GFDD submits oral statement during 12th Session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals

On June 19, 2014, GFDD/FUNGLODE participated in the 12th Session of the UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG SDGs) which convened from 16-20 June 2014, in New York, US.

The objective of the session was to review the draft set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and provide an opportunity for delegates and members of civil society organizations to put forward revised
wording for the goals.

During Thursday’s morning session, open to all relevant stakeholders, GFDD’s UN Representative, Mr. Marc Jourdan and FUNGLODE’s representative, Ms. Virginia Wall, submitted a joint statement to the OWG
Co-chairs calling for Goal 13 on climate change, calling to incorporate more concrete commitments on climate change across the entire SDGs. Specifically,  in Goal 13.1 the statement called for holding the increase in global average temperature below a 1.5 degree C rise and under goals 13.3 and 13.4 for a time frame of 2020 into mitigation and adaptation plans, as a result of the urgency of climate change.

The oral submission of the statement by GFDD can be viewed
here.

A copy of the written statement is available here.

UN Member State delegates worked primarily in informal sessions (sessions that are closed to the public) and considered proposed Goals 7-17. Discussion on
proposed Goals 1-6 had taken place in “informal-informal” consultations from 9-11 June.

The OWG Co-Chairs – Macharia Kamau, Permanent Representative of Kenya, and Csaba Kőrösi, Permanent Representative of Hungary – also presented a revised set of 15 proposed goals, based on the informal-informal discussions, for comment, as well as a new proposal for Goal 1.

H.E Ambassador Kamau confirmed that an updated version of the zero
draft will be issued on 30 June, and that it will have fewer targets and will be a more refined, balanced and “tighter” document.

The 13th and final session of the OWG SDGs will take place on 14-18 July, 2014.

About the Sustainable Development Goals:
One of the main outcomes of the United Nations’ Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development (June 2012) was the agreement by member States to
launch a process to develop a set of SDGs, which will build upon the Millennium Development Goals and converge with the post 2015 development agenda. To find out more about the agenda please click here.

Related links:
http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/owg.html