MESSAGE FOR UNEA Bring back the environmental dimension in the SDGs! From an environmental point of view, following the process of the Open Working Group in their definition of future Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), it is clear that the environmental dimension is getting weaker and being overruled by short term economic interest. It is therefore essential that all stakeholders concerned with the environment, whether governmental or non-governmental, raise their voices and advocate for environmental protection, sustainable management of natural resources, respect for planetary boundaries, and environmental centered development. •
“Sustained growth” as repeatedly advocated in The Future We Want and in the zero draft of the OWG, is not compatible with genuinely sustainable development, and should never be a goal as such. Establishing fair and sustainable economies should rather be the main objective.
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Planetary boundaries are not considered in the zero draft. This is regrettable, unacceptable, and flies in the face of science.
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Sustainable consumption and production needs to maintain a stand-alone goal and integrated in all other goals, and certainly cannot be limited to climate change actions only.
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There is an urgent need for absolute decoupling of use of natural resources and economic well being1. Where necessary caps and quotas have to be put in place.
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We urge UNEP to play a stronger role in the SDG negotiations, and stress their core business, namely “Protection of the environment”. UNEP has all the expertise, trust and mandate to do this.
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We also ask UNEP to integrate the existing goals and targets contained in the many MEAs into the list of targets of the SDGs, to guarantee the principle of no-regression.
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We are happy to see the work done by UNEP on the rule of law, and support the idea to make environmental damage a crime and make private sector and governments accountable in case of damaging the environment. A true rule of law requires robust and strong enforcement mechanisms what is not mentioned in the Zero Draft for the SDGs.
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see report of the International Resource Panel: “Decoupling 2” http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/Portals/24102/PDFs/IRP_DECOUPLING_2_REPORT.pdf