18 May 2015: The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Biovision and the Millennium Institute co-sponsored a side event to build on the outcomes of the High‐level Event on Follow‐Up and Review Mechanisms for Natural Resource Management and Governance to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which took place on 12-13 May 2015.

Zak Bleicher, IFAD, introduced the panel on 18 May 2015, in New York, US. He said that, while the Co-Facilitators of the post-2015 negotiation processes have proposed what delegates “could do,” the High-level Event identified “what we should do.” He highlighted the need to examine strategies for interlinked targets, and asked what an inclusive review would look like in practice.

Ivonne Lobos Alva, IASS, said the main message from the High-level Event was that a successful post-2015 development agenda depends on an integrated and participatory approach to implementation. She also highlighted messages on the need for: natural resource management to reach the SDGs on hunger and malnutrition; strong environments for accountability; living up to “the idea of the data revolution;” and segregation of data and inclusion of traditional knowledge and other forms of knowledge.

Maryam Niamir‐Fuller, UNEP, raised the question: What do we mean by natural resources? Drawing on Johan Rockström’s model of planetary boundaries, she argued for extending the focus beyond management and governance of natural resources in the present, to how we are “borrowing into the future.” She said this calls for monitoring to be forward-looking and include high levels of uncertainty. She also called for a shared SDG ontology to clarify key concepts in the post-2015 development process.

Marianne Beisheim, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, welcomed the emphasis on engagement in discussions of reviews. She stressed that, while the mandate of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) says it is state-led, this does not mean that only governments can participate. In Germany, she said, an inter-ministerial committee, a parliamentary commission with regular hearings of civil society, and international peer review of Germany’s sustainable development strategy are elements that could be used as a model for national implementation of the post-2015 development agenda by other governments.

Jan‐Gustav Strandenaes, Stakeholder Forum, called for drawing more on the work on the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and said the HLPF’s mandate guarantees the right of the Major Groups to participate in reviews, but wondered how this participation will be organized. He also suggested that the principle of self-organization as expressed in the HLPF mandate could be used nationally.

Participants raised questions on: making the SDGs and the post-2015 development agenda relevant for and known by the “the 99.9% of people outside of the UN;” public pressure as a prerequisite for political change; making the SDGs as powerful as Agenda 21; and allowing for different understandings of concepts in the post-2015 negotiations, even if it makes the “outward” communication of the agenda more difficult. [IISD RS Story on High-level Event] [IISD RS Sources]