Now that the long days (and many sleepless nights) of negotiations have concluded on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) and ‘Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,' what happens next?
Now that the long days (and many sleepless nights) of negotiations have concluded on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) and ‘Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,’ what happens next?
These two agreements were adopted at the conclusion of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3) and the intergovernmental negotiations for the post-2015 development agenda, respectively. These meetings are two of three key intergovernmental decision-making points on the 2015 sustainable development calendar. The final meeting—the Paris Climate Change Conference—convenes in December. But, for those watching these major policy events, a number of other events and initiatives should be kept in sight over the coming months.
UNGA 69 Action on Post-2015 Agenda: Prior to the opening of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 70) on 15 September 2015, the current session (UNGA 69) will meet to take action on a draft resolution on the post-2015 summit outcome document. The negotiating body that adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on 2 August 2015 was created by the UNGA, and so its work must be sent to the UNGA for final consideration. As negotiators in the post-2015 intergovernmental negotiations were informed during the closing session, UNGA 69 must recommend that UNGA 70 adopt the outcome.
Summit to Adopt Post-2015 Agenda: Ten days after the opening of UNGA 70, the UN Summit to adopt the post-2015 development agenda will convene, with Heads of State and Government gathering from 25-27 September 2015, at UN Headquarters in New York, US. This Summit will open after Pope Francis delivers a statement to the UNGA, on the morning of 25 September.
In addition to adopting the post-2015 development agenda, in the form of the 2030 Agenda agreed through the intergovernmental negotiation process, the UN Summit is expected to convene six interactive dialogues, on the topics of: Ending poverty and hunger; Tackling inequalities, empowering women and girls and leaving no one behind; Fostering sustainable economic growth, transformation and promoting sustainable consumption and production; Protecting our planet and combating climate change; Building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions to achieve sustainable development; and Delivering on a revitalized Global Partnership.
A record number of side events and other activities are expected to take place alongside the Summit, including the ‘Solutions Summit,’ on 27 September, during which stakeholders have been encouraged to propose solutions to the issues addressed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In the seven days after the UN Summit, the ‘Tell Everyone’ campaign, led by Project Everyone, will attempt to reach seven billion people to inform them of the SDGs and to mobilize engagement for implementation.
The traditional opening of the UNGA general debate, during which Heads of State and Government gather in the General Assembly Hall and address their key concerns for the international community during coming year, will take place from 28 September to 6 October.
Decisions on Follow-up and Review: A number of decisions related to the follow-up and review of the post-2015 agenda are expected to be taken in the coming months, including the theme for the 2016 session of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). In addition, operational elements not decided within the context of the post-2015 negotiations, such as more specific arrangements for reviews in the context of the HLPF, will have to be addressed.
To support these decisions, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requests the UN Secretary-General to prepare a report, in consultation with Member States, to: highlight critical milestones towards coherent efficient, and inclusive follow-up and review at the global level; make a proposal on the organizational arrangements for state-led reviews at the HLPF under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC); and clarify institutional responsibilities and provide guidance on annual themes, on a sequence of thematic reviews, and on options for periodic reviews for the HLPF. This report should be prepared for consideration at the 70th session of the UNGA in preparation for the HLPF 2016 meeting.
More specific arrangements on the scope, methodology and frequency of the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) and its relationship with the SDG Progress Report (a report to be produced by the UN Secretary-General in collaboration with the UN system, based on the global indicator framework and data produced by national statistical systems and information collected at the regional level) must also be decided.
Establishing Indicators for SDG Targets: In October, those watching the development of the post-2015 agenda and SDGs will turn their eyes toward Bangkok, Thailand, for the second meeting of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDGs Indicators (IAEG-SDGs). The intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda developed 17 SDGs and 169 targets associated with the goals. Progress is to be measured through indicators, which the IAEG, made up of statisticians from 28 UN Member States, is charged with identifying. This Group has organized an open consultation on the global indicator framework for the SDGs, which is taking place until 7 September 2015 and is expected to inform the deliberations in October.
Moving Ahead with the Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM): Based on the Rio+20 Outcome Document, The Future We Want, the UNGA engaged in a process to discuss a possible facilitation mechanism in the area of clean technology. Since the 2012 Rio+20 Conference, eight workshops and structured dialogues were convened by the UNGA President in 2013 and 2014. On several occasions, many Member States said that the discussion on this matter needs to continue and that the technology facilitation mechanism will be a critical element of the post-2015 framework. An agreement on a TFM was finally reached during the FfD3 intergovernmental negotiations. This agreement was incorporated in the AAAA and, thereafter, in the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. Work will have to be done in the next few months to operationalize this TFM, including its inter-agency task team on science, technology and innovation (STI) for the sustainable development goals, its Multistakeholder Forum on STI for the SDGs and its online platform, which should map and serve as a gateway for information on existing STI initiatives, mechanisms and programmes.
Preparing the ECOSOC Forum on FfD and Establishing the UN Secretary-General Inter-Agency Task Force on FfD:, As decided in Addis Ababa, ECOSOC will hold its annual ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development (FfD), where up to four days will be dedicated to discussing the follow-up and review of the FfD outcomes and the means of implementation of the post-2015 development agenda. Its intergovernmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations will then be fed into the overall follow-up and review of the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda at the HLPF.
As called for by the AAAA, a UN Secretary-General inter-agency task force will also convene to report annually on progress in implementing the FfD outcomes and the means of implementation of the post-2015 development agenda. It will advise the intergovernmental follow-up on progress, implementation gaps and recommendations “for corrective action, while taking into consideration the national and regional dimensions.”
2015: A Tale of Three Outcomes: The UN General Assembly has already endorsed the outcome from FfD3. The UNGA 69 endorsement of the AAAA came during a plenary meeting in parallel to the final session of the intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda. Governments had viewed the FfD3 and post-2015 outcomes as interlinked throughout both negotiation tracks, and it was clear that approval of the financing component was an important step to finalizing negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda. At the UNGA meeting to endorse the FfD3 outcome, several governments highlighted the complementarity of the two outcomes. In particular, the EU said the AAAA “brought us a lot closer to agreement” in the post-2015 negotiations.
Many are hoping that success on the first two big 2015 decision points will bring success on the third element: the climate change negotiations in December. Climate negotiators will meet from 31 August-4 September, and again in the second half of October, not to mention the numerous informal gatherings of regional representatives, ministerial representatives, and others in an effort to pave the way for success at the Paris Climate Change Conference.
As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has repeatedly declared, the year 2015 must be time for global action. Will the long days and sleepless nights of negotiation translate into tangible action at the global, regional and national levels? This will depend, amongst other things, on political will, ownership and capacity on the ground to operationalize commitments made at the intergovernmental level. Those who are keeping an eye on the events and initiatives that follow-up on the FfD3 and Agenda 2030 outcomes know that the decisions to be taken in the next few months could play an important role in whether they will result in tangible action.