Sustainable Development is a High Priority for the UN

Earlier this year the UN High-Level Panel Global Sustainability released its report in Addis Ababa. The 99-page report is titled “Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing.” This document was created for the Rio+20 Summit, it offers cogent analysis and ways of moving sustainable development forward. The long-term vision of the Panel is to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality and make growth inclusive, and production and consumption more sustainable, while combating climate change and respecting a range of other planetary boundaries. The report makes a range of recommendations to realize the Panel’s vision for a sustainable planet, a just society and a growing economy.

The High-level Panel on Global Sustainability argues that by making transparent both the cost of action and the cost of inaction, political processes can summon both the arguments and the political will necessary to act for a sustainable future.

The panel's review includes the following observations:

27 per cent of the world’s population lives in absolute poverty (down from 46 per cent in 1990)
Global economic growth is up 75 per cent since 1992 but inequality is still high
An increase of 20 million undernourished people since 2000
5.2 million hectares net forest loss per year
Ozone layer will recover to pre-1980 levels in 50 years plus
Two thirds of the services provided by nature to humankind are in decline
85 per cent of all fish stocks are over-exploited, depleted, recovering or fully exploited
38 per cent increase in annual global carbon dioxide emissions between 1990 and 2009
20 per cent of the world’s population lack access to electricity
884 million people lack access to clean water
2.6 billion people are without access to basic sanitation
67 million children of primary school age are out of school
3.5-year increase in life expectancy between 1990 and 2010

The panel indicates that much more needs to be done, “the progress towards sustainable development to date has been neither fast nor deep enough, and the urgency of further-reaching action is growing all the time. But…major changes are already in train in the larger, global context — changes that will have far-reaching implications for sustainable development.”

The panel’s 56 recommendations were grouped into 15 categories which included:

Delivering fundamentals Education and skills for sustainable development
Creating employment opportunities
Managing resources and enabling a twenty-first-century green revolution
Building resilience Incorporating social and environmental costs: regulation and pricing to reflect externalities Creating an incentive road map that increasingly values long-term objectives
Establishing a common framework for measuring progress
Coherence and accountability at all levels (local, national, regional, global)
Strengthening international governance for sustainable development

Some specific recommendations include:

Phasing out all fossil fuel subsidies by 2020
Establish a global education fund
New economic sustainability indicators replacing GDP Guidance for public and private investment and consumption towards better sustainability values
Ensure affordable electricity to all by 2030
Establish an ever-green agricultural revolution creation of regional oceans and coastal management bodies that protect world fisheries
Enable young people’s participation in and influence on decision-making processes