poverty and addressing basic needs; and fostering economic growth, prosperity, and sustainability. On lifting people out of poverty and addressing basic needs, panelists recommended strengthening education systems, adapting to meet special circumstances, focusing on gender disparities, increasing national investments in community health, improving health ministries’ capacity to deploy community health workers, improving access to markets and improving resilience to shocks, among others.
The 2016 HLPF is convening from 11-20 July 2016. [UN Press Release] [ECOSOC President’s Opening Statement] [UN Under-Secretary General’s Statement] [SDG Progress Report (E/2016/75)] [IISD RS Meeting Coverage] [IISD RS Policy Update: HLPF 101: What to Expect] [HLPF Website]