Luxembourg's development cooperation - Annual report 2012

The conception of a strategy to replace the MDGs in 2015 was therefore accelerated by the United Nations in 2012. A task team was put in place by Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, which brought together 60 UN agencies, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund with the aim of providing a clearer definition of the post-2015 development strategy. In June 2012 this task team published the “Creating the future we want for everyone” report highlighting the main challenges for the post-2015 agenda. The report declared that globalisation, despite its advantages for some, is currently a process that reinforces global disparities. For this reason, the report recommended transforming globalisation into “a force of opportunities for the whole world”. To reach this objective, the report emphasised the imperative need for us to change our consumption and production patterns, as well as the ways we use energy resources and raw materials. Furthermore, the task force provided recommendations for orienting the post-2015 agenda:

• the vision of a post-2015 agenda should be based on the fundamental principles of human rights, equality and sustainability;
• the post-2015 agenda should include precise objectives and targets related to four specific dimensions, namely, social development, inclusive economic development, environmental sustainability and peace and the security;
• policy coherence is essential for achieving the objectives defined by the post-2015 agenda;
• the post-2015 agenda should be seen as a universal agenda according to which all countries must share responsibility for development.

The report’s recommendations served as the basis for the high-level working group created by Ban Ki-moon to shape the debate on the post-2015 agenda. This new working group, chaired by David Cameron, Ellen Sirleaf Johnson and Susilo Bambang, includes 27 leaders from civil society, the private sector and government from various parts of the world. It submitted a report with more concrete recommendations to Ban Ki-moon on 30 May 2013.

This consultation and preparation process of the post-2015 agenda is closely linked to the debate on the objectives of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), arising from preparations for the conference on sustainable development held in Rio de Janeiro from 20 to 22 June 2012.

The “Rio+20” summit brought together 192 Member States of the United Nations, along with actors from civil society and representatives from the private economic sector, with the intention of ensuring a renewed policy commitment for sustainable development, evaluating the progress in implementing the recommendations of the major summits on sustainable development, and identifying new and emerging challenges. Two main themes were chosen: the green economy and the institutional framework for sustainable development. The idea of adopting sustainable development goals was added to the debate during the preparatory phase.

The conference resulted in the adoption of a policy document on sustainable development entitled “The Future We Want”. This document reaffirmed the United Nations’ commitment to working towards the MDGs as stated in the Millennium Declaration, but indicated that the SDGs needed to take the balance between the three ecological, economic and social pillars of sustainable development into greater account. The SDGs also differ from the MDGs in their universal nature: whereas the MDGs were conceived for developing countries, the SDGs are universally applicable. They will cover different areas such as food security, universal access to energy, oceans, forests and sustainable cities, integrated water management, access to employment and decent jobs, and sustainable production and consumption.