December 2015: The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has released publications addressing investment in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the business potential of smallholder farmers for achieving the SDGs, and the implementation of SDG 9 (‘Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation).

The fourth issue of the ‘IPA Observer,’ prepared by the Investment Promotion Section of UNCTAD’s Division on Investment and Enterprise (DIAE), titled ‘Outward Investment Agencies: Partners in Promoting Dustainable development,’ examines how outward investment agencies (OIAs) are facilitating foreign direct investment (FDI) into the SDGs. In 2015, UNCTAD found, 45% of OIAs provide some level of services specifically to the SDGs. Partnerships between OIAs and investment promotion agencies, UNCTAD suggests, can encourage and facilitate investment in SDGs through: information sharing; technical cooperation; and marketing of SDG investment opportunities.According to the publication, OIAs can: bring the necessary financial resources for SDG investment projects; help in reaching out to their private sector client base in home countries; assist in mitigating project risks; complement expertise in project preparation, assessment, and approval; and partner in project monitoring and impact assessment.

In UNCTAD’s Commodities and Development Report 2015, ‘Smallholder Farmers and Sustainable Commodity Development,’ released on 17 December, UNCTAD calls for more attention and resources to smallholders as a way to achieve the SDGs relating to poverty, nutrition, hunger and environmental sustainability. The report estimates that: smallholders control only 12% of all agricultural land but produce more than 80% of the world’s food, in value terms; 90% of the 570 million farms worldwide are managed by an individual or a family and mostly rely on family labor; 84% of these farms are smaller than 2 hectares (ha); 2.5 billion people depend on agricultural production systems for their livelihoods; and 70% of the developing world’s 1.4 billion extremely poor people live in rural areas. To enable smallholders to fulfill their potential as sustainable business enterprises integrated into domestic, regional and international trade, UNCTAD’s policy recommendations include: fostering strong farmers’ organizations; tailoring science, technology and ICTs to the needs of smallholders; securing the land rights of smallholder farmers; providing access to traditional finance and innovative financing for smallholder farmers; devising more affordable alternative certification schemes in order to help smallholders gain greater access to organic markets; and developing incentives for environment-friendly farming practices.

The UNCTAD Technology and Innovation Report 2015, ‘Fostering Innovation Policies for Industrial Development,’ also released on 17 December, provides recommendations to ensure coherence between science, technology and innovation (STI) policy and industrial policy – or innovation-led industrial development – as embodied in SDG 9. It includes in-depth analyses of industrial and STI policies in Ethiopia, Nigeria and the United Republic of Tanzania, along with regional trends and initiatives in policies in other African countries. UNCTAD outlines several principles as guidelines to countries, including to: identify and eliminate policy redundancies in policy conceptualization and policymaking structure; use resources carefully; develop capacity for proper policy evaluation and monitoring; and coordinate the policymaking processes closely vis-à-vis policies’ impact on the business and enterprise environment. [Publication: Outward Investment Agencies: Partners in promoting sustainable development] [IPA Observer Series] [Publication: Commodities and Development Report 2015: Smallholder Farmers and Sustainable Commodity Development] [Publication: Technology and Innovation Report 2015: Fostering Innovation Policies for Industrial Development] [SDG 9]