Month: March 2016

As indicated in the road map that was circulated by the co-facilitators of the General Assembly informal consultations on the follow-up and review of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda at the global level (Belize and Denmark), the co-facilitators will convene a first informal consultation with stakeholders on Friday, 1 April, at 3 p.m. (NY time) in Conference Room 3 to have an exchange of views with stakeholders on the upcoming process and substantive issues to be considered in the resolution.

Colleagues interested to make short interventions during the consultation are invited to complete the following registration form by 6 p.m. (NY time) on Wednesday, 30 March 2016: http://goo.gl/forms/IHxPmXAJuu

The final determination of speakers and the order in which they will speak will be made by the co-facilitators based on the inscriptions received through this form.

The informal consultation will be webcast at (http://webtv.un.org/). Please note that there will be no travel funding available to support travel to this meeting. For more information on the General Assembly informal consultations please see: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf/follow-up

President of the United Nations General Assembly’s
High-level Thematic Debate on
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
21 April 2016

Civil Society and Academia Speakers Selected

On Thursday, 21 April 2016 at United Nations Headquarters in New York, the President of the UN General Assembly H.E. Mogens Lykketoft will convene a High-level Thematic Debate on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to support prompt and inclusive implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The Thematic Debate will feature a panel discussion on “Action at all levels,” which will focus on national responses to implementation of the 2030 Agenda. This panel will include three speakers from civil society and one from academia. At the request of the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly, UN DESA and UN-NGLS facilitated an open and participatory process to identify these speakers. A Stakeholder Selection Committee reviewed nearly 250 applications received, and agreed a short list of candidates to submit to the President of the UN General Assembly.

The four speakers selected to participate in the event are:

• Ms. Vanessa Rosemary Anyoti – World Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) – Tanzania
• Mr. Najib Saab – Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) – Lebanon
• Mr. Thauan dos Santos – Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
• Ms. Siva Thanenthiran – Asian Pacific Resource And Research Centre For Women (ARROW) – Malaysia

More information about the selection process is available here.

On Thursday, 21 April 2016, the President of the General Assembly H.E. Mogens Lykketoft will convene a High-level Thematic Debate on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to support prompt and inclusive implementation of the 2030 Agenda. This event will serve to significantly increase international awareness and political momentum around the implementation of the SDGs. It will bring together global political, business and civil society leaders in New York to focus on kick-starting SDG implementation. A unique opportunity to address the synergy between the COP21 outcome and the 2030 Agenda, the meeting will serve as a platform to catalyse action, discuss concrete steps forward and mobilize potential implementation partners.

For more information on the event, please see: http://www.un.org/pga/70/events/sdgs/

In preparation of this important event, all relevant stakeholders are invited to contribute to the discussions through a dedicated google page available at:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1WlZgbEUPsC0i_K7DcG1MqzZzHZmYFeT3dQZ1_fPWMKY/viewform

Contributions will be made available publicly to promote engagement and inform the Debate, in particular contributions from actors not able to be present.

We are glad to share with you the general registration form for the Expert Group Meeting that will take place on 19 April, in New York City (UNFPA Office) http://goo.gl/forms/1PQBn5PMcZ

Prior registration is mandatory in order for participants to be able to enter the building. Deadline for registration is 13 April 2016 (Wednesday). Please note that since seating capacity is limited, registration through this form does not guarantee attendance to the event. Participants will be notified prior to the event.

Also note that there is a separate registration form for the nominations of funded participants, which can be found here (deadline 16 March).

You may be interested in the letter (http://www.un.org/pga/70/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/14-Mar_2030-Agenda-Follow-up-and-review-14-March-2016.pdf) that has been circulated today by the two co-facilitators (Belize and Denmark) for the process to take decisions on the most critical issues, as seen by Member States, addressed in the report of the Secretary-General outlining critical milestones and way forward towards coherent, efficient and inclusive follow-up and review at the global level of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As indicated in their letter, the two co-facilitators will hold a informal consultations of the General Assembly on Thursday, 17 March, at 4 p.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, to discuss a road map for the process.

The Secretary-General’s report and related background information can be accessed at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf/follow-up

Signing Ceremony of the Paris Climate Change Agreement at United Nations Headquarters in New York 22 April 2016 

Civil Society: Apply to speak in the opening session, or to attend the event

By 16 March: Apply for civil society Selection Committee 

By 20 March: Apply to speak or attend

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has invited all world leaders to a signing ceremony on 22 April for the historic climate agreement that was reached in Paris in December last year. The signing event will take place at UN Headquarters in New York on the first day the agreement will be open for signature, which coincides with the UN observance of International Mother Earth Day. The Secretary-General intends to use the occasion of the signing ceremony to further engage world leaders as well as those from business and civil society to put the new agreement into action as quickly as possible.

At the request of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, UN-NGLS is leading a process for civil society to apply for a speaking role in the opening session of the signing ceremony, or to attend the event as an observer.

For the speaking role in the opening session, the Executive Office of the Secretary-General is seeking someone from a developing country who can share a compelling story of a new innovation or solution (from social entrepreneurship to engineering to community action) that she / he has put into practice that is delivering tangible results on climate change mitigation or adaptation.

Travel funding will be provided for the selected speaker, as well as a supporter if the selected candidate is under 18.

Travel funding is not available from the UN for civil society observers to attend the meeting.

Apply here by 20 March to speak in the opening session, or to attend the event:
http://bit.ly/22April-Paris-Agreement-Signing-CSO-Speaker-Apply
 
Apply here by 16 March for the civil society Selection Committee for this process:
http://bit.ly/22April-Paris-Agreement-Signing-SC-Apply

More information about this event is available here.

Live Facebook chat on

Global Governance and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

with

United Nations Committee for Development Policy members

Prof. José Antonio Alonso
Complutense University, Spain

Prof. José Antonio Ocampo
Columbia University, New York

Prof. Keun Lee
Seoul National University, Republic of Korea

Tuesday, 15 March, 1:15 PM – 2:15 PM EST

Post your questions at http://bit.ly/AskUNCDP 

or on Twitter using any of the following hashtags: #AskUNCDP #SDGs #GlobalGoals

TO UN DESA NGO MAJOR GROUP & OTHER STAKEHOLDERS – WED, 16 MARCH DEADLINE:

UN DESA/DSD will organize an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on 19 April 2016 in New York to provide an opportunity for MGoS, along with invited experts, to discuss how to ensure their effective participation and contribution to the review and implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda in the HLPF, building on the extensive provisions contained in resolution 67/290 In particular, the EGM will focus on discussing strategies and approaches for operationalizing the reporting by the MGoS to the HLPF on their contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as called for in paragraph 89 of the 2030 Agenda. A detailed draft concept note will be made available shortly at sustainabledevelopment.un.org.

UN DESA will have funding to support travel and daily subsistence allowance of up to 30 participants to this important one-day meeting. Qualified representatives are kindly requested to indicate their interest to receive funding by completing the following nomination form no later than midnight (NY time) on Wednesday, 16 March 2016.The final selection of funded participants will be made by UN DESA DSD in collaboration with the steering group of the HLPF coordination mechanism of major groups and other stakeholders (TOR here).

The President of the General Assembly has circulated a letter to Member States (available at http://www.un.org/pga/70/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/08/3-Mar_2030-Agenda-Follow-up-and-review-3-March-2016.pdf) regarding the next steps on the Report of the Secretary-General on the critical milestones towards coherent, efficient and inclusive follow-up and review of the 2030 sustainable development agenda at the global level. This report can be accessed in the six official languages of the UN at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf/follow-up