PRESIDIUM MODEL UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE 2016 AGENDA 2030 FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES UNDP UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

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1 PRESIDIUM MODEL UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE 2016 UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME STUDY GUIDE

2 Dear Delegates, Let me tell you a short story. Letter from the President In a remote part of India, there was once a classroom full of kids eager to learn new things, experiment with knowledge, get the best of grades, and be actively involved in sports and extra-curriculars. The kids were also keen on deciding everything on their own, more often than not ending up thinking about their own selves. Their teachers were left with a unique challenge; this was rather an ideal case where in spite of having different socio-economic statuses, leading different lives and with the limited resources available at home and at school, their thirst for self-development was just unstoppable. Over a period of time, and as foreseen by the teachers, each of them started losing out on opportunities to explore. The weak and the less resourceful gave way to the strong, and eventually, everyone s development stalled. After all, there was only so much they could do with the available resources. Now, let us try and replace the classroom with the world we live in, and the kids with all the countries in the world. It is not difficult to put every country in the each to their own club, albeit there is still a sense of common purpose left to be achieved. Issues like human rights, education, child rights, and climate change have found relevance for every country big or small. This global classroom, however, is still losing its kids to malnutrition, diseases, unemployment, inequality, socio-economic disparity, global warming and so on. So, before we talk about global development, let us take a step back and look at ourselves. We have struggled to have barely realized the millennium development goals, falling short of aid, effectiveness, and most importantly, cooperation among ourselves. Today, six million children die before their fifth birthday. AIDS is still the leading cause of death among adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are yet to manage our natural resources well, disposing toxic waste more efficiently. And, more importantly, even after being aware of this stark reality, we are still stuck with the typical socio-economic and environmental approaches to development, mostly unwilling to go beyond our silos. It is time to undertake a people-centered approach involving multiple stakeholders. It is time to pave way for sustained global development cooperation to take place and we need to make it happen now. UNDP, as the scorekeeper for all the UN development activities at the country level, is directly looking into and is responsible for the implementation of the 2030 sustainable development agenda.

3 Consider the forthcoming simulation of the council as your own classroom to bring about a positive change that can see, not just the strong, but every kid realizing his or her full potential. You are going to deliberate on issues of good health and well being, focusing strongly on the larger umbrellas of poverty and hunger, affordable and clean energy, responsible consumption and production, and climate action, aiming to achieve environmental sustainability. We, the UNDP, have been termed as the most transparent organization in the world by International Aid Transparency Index in the year We are also the only development agency with a specific mandate to promote democratic governance at the country level. And, most importantly, we have learnt from our past, creating a more realistic than an ambitious development plan for the world to realize. As your President, it is an honour to welcome you all to the forthcoming session of the UNDP at PRESIDUM MUN I will be joined by my co-executive board members Prashant, as the Vice-President, and Shivam as the Substantive Director. I may be directly reached at shivangraina@gmail.com for any and every query. We will soon be updating you with more updates on the agenda, but the topic is for each one of you to explore, read and internalize. Thank you very much and looking forward to learning from you! Best Regards, Shivang Raina President, UNDP PMUN 2016

4 Leaving no one behind This was the theme for the first meeting of the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development since the adoption of the UN 2030 Agenda. The forum took place recently from the 11 th till the 20 th of July at the UN Headquarters in New York and brought to the fore, national reviews of 22 countries from across the world. Almost seven months have passed by since the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development came into force on the 1 st of January Last year, in the month of September 2015, 193 countries came together 1 to agree on the new sustainable development goals. This was a historic move. The global nature of the goals also paved way for a greater partnership to set in between the countries. You may have read - about thirty years ago, the international community came together to deal with the challenge of the growing hole in the ozone layer. The result was the Montreal Protocol and the phasing out of ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Today, the ozone layer is on track to recovery and is supposed to be healed by mid-century. There is power in collective action and it is the same will which is resonated in SDG 17 a parent goal which seeks to promote and manage partnerships between multiplestakeholders to achieve the remaining 16 goals. But, having all countries of the world on board is only the beginning. Sustainable development requires participation and cooperation between governments, the private sector and civil society. How will the Sustainable Development Goals be implemented? Before answering this question, let s go back to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development. 2 Now, this one was one significant conference which laid down foundation for the three pronged approach of the SDGs. To quote from the action plan - Achieving an ambitious post-2015 development agenda, including all the SDGs, will require an equally ambitious, comprehensive, holistic, and transformative approach with respect to the means of implementation, combining different means of implementation and integrating the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. 1 (GA Resolution 70/1) 2 Outcome-Document-7-July-2015.pdf

5 This still holds true, except that one more crucial dimension has been added to the approach - one that of multiple stakeholders. People are now at the centre of this sustainable development debate. The year 1992 saw the first United Nations Conference on Environment and Development - known as the Earth Summit. 3 The summit recognized, what was later reaffirmed at the Rio+20 Conference that achieving sustainable development would require the active participation of all sectors of society and all types of people. These major groups of society were divided into the following: Women Children and Youth Indigenous Peoples Non-Governmental Organizations Local Authorities Workers and Trade Unions Business and Industry Scientific and Technological Community Farmers Today, the modalities of participation of these major groups is contingent on the member states, however, their engagement in intergovernmental processes is also dependent on the particular sustainable development goal under deliberation. 3

Our focus, in the forthcoming session of the UNDP would be on the following four SDGs: Goal 3 Good health and well-being 4 Ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being for all at all ages is

6 Our focus, in the forthcoming session of the UNDP would be on the following four SDGs: Goal 3 Good health and well-being 4 Ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being for all at all ages is essential to sustainable development. Significant strides have been made in increasing life expectancy and reducing some of the common killers associated with child and maternal mortality. Major progress has been made on increasing access to clean water and sanitation, reducing malaria, tuberculosis, polio and the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, many more efforts are needed to fully eradicate a wide range of diseases and address many different persistent and emerging health issues. 4

Sustainable energy is opportunity it transforms lives, economies and the planet.

7 Goal 7 Affordable and clean energy 5 Energy is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity the world faces today. Be it for jobs, security, climate change, food production or increasing incomes, access to energy for all is essential. Sustainable energy is opportunity it transforms lives, economies and the planet. Goal 12 Responsible consumption and production

Sustainable consumption and production aims at doing more and better with less, increasing net welfare gains from economic activities by reducing resource use, degradation and pollution along the

8 Sustainable consumption and production aims at doing more and better with less, increasing net welfare gains from economic activities by reducing resource use, degradation and pollution along the whole lifecycle, while increasing quality of life. It involves different stakeholders, including business, consumers, policy makers, researchers, scientists, retailers, media, and development cooperation agencies, among others. It also requires a systemic approach and cooperation among actors operating in the supply chain, from producer to final consumer. It involves engaging consumers through awareness-raising and education on sustainable consumption and lifestyles, providing consumers with adequate information through standards and labels and engaging in sustainable public procurement, among others. Goal 13 Climate action 7 People are experiencing the significant impacts of climate change, which include changing weather patterns, rising sea level, and more extreme weather events. The greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are driving climate change and continue to rise. They are now at their highest levels in history. Without action, the world s average surface temperature is projected to rise over the 21st century and is likely to surpass 3 degrees Celsius this century with some areas of the world expected to warm even more. The poorest and most vulnerable people are being affected the most. Affordable, scalable solutions are now available to enable countries to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient economies. The pace of change is quickening as more people 7

9 are turning to renewable energy and a range of other measures that will reduce emissions and increase adaptation efforts. But climate change is a global challenge that does not respect national borders. Emissions anywhere affect people everywhere. It is an issue that requires solutions that need to be coordinated at the international level and it requires international cooperation to help developing countries move toward a low-carbon economy. Of course, apart from these four goals, SDG 17 is what we are set out to exercise going beyond our silos and ensuring global development cooperation, that is. In GA resolution 70/1, it is mentioned that the revitalized global partnership will endeavour to deliver the means of implementation through domestic public resources, domestic and international private business and finance, international development cooperation, international trade as an engine for development, debt and debt sustainability, addressing systemic issues and science, technology, innovation and capacity building, and data, monitoring and follow-up. So important are these means of implementation to the agenda that it forms the basis for SDG 17 and its supporting targets. The Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators 8 is responsible for creating the framework and indicators for the follow up and review of the SDGs at a national level. These indicators were agreed on by the UN Statistical Commission earlier in March and have been adopted thereafter by the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly, in line with existing mandates. At this point, you may be interested to explore the global database of the SDG indicators, a unique data series that was complied through the UN System in preparation for the Secretary-General's annual report on "Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals". 10 This data series presents a microscopic view of the specific data indicators up till year 2015 and the endeavour is to keep developing it in the years to come, maintaining a comprehensive list of indicators to refer to for policy and dialogue oriented discussions on the topic. What is the MAPS approach and how is it going to help? The United Nations Development Group (UNDG) under its Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) has adopted a common approach for an effective implementation

10 support, under the acronym MAPS. MAPS stands for Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support. It focusses on policy coherence and multi-stakeholder engagement, paying special attention to the crosscutting elements of partnerships, data and accountability. In the months to follow, you as the member state will help the MAPS approach to include your respective national reporting framework in the documentation and implementation of the 2030 agenda. As per the Interim Reference Guide to the UN Country Teams 11 by the UNDG, there are also eight implementation guidance areas for step-wise, country level implementation to take place. These areas serve to assist governments and stakeholders in landing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the national, sub-national and local levels Guide-to-UNCTs-7-October-2015.pdf

11 As one of your next steps toward undertaking a pro-active approach before the forthcoming session of the UNDP in early August, you must formulate country specific reports and analysis based on these following guidance areas:

12 At the very end of this update from the executive board of the UNDP, Presidum MUN 2016, we would like you to reflect on the following pointers as trigger points for discussion: Economic growth is not equal to shared prosperity. Rural development is an indispensable part of the structural transformation. What will be the role of Global Environment Facility (GEF) in mainstreaming environmental concerns into development efforts? (Do look into something called Vetrtical Funds). This is also mentioned in the committee mandate on Presidum MUN s UNDP s official website. 12 For any clarification, feel free to write to us: Shivang Raina, Chairperson, UNDP shivangraina@gmail.com Prashant Rao, Vice-President, UNDP prashantrao008@gmail.com Shivam Gupta, Substantive Director, UNDP - 3guptashivam@gmail.com ---END

Excellency s, ladies and gentlemen. I am glad to have the opportunity to address you today, if only via video.

Excellency s, ladies and gentlemen. I am glad to have the opportunity to address you today, if only via video. Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Special Advisor on Post 2015 Development Planning ------------ The 17th session of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development Opening Remarks Excellency s, ladies