Involving
diverse stakeholders: partnering for change
Ensuring
people’s participation: governance issues for meeting sustainability
challenges
Applying science and technology
for sustainable development
Energy the
underlying MDG
Health and
sanitation: a crucial determinant?
Agricultural
threats: coping and adaptation strategies
Involving diverse stakeholders:
partnering for change
Accomplishment of the goals laid down
by the world leaders would be a near impossibility if the world
were to continue on the business-as-usual path. Partnerships amongst
diverse stakeholders thus remain a key to attaining the MDGs. Partnerships
assumed a new dimension at the World Summit on Sustainable Development,
as a key to deliver implementation that was beyond the reach of
any single actor. Have these partnerships delivered or has the initial
euphoria about them died needs to be seen.
Ensuring people’s
participation: governance issues for meeting sustainability challenges
Investing in good governance is crucial
for attaining the MDGs. Facets of good governance – transparency,
rationality, accountability, and people’s participation –
remain imperative for meeting the sustainability challenges. At
the international level, ensuring regional co-operation, and furthering
technical, financial, and organizational support further remains
an important step in accomplishing the MDGs.
Applying science
and technology for sustainable development
Effective harnessing of existing and emerging
technologies can increase the likelihood of achieving the MDGs.
Access to new and emerging technologies requires technology transfer,
technical cooperation, and building scientific and technological
capacity to participate in development, adapting these technologies
to local conditions, and innovating at the government and enterprise
levels. Further policies and strategies at the national level are
needed to address development challenges and encourage the creation
and development of productive enterprises. It also requires a sound
governance mechanism that strikes a balance between the global public
goods nature of knowledge, the private goods nature of its application,
and the need for developing countries to overcome the knowledge
divide.
Energy the
underlying MDG
Though energy services are a ‘missing
MDG’, it is critical for meeting all the other goals. Energy
affects practically all aspects of social and economic development,
including livelihoods, water, agriculture, population, health, education,
and gender-related issues. Energy is thus central across all the
MDGs.
At Johannesburg, several global partnership submissions
for sustainable energy were registered. Most of these aimed at ensuring
access to modern energy services by the poor via support to action
plans for energy in development frameworks; capacity development
to expand the number and capabilities of rural enterprises; exchange
of information related to improved delivery of energy services;
and monitoring of progress on the impact of energy services on sustainable
development. How far have these partnerships and similar others
fared in terms of meeting the goals remains to be explored. How
has energy played a crucial role in attainment of the broader development
objectives would be deliberated upon in this session.
Health and
sanitation: a crucial determinant?
The goal of water and sanitation intrinsically
links up with many other MDGs and particularly has strong links
with poverty, hunger, health, and environmental sustainability.
1.1 billion people worldwide currently lack access to safe drinking
water and 2.4 billion do not have access to basic sanitation facilities.
Coverage of sanitation remains low in the investment priority in
most developing countries and this, in turn, has overwhelming impact
on health and human well-being. Well-targeted investments at providing
services to the poor and unserved can help meet the MDGs for water
and sanitation. At the WSSD, several partnerships were launched.
Have these partnerships addressed this crucial issue and is there
adequate support for strengthening public sector institutions, involving
community to seek solutions to this crucial issue?
Agricultural
threats: coping and adaptation strategies
The demand for food worldwide has increased
significantly over the past 50 years. Although the availability
has kept up with demand in many regions, there is new and stronger
evidence of various possible threats to agriculture in the future.
Poverty and hunger link up with environmental sustainability, as
agriculture is increasingly exposed to threats of climate and other
uncertainties. Agriculture will have to contend with decreasing
water availability, increasing threat of climate change and alongside
meet the increasing demand for food. In this context, it is imperative
to identify issues and opportunities that enhance the coping capacities
of communities particularly agriculture in dealing with current
climatic variability and other threats. The interlinkages among
hunger, poverty, demand for food, and evolving coping options in
agriculture will have to be understood.
[top]
|