“All Stakeholders Must be Turned into Partners” States Vice President of ECOSOC at 2016 ECOSOC Integration Segment

GFDD/Funglode participated in United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) 2016 Integration Segment, under the theme “Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through policy innovation and integration” at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 2 May to 4 May, 2016. This meeting served as an interactive platform for dialogue and exchange of best practices, lessons learned and recommendations to guide all
stakeholders present to implement the 2030 Agenda.

The 2016 ECOSOC Integration Segment brought together high-level representatives of the Member States, including Heads of State and Government, ministers and mayors, agencies of the United Nations system and civil society actors, including non-governmental organizations, academia and the private sector. The main functions of the
Segment were to consolidate the inputs of Member States, subsidiary bodies of the Council and other stakeholders; to promote the integration of the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development; and to bring together the key messages to develop action-oriented recommendations to guide the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and serve as substantive input to follow-up and review process to be carried out at the High-Level Political Forum
(HLPF) this upcoming July.

During the opening ceremony of the Segment, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
underlined the importance of devising coherent approaches in linking the three dimensions of sustainable development to successfully implement the 2030 Agenda. He stated that “Now is the time for implementation.” Moreover, he stressed the importance of financing requirements in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in face of continued economic uncertainty and financial constraints.

Next, Sven Jürgenson, ECOSOC Vice-President, noted that the Segment comes at a “crucial time” at a time when numerous commitments have been laid out by  the international community. He said, “The integration segment can give guidance for forming policies that will enable us to turn the ambitious commitments made in the 2030 Agenda into tangible results for all people.” In addition, he remarked the various
examples of scaling-up sustainable development by the different stakeholders.

The Permanent Representative of Thailand, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, agreed that the three dimensions of sustainable development cannot be perceived as “business as usual,” noting that they called for a new supportive institutional framework.

During the general debate, Jürgenson stated that “All stakeholders must be turned
into partners”, and highlighted that every country that faces challenges in implementing the 2030 Agenda will need to contextualize policy solutions to address such problems as only through policy integration and innovation would they succeed. He noted that innovation does not always need to be based on novel technologies, and that it can insteadbe accomplished by using existing technologies in different and effective ways.
The three-day Segment was filled with
interactive panel discussions and a general debate that successfully discussed institutional framework and policy planning from different perspectives. Participants learned how innovative and integrated policy solutions can be applied at the different levels as well as how to close gaps and break silos in sustainable development. The 2016 Integration Segment offered a unique opportunity to bring together key development actors to assess the status of integration and coherence in relation to
the implementation of the SDGs.

Related links
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
https://www.un.org/ecosoc/en/events/2016/