The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) publishes the third of three Working Group reports in which it warns that climate change will have catastrophic consequences. The international body of scientists and representatives of countries from all over the world assesses and analyses the current state, risks and (possible) consequences of climate change and establishes recommendations for mitigation policies on sub-national, national and global level. In this context the new assessment report, which constitutes the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report on [...]
Nachhaltige Entwicklung und Menschenrechte
The dramatic rise in killings of environmental and land defenders
Killings of people protecting the environment and rights to land increased sharply between 2002 and 2013 as competition for natural resources intensifies, a new report from Global Witness reveals. In the most comprehensive global analysis of the problem on record, the campaign group has found that at least 908 people are known to have died in this time. Disputes over industrial logging, mining and land rights the key drivers, and Latin America and Asia-Pacific particularly hard hit.
Improving the Contribution of Private Finance
New report on "Financing for Development Post-2015: Improving the Contribution of Private Finance" commissioned by the European Parliament's Committee on Development and co-written by Eurodad, Development Finance International, A&J Communication Development Consultants and Development Initiatives finds that global public finance cannot be directly substituted by private finance, as it pays for public goods, is more predictable and counter-cyclical, and can be targeted at the poorest countries. Global private finance mainly goes to higher income countries and has difficultly targeting MSMEs [...]
In a new blog, the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) emphasizes that debates intensify around the role of public-private partnerships in the Post-2015 Agenda. CESR warns that many governments were pushing hard to include the private sector, however this may drown out global civil society’s demands for human rights at core of a sustainable development framework. Proponents of private-public partnership failed to recognize risks of privatizing post-2015, one reason why civil society was rallying to decrease the role [...]
Civil Society Organisations participating in an outreach event of the UN Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing on “Co-Creating New Partnerships for Financing Sustainable Development” in Helsinki issued a statement on what they perceive as key elements of the experts committee's work. The CSOs underline that there is “need to act now. […] To put the world on track for a sustainable future, all actors have to contribute to sustainable development. We need financing of good quality and [...]
on “Co-Creating New Partnerships for Financing Sustainable Development
On April 3-4, 2014 the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing holds a consultation on "Co-Creating New Partnerships for Financing Sustainable Development" in Helsinki, Finland. This committee was established by the outcome document of the Rio+20 conference, which called for committee of experts tasked with preparing a report "proposing options on an effective sustainable development financing strategy to facilitate the mobilization of resources and their effective use in achieving sustainable development objectives".
In a statement for the occasion [...]
Last Saturday, March 22, 2014, the 58th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women ended with a strong call to prioritize gender equality and the human rights of women in order to achieve sustainable development. In an article, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) analyzes the outcomes of the meeting and applaudes the governments who stood up for the rights of all individuals to live free of violence, discrimination, and barriers to accessing sexual [...]
A meeting aimed at coordinating global advocacy on a new development agenda was held last February 23-24 in Istanbul, convened by the UN Secretary-General’s adviser on development planning, the UN Foundation, the Overseas Development Institute of the UK and CIVICUS. Social Watch addressed a letter to the meeting arguing that "joint civil society action around Post-2015 has to focus on goals and commitments for the countries of the North, the necessary changes of the consumption and production patterns in these [...]
At the ninth session of the UN General Assembly's Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals, the Women's Major Group (WMG) issued a response to the 19 proposed focus areas, assembled by the OWG in February. Through their response WMG contributes to the intergovernmental processes on SDGs and reflect the broad range of areas. The WMG is pleased to see an integrated approach, recognising the inter-linkages between the focus areas. It appreciates the stand-alone focus on gender equality and [...]
Criteria and ideas for its institutional design
In a new working paper, Marianne Beisheim from the German Insitute for International and Security Affairs analyzes the options for a review mechanism for the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), a UN body created after the Rio+20 summit in 2012 and inaugurated in September 2013. The HLPF is replacing the UN's Commission on Sustainable Development and aimed at providing political leadership and guidance and a a dynamic platform for regular dialogue, stocktaking, and agenda-setting – all to [...]
