Source: Xinhua, 10 August 2012
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Thursday announced the Sustainable Development Solutions Network to support the work of the post-2015 development planning in order to keep the momentum of spurring global development after 2015, the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which represent eight anti-poverty targets.
The new initiative includes the recently-launched High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said at a daily news briefing.
"This initiative will bring to the debate the voices of the academic and scientific community under the leadership of Professor Jeffrey Sachs, the special advisor on the Millennium Development Goals," Nesirky said.
The new project will begin work immediately, as the international community initiates preparations for a new development framework, UN officials said.
The Solutions Network will be directed by Sachs, director of the Earth Institute of Colombia University and special advisor to the UN secretary-general on the Millennium Development Goals, and will operate in close coordination with the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda announced by the UN last week.
"The post-2015 objectives will help the world to focus on the vital challenges of sustainable development, and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network will be an innovative way to draw upon worldwide expertise in the campuses, universities, scientific research centers and business technology divisions around the world," said the secretary-general.
The scale of the global sustainable development challenge is unprecedented. The fight against extreme poverty has made great progress under the MDGs since they were agreed at a UN Summit in 2000 with a target date of 2015, but more than one billion people continue to live in extreme poverty.
Inequality and social exclusion are widening within most countries. With the world at seven billion people and current annual GDP of 70 trillion U.S. dollars, human impacts on the environment have already reached dangerous levels. As the world population is estimated to rise to 9 billion by 2050 and global GDP to more than 250 trillion U.S. dollars, the world urgently needs a framework for sustainable development that addresses the challenges of ending poverty, increasing social inclusion and sustaining the planet.
Under the auspices of the secretary-general, the network will provide an independent global, open and inclusive process to support and scale up problem solving at local, national and global levels, UN officials said here.
"In the 20 years since the first Rio Earth Summit, the world has largely failed to address some of the most serious environmental and social problems pressing in on us," Sachs said. "We can't afford business as usual. We need to engage the academic and scientific community, and tap into worldwide technological know-how in the private sector and civil society, in order to develop and implement practical solutions."
On July 31, Ban announced the members of a High-level Panel to advise on the global development agenda beyond 2015, the target date for the MDGs.
The secretary-general has appointed three co-chairs: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom.
The Panel will hold its first meeting at the end of September in the margins of the annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly. It is expected to submit a report to the Secretary- General in the first half of 2013.
The Panel is part of the secretary-general's post-2015 initiative mandated by the 2010 MDG Summit. UN member states have called for open, inclusive consultations involving civil society, the private sector, academia and research institutions from all regions, in addition to the UN system, to advance the development agenda beyond 2015.
The eight MDGs, which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015, form a blueprint agreed to by all UN member states and all the world's leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world's poorest.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Thursday announced the Sustainable Development Solutions Network to support the work of the post-2015 development planning in order to keep the momentum of spurring global development after 2015, the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which represent eight anti-poverty targets.
The new initiative includes the recently-launched High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said at a daily news briefing.
"This initiative will bring to the debate the voices of the academic and scientific community under the leadership of Professor Jeffrey Sachs, the special advisor on the Millennium Development Goals," Nesirky said.
The new project will begin work immediately, as the international community initiates preparations for a new development framework, UN officials said.
The Solutions Network will be directed by Sachs, director of the Earth Institute of Colombia University and special advisor to the UN secretary-general on the Millennium Development Goals, and will operate in close coordination with the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda announced by the UN last week.
"The post-2015 objectives will help the world to focus on the vital challenges of sustainable development, and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network will be an innovative way to draw upon worldwide expertise in the campuses, universities, scientific research centers and business technology divisions around the world," said the secretary-general.
The scale of the global sustainable development challenge is unprecedented. The fight against extreme poverty has made great progress under the MDGs since they were agreed at a UN Summit in 2000 with a target date of 2015, but more than one billion people continue to live in extreme poverty.
Inequality and social exclusion are widening within most countries. With the world at seven billion people and current annual GDP of 70 trillion U.S. dollars, human impacts on the environment have already reached dangerous levels. As the world population is estimated to rise to 9 billion by 2050 and global GDP to more than 250 trillion U.S. dollars, the world urgently needs a framework for sustainable development that addresses the challenges of ending poverty, increasing social inclusion and sustaining the planet.
Under the auspices of the secretary-general, the network will provide an independent global, open and inclusive process to support and scale up problem solving at local, national and global levels, UN officials said here.
"In the 20 years since the first Rio Earth Summit, the world has largely failed to address some of the most serious environmental and social problems pressing in on us," Sachs said. "We can't afford business as usual. We need to engage the academic and scientific community, and tap into worldwide technological know-how in the private sector and civil society, in order to develop and implement practical solutions."
On July 31, Ban announced the members of a High-level Panel to advise on the global development agenda beyond 2015, the target date for the MDGs.
The secretary-general has appointed three co-chairs: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom.
The Panel will hold its first meeting at the end of September in the margins of the annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly. It is expected to submit a report to the Secretary- General in the first half of 2013.
The Panel is part of the secretary-general's post-2015 initiative mandated by the 2010 MDG Summit. UN member states have called for open, inclusive consultations involving civil society, the private sector, academia and research institutions from all regions, in addition to the UN system, to advance the development agenda beyond 2015.
The eight MDGs, which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015, form a blueprint agreed to by all UN member states and all the world's leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world's poorest.
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