In addition to Prof. Dan Banik, Prof. Sidsel Roalkvam and Ms. Lise Bjerke from the Centre for Development and the Environment, attended various official sessions and side-events at the HLPF.
The overarching theme of the HLPF this year was “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality” and 51 countries presented their Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) that documented progress and challenges in relation to achieving the SDGs. In particular, 6 SDGs were under in-depth review this year: SDGs 4, 8, 10, 13, 16, 17.
Key messages (from the report by the President of the Economic and Social Council) from the 2019 HLPF included the following. Detailed report can be found here.
(a) The international community is not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. A deeper, more ambitious, transformative and integrated response is urgently needed;
(b) The 2030 Agenda and the Goals remain the best road map for overcoming the challenges to ending poverty and achieving sustainable development. The international community must move out of its comfort zone to pursue new ways of collective action at a much swifter pace;
(c) Ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all is critical for achieving the 2030 Agenda. Platforms for cooperation, new partnerships, more support for teachers and increased investment in universal quality education and lifelong learning are imperative;
(d) Decent work and economic growth are dynamically interlinked with the Goals and are a means for achieving the 2030 Agenda. New technologies such as artificial intelligence, automation and robotics offer new challenges and opportunities in this area. Special efforts are needed to integrate youth, women and vulnerable groups into the labour market
(e) Inequality between and within countries remains a major obstacle to the achievement of the Goals and inaction in this area risks derailing progress on the 2030 Agenda. Effective polices to reduce inequalities require partnerships and political will;
(f) Progress on combatting climate change and its impacts is falling far short of what is needed. Achieving Goal 13 is still within reach, but the implementation of existing commitments needs to be accelerated and the level of ambition raised substantially;
(g) Peace, justice, and transparent, effective, inclusive and accountable institutions, as well as safe civic spaces, are critical to advancing all of the Goals. This demands responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. Efforts are also needed to improve data in this area;
(h) Substantial gaps remain for financing the Goals. National resource mobilization is needed, including through an enabling environment for private investment, strengthening tax administrations and addressing illicit financial flows. Integrated national financing frameworks can support countries addressing financing challenges. Significant resources can also be mobilized at the regional level;
(i) The Goals must be more systematically incorporated in plans and policies, with a focus on prioritization and the acceleration of progress through interventions that have potential multiplier effects;
(j) Partnerships and international cooperation are fundamental in supporting small island developing States to achieve their sustainable development goals, notably on health and education;
(k) Development strategies in least developed countries and landlocked developing countries must target goals beyond economic growth and encompass aspects related to inclusiveness, equality, universal social services, resilience to climate change and adequate financing;
(l) Investment in data and capacity is needed for adequate measurements to inform policies that ensure no one is left behind;
(m) Strengthening the role of non-State actors is vital to the achievement of the Goals. Meaningful stakeholder engagement should include broad, inclusive consultations and the establishment of formal mechanisms for sustained stakeholder engagement in the implementation of the Goals and in preparations for and discussions of voluntary national reviews at the high-level political forum on sustainable development;
(n) Young people should be involved in all their diversity in decision-making, shaping policies from design to implementation, monitoring and review. The 2030 Agenda is the agenda of the young generation and can be achieved through intergenerational partnerships;
(o) Science can guide Governments in shaping policies that address the interactions among the Goals – the co-benefits and the difficult trade-offs – in a way that will spur positive systemic transformations. The Global Sustainable Development Report is an important tool to inform policymakers;
(p) Member States welcomed the high-level political forum on sustainable development under the auspices of the General Assembly, to be held in September 2019, as an opportunity to accelerate action for the Goals They indicated that an ambitious decade of action will ensure a new trajectory for achievement of the Goals.
Full report here.