18 May 2015
Review of Natural Resource SDGs Focuses on Participatory, Country-Led Processes
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Reviewing and strengthening weak governance institutions at the national level will be crucial to managing natural resources for the long-term, according to participants at the International High-Level Event on Follow-up and Review Mechanisms for Natural Resource Management and Governance to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The High-Level Event highlighted the importance of national review mechanisms that are effectively linked to the regional and international levels.

iisdrs_nr-mechanisms13 May 2015: Reviewing and strengthening weak governance institutions at the national level will be crucial to managing natural resources for the long-term, according to participants at the International High-Level Event on Follow-up and Review Mechanisms for Natural Resource Management and Governance to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The High-Level Event highlighted the importance of national review mechanisms that are effectively linked to the regional and international levels.

Recognizing that governance of natural resources will not only advance SDGs focused on water, land, forests and biodiversity, but also support achievement of goals related to poverty, nutrition, energy security and others, organizers planned the High-Level Event to discuss how to integrate and monitor the policy and actions taken to advance separate goals. They argue that “the current set of SDGs does not sufficiently address the conflicting uses and the need for protection of the same natural resources across and among different goals and targets.” They further call for addressing these challenges through “robust follow-up and review mechanisms” at all levels.

Within this context, participants: identified gaps in current platforms that could serve as review mechanisms; suggested approaches such as interpreting findings using local knowledge, incorporating language on rights-holders, surveying citizens and mapping ecosystems’ social and economic impacts on local communities; stressed the importance of transparency, participation and ensuring that poor and vulnerable groups “own the results” of decision-making about natural resources; and recommended complementing data-driven follow-up and review with participatory insights, and using “back-up mechanisms” at the global level, in case national processes are not adequately participatory.

The Event also raised the question as to whether to develop a partnership approach for implementation or encourage strong accountability of governments and country-led implementation. The lack of a global overview of existing review mechanisms was noted, as was the lack of consensus on the concepts of accountability and monitoring in multilateral diplomacy.

The in-depth discussions from the Event will inform UN Member States’ deliberations at the fifth session of the intergovernmental negotiation process on the post-2015 development agenda, which is scheduled to convene from 18-22 May 2015, in New York, US.

The Event was organized by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Biovision Foundation and the Millennium Institute. It took place from 12-13 May 2015, in New York, US. [IISD RS Coverage of the High-Level Event] [High-Level Event Website]


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