Category: News

29 September 2015: The Second Committee of the 70th session of the General Assembly will meet from 7 October to 25 November 2015. The draft programme of work is available at: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/C.2/69/L.68 and the schedule of meetings at: http://www.un.org/en/ga/second/70/calendar.pdf

The Second Committee will hold a debate on the agenda item on sustainable development and its related sub-items on 19-20 October. Related reports of the Secretary-General can be accessed at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/intergovernmental/sgreports.

Please note that while the rules of procedure of the General Assembly and its Main Committees do not have a formal mechanism for engaging MGoS, most meetings are open to colleagues with valid UN grounds passes. The formal meetings of the Committee will also be web cast online at webtv.un.org. For more information on the different General Assembly Main Committees, including the Second Committee, please see: http://www.un.org/en/ga/maincommittees/index.shtml

29 September 2015: Paragraph 123 of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and paragraph 70 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development decided to establish a technology facilitation mechanism in order to support the SDGs.

The mechanism will be comprise of :

– A United Nations inter-agency task team on science, technology and innovation for the sustainable development goals;
– A collaborative annual multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation (STI) for the sustainable development goals;
– An online platform as a gateway for information on existing STI initiatives, mechanisms and programs.

In operationalizing these components, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development further decides that the United Nations inter-agency task team will work with 10 representatives of civil society, the private sector and the scientific community to prepare the meetings of the multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the SDGs, as well as in the development and operationalization of the online platform.

For more information about the technology facilitation mechanism please see: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/technology/facilitationmechanism

The 10 representatives from civil society, the private sector and the scientific community will be appointed by the Secretary-General for periods of 2 years, taking into consideration geographical and gender balance and ensuring a mix of disciplinary expertise capturing science, technology and innovation aspects across the full range of the sustainable development agenda. The 10 representatives will serve in their independent, personal capacity and shall have internationally recognized excellence in their field or fields of expertise. The role is considered voluntary, and is not subject to remuneration.
In ensuring openness and inclusion in the process, UN DESA-DSD and UNEP on behalf of the Inter-agency task team are hereby inviting interested and qualified representatives of civil society, the private sector and the scientific community to submit their application by 6 p.m. (NY time) on Friday, 9 October 2015, by completing the following form: http://bit.ly/1iYWPa5 for final selection by the Secretary-General.

A document containing a summary of comments received on the List of Indicator Proposals of 11 August 2015 during the two rounds of consultations with members and observers of the Inter-agency and Expert group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators has been posted online.

It presents comments according to three different categories, namely:

• “Suggestions for Modifications and Replacement Indicators”
• “Suggestions for Additional Indicators”, and
• “Additional Comments”,

indicating the name of the country or organisation that provided each comment. It also contains two additional columns: ‘Possible compiling entity’ and ‘Tier’ which were carried over from the August 11 document based on the request by multiple countries.

Please note that no changes have been made to the list of indicator proposals of 11 August 2015. Therefore, the status of development of the suggested indicators (so-called tiers I, II, and III) still needs to be re-evaluated on the basis of information provided since then.

A very large number of comments were received during the two rounds of consultations and those comments are reflected in the summary to the best possible extent. Users are requested to refer to the original comments for complete information.

The inputs received through the open consultation with all countries, regional and international agencies, civil society, academia and the private sector are now available online.

These inputs will inform the discussion at the second meeting of the IAEG-SDGs, to be held from 26-28 October in Bangkok.

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (Division for Sustainable Development) is pleased to announce the beta version launch of “Partnerships for SDGs” – an online platform for encouraging global engagement around multi-stakeholder partnerships and voluntary commitments in support the sustainable development goals and their targets.

Initially developed in response to a mandate set out by the Rio+20 Conference (paragraph 283, Future We Want), the platform, which is being further enhanced to respond to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, will function as a tool to inform stakeholders on initiatives carried out by multi-stakeholder partnerships around the world in support of the sustainable development goals, track progress, and share innovative ideas. The platform is free and open to the public.

Available at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnerships

REGISTER NOW

Register your initiative towards the Sustainable Development Goals: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnership/register/

CONSULTATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS

From 1 October to 1 November 2015, DESA will seek views of all interested stakeholders on a number of issues related to the role of multi-stakeholder partnerships in advancing the sustainable development goals, and the supporting role of this platform:

• What functionalities should the platform have? What is missing?
• How can partners best report on progress of their partnerships/commitments, without creating unnecessary reporting burden?
• How can the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and its regional commissions, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), and other inter-governmental fora best support the review process of multi-stakeholder partnerships and their impact on realizing the sustainable development goals?

Views will be sought trough an online survey. Results from the survey will guide the development of the projected “full version” so that it achieves its aim of becoming a tool to encourage global partnerships engagement around the SDGs.

More information: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnerships/about

We are pleased to share that 24 representatives of civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations and the Major Groups have been selected to speak during the UN Sustainable Development Summit. These speakers were identified through an open, transparent and participatory process involving a civil society Selection Committee, facilitated by UN-NGLS in cooperation with UN DESA, at the request of the Office of the President of the General Assembly. The civil society Selection Committee created a short-list of 80 candidates from 435 applications received, and the President of the General Assembly made the final selection of a diverse set of speakers for this historic Summit to adopt the post-2015 development agenda.

To view the list of speakers, please visit:
http://bit.ly/p2015-Summit-CSO-speakers-selected

UN DESA Statistics Division is organizing the Second Meeting of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on the Sustainable Development Goal Indicators, to be held in Bangkok, Thailand from 26-28 October 2015. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific has graciously offered to host the meeting. The IAEG-SDGs was established by the Statistical Commission at its 46th session to develop an indicator framework for the monitoring of the goals and targets of the post-2015 development agenda at the global level, and to support its implementation.

The main objectives of the Second Meeting of the IAEG-SDGs are to:
i) review the list of possible global indicators;
ii) discuss the global indicator framework, interlinkages across targets and critical issues including data disaggregation; and
iii) discuss the work plan and next steps.

Further details concerning this meeting, including a detailed agenda and the documents for discussion, will be posted on their website http://unstats.un.org/sdgs/.

Due to space limitations, only organizations that have demonstrated experience in substantial, technical issues related to global sustainable development indicators, especially in relation to the post-2015 development agenda, will be considered for attendance.

Please note that nominees must meet the following criteria:

• They must represent an organization with a global or regional scope of mandate
• They must have demonstrated expertise and experience related to sustainable development indicators

Stakeholders who wish to attend the meeting are required to pre-register by filling out the following online registration form: http://bit.ly/1TRJYXp

DEADLINE: Tuesday, 8 September 2015

Application forms will be reviewed on a rolling basis by UNSD, UN-NGLS and ESCAP, in consultation with the Regional Civil Society Engagement Mechanism, against the selection criteria above. It is advised to register as early as possible since the registration will be closed once seating capacity has been reached.

The meeting is expected to be webcast, subject to confirmation prior to the meeting. Please note that the meeting will be held in English only and financial assistance for participation of stakeholders is not available.

There may be an opportunity for statements by representatives of major groups and other stakeholders, subject to the concurrence of the chair and members of the IAEG-SDGs. Further information will be communicated shortly in this regard.

Please be advised that the draft outcome document “Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development” is now available in the six official languages of the UN at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld

The General Assembly will convene a meeting on 1 September at 10 a.m. in the General Assembly Hall to take action and transmit the draft outcome for consideration at the 25-27 September Summit to adopt the post-2015 development agenda.

Also, please note that six issues briefs which will serve as background for the Interactive Dialogues to be held as part of the September Summit have been posted on our website at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/summit

Non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations may apply to register for the 25-27 September UN Summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda.

For complete instructions and the application form, please visit:
http://bit.ly/post-2015-Summit-apply-to-register

This same form will also be available on http://csonet.org/

DEADLINE: Monday, 24 August 2015

UN DESA’s Statistics Division is organising the second meeting of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs), to be held on 26-28 October 2015 at the United Nations Conference Center in Bangkok, Thailand and hosted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

Meeting objectives

• Review the list of possible global indicators
• Discuss the global indicator framework, interlinkages across targets and critical issues including data disaggregation
• Discuss the work plan and next steps

Tentative Agenda:

1. Opening
2. Review of the mandates and outcomes of the 70th Session of the General Assembly on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
3. Stocktaking on inputs from the two discussion streams and open consultations
4. Detailed review of the list of proposed global indicators and related issues
   • Review of the proposed indicators for global monitoring and recommended revisions
   • Mapping of proposed indicators for global monitoring against major indicator frameworks (including regional frameworks)
   • Data disaggregation and other cross-cutting issues
   • Identification of inter-linkages across goals and targets
5. Communication and presentation of the global SDG indicators
6. Work plan and next steps