The Project on Sustainability Transformation Beyond 2015 (Post-2015) organized an expert meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, to discuss sustainable development challenges in cities.
The workshop aimed to promote communication among research communities, and to contribute to Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 8 on a global partnership for development.
13 March 2014: The Project on Sustainability Transformation Beyond 2015 (Post-2015) organized an international expert meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, to discuss sustainable development challenges in cities. The workshop aimed to promote communication among research communities and to contribute to Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 8 on a global partnership for development. It convened from 11-13 March 2014.
The Post-2015 research project co-organized the three-day workshop with the Kyoto-based Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Forty presenters and participants from eight countries attended the workshop, among them representatives of the Government of Indonesia, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Earth System Governance Project, the UN University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES).
The event began with visits to three poverty reduction and community development projects, including schools for street children and a mothers’ empowerment and livelihood development project.
Participants discussed presentations on: human and environmental security; community vulnerability and risk; the water-food-energy nexus; sustainable urban growth; partnerships for implementing the post-2015 development agenda; the OECD’s Green Cities Programme; and World Vision Indonesia’s ‘Cities For Children’ initiative.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) reported on progress toward MDG 1, on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, in relation to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the post-2015 development agenda. Researchers from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the University of Surabaya presented insights from the ‘Bottom-up Study Contributing to the Realization of SDGs.’
Participants said the idea of sustainable cities has been supported in the process to develop the SDGs. They emphasized the need to study migration to cities, including from a supply chain perspective, adding that South-North migration and human rights concerns make addressing migration at the UN level ‘very problematic.’
Participants prioritized as key challenges for sustainable cities: technology; disaster management; urban planning capacity; income and employment; education; environment, including waste management, energy and watershed management; resilience and disaster management; transportation; and governance. [Conference information] [Conference website with presentations] [Project on Sustainability Transformation Beyond 2015 (Post-2015) Website] [RIHN website] [IISD RS Sources]