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SUSTAINABLE
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Mother Pelican
PelicanWeb's Journal of Sustainable Development

Vol. 6, No. 9, Rev. 1, September 2010
Luis T. Gutierrez, Editor
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The United Nations MDG Review Summit
(20-22 September 2010)

SUMMARY & OUTLINE

This issue is about the United Nations MDG Review Summit to be held 20-22 September 2010 in New York. The UN Secretary-General has made a formal invitation to all nations to participate in this summit on the MDGs. Gender equality is one of the goals (MDG3), and one that is generating much resistance from some institutions, both secular and religious.

The patriarchal mindset still prevails worldwide, and radically so in some institutions. Resistance to MDG3 may be the best case example of the nefarious influence of patriarchal institutions on sustainable development and other significant issues of social and environmental justice. Full partnership between men and women is a prerequisite for sustainable human development.

It is anticipated that MDG8 -- creating a global partnership for development -- will be another hot topic for discussion. At the moment, there is stagnation in generating the international political will required for making significant progress toward the 2015 targets. The future of sustainable development worldwide hinges on the success of this summit.

Planning information and some of the working documents are already online at the UN MDG summit web site. This issue provides a roadmap of this online documentation, with emphasis on opportunities for participation. The outline for page 1 is as follows:

1. The UN MDG Review Summit
2. Review of the "Keeping the Promise" Report
3. Opportunities for Collaboration/Participation
4. Key References and Workings Documents
5. Planned MDG Summit Meeting Agenda
This issue includes updates of the three monthly supplements:

Supplement 1: Advances in Sustainable Development, is a monthly snapshot of significant recent contributions to in-depth understanding of the sustainable development process in general and integral human development in particular. This supplement includes the following items:

1. Suggestions for Prayer, Study, and Action
2. News, Publications, Tools, and Conferences
3. Advances in Sustainable Development
4. Advances in Integral Human Development
5. Advances in Integrated Sustainable Development
6. Recently Launched Games and Simulation Tools
7. Visualizations of the Sustainable Development Process
8. Sustainable Development Modeling and Simulation
9. Sustainable Development and the International Community

Supplement 2: Directory of Sustainable Development Resources is an annotated directory of online resources on sustainable development and related issues. Links are provided to selected online content in the following categories:

1. Population and Human Development
2. Cultural, Social, and Security Issues
3. Financial, Economic, and Political Issues
4. Ecological Resources and Ecosystem Services
5. Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy Sources
6. Pollution, Climate Change, and Environmental Management
7. Land, Agriculture, Food Supply, and Water Supply
8. Current Outlook for the Planet and Human Civilization
9. Transition from Consumerism to Sustainability

Supplement 3: Sustainable Development Simulation (SDSIM) - General Description is a preliminary draft of the user's guide for SDSIM Version 1, organized as follows:

1. The Sustainable Development Paradox
2. Sustainable Development Simulation Scenarios
3. SDSIM Version 1 Causal Loop Diagram
4. SDSIM Version 1 Detailed Model Diagram
5. SDSIM Version 1 Model Formulation & Documentation
6. SDSIM Version 1 Model User Interface
7. SDSIM Version 1 Simulation Experiments
8. SDSIM Version 1 Simulation Analysis & Synthesis
9. SDSIM Version 1 Limitations & Planned Extensions

This issue also includes the following invited papers:

A Presidential Declaration of Independence from Wall Street, By David Korten (page 2).
Seizing the Moment for Clean Energy, by Ann Florini (page 3)
Towards a New Economy and a New Politics, by Gus Speth (page 4)


1. The UN MDG Review Summit

mdgsummitbanner

The UN MDG Summit Web Site is the one stop web site to visit for information about the summit meeting to be held 20-22 September 2010 in New York. The eight MDGs remain the same, and the 2015 targets are not moving, but the world has changed a lot since the Millennium Declaration was approved by the General Assembly in 2000.

For the FAQ on the 2010 MDG Review Summit, click here. For the latest data on MDG indicators, click here. The left-hand side column of the UN MDG Summit Web Site provides links to all the pertinent MDG references and planning documentation for the September 2010 summit meeting. Clicking on Get Involved! leads to a page with 16 links to web sites on opportunities to contribute (time, talent, treasure) to the MDGs. The right-hand side column provides links to the General Assembly Interactive Sessions in Preparation for the MDG Summit, and the Informal Interactive Hearings of the General Assembly with Non-governmental organizations, Civil society organizations and the Private sector in preparation for the summit meeting, as well as examples of MDG success stories and videos of recent MDG-related events.


2. Review of the "Keeping the Promise" Report

The document Keeping the promise: a forward-looking review to promote an agreed action agenda to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, dated 12 February 2010, is the fundamental point of reference for the MDG summit meeting.

"Our challenge today is to agree on an action agenda to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. With five years to go to the target date of 2015, the prospect of falling short of achieving the Goals because of a lack of commitment is very real. This would be an unacceptable failure from both the moral and the practical standpoint. If we fail, the dangers in the world — instability, violence, epidemic diseases, environmental degradation, runaway population growth — will all be multiplied." Keeping the promise: a forward-looking review to promote an agreed action agenda to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 12 February 2010, section 4.

In the August 2010 issue of this journal, a few recommendations were offered pursuant to facing this challenge. These recommendations are structured around the "guiding principles" proposed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Keeping the Promise.

Something to keep in mind ....

"Gender equality is the biggest development multiplier, known to work everywhere."
Navi Pillay, Gulf News, 3 August 2010.

Also to keep in mind ....

IT IS MORALLY WRONG FOR RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS TO SABOTAGE THE PROMOTION OF GENDER EQUALITY IN ORDER TO PERPETUATE PATRIARCHAL STRUCTURES ROOTED IN NOTHING BUT PRIMITIVE THINKING .... SUCH AS, FOR EXAMPLE:
RULES MADE BY HUMAN HANDS TO ENSURE MALE DOMINATION OF WOMEN
shariawomen241x196
Source: Author Unknown
TRUE RELIGION IS NOT ABUSIVE
RULES MADE BY HUMAN HANDS TO EXCLUDE WOMEN FROM ROLES OF RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY
papalapology295x198
Source: Papal Apology
TRUE RELIGION IS NOT EXCLUSIVIST
WOMEN'S DEVELOPMENT IS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

NB: These cartoons are about radical/fundamentalist/authoritarian misogyny in both the Islamic and Christian traditions, not about common Muslims or common Christians. Both cartoons pertain to institutionalized religious misogyny, which is now recognized as intrinsically evil regardless of institutional setting and/or socio-cultural repercussions. The juxtaposition of cartoons is intended as an stimulant for conversation about the intersection of institutional religion and misogyny. Specifically, it is not intended to be offensive to either Muslims or Roman Catholic Christians, but a bold challenge to both and all other religious institutions in which misogyny is still normative.


3. Opportunities for Collaboration/Participation

PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE UN COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) seeks to form partnerships with voluntary multi-stakeholder initiatives contributing to the implementation of Agenda 21, Rio+5 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI). These partnerships are a precursor for MDG8 - a global partnership for development. The following graph shows the newly registered partnerships from 2005 to 2009:

CSDPARTNERSHIPS20052009

The red line is the cumulative number of partnerships registered during the 2005-2009 time window. The blue line is the number of new partnerships registered each year during the same time window. It is evident that the number of registered partnerships is increasing decreasingly, especially after the 2008 financial crisis. It is hard to see how MDG8 can materialize if such collaborative stagnation continues. Sustainable development projects/initiatives willing to engage in collaborative work with the UN CSD can register here.

Before, during, and after the MDG Review Summit, there are several additional options for collaboration/participation:

KEEPING THE PROMISE – UNITED TO ACHIEVE THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

On 7 June the UN General Assembly met to discuss the "zero draft" of the Summit outcome document prepared by the co-facilitators. If you have any comments, you can send them via email to inquiries2@un.org. Or, you may prefer to channel your contribution by sending email to the UN Information Center (UNIC) in your own country, or to your country's Mission to the United Nations.
THE MDGs AT 10 AND CIVIL SOCIETY
The themes of the consultation are the following:
  • Theme 1: Why are we so far behind in key areas?
  • Theme 2: Emerging issues and challenges
  • Theme 3: Proposals to accelerate progress
  • Theme 4: An action- and accountability-oriented agenda for all stakeholders
If you have a substantive input to contribute, send it via email to the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service, an inter-agency programme of the UN mandated to promote and develop constructive relations between the United Nations and civil society. Email addresses: ngls@un.org (New York office) or ngls@unctad.org (Geneva office).
THE UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT GROUPS
There are a number of development-related (and specifically MDG-related) working groups and forums/listservs managed by the UN Development Group. For instance, there is the MDGNet group, and to participate you must sign up at the UN Development Group web site or send an e-mail to mdg-net@groups.undp.org.
OTHER WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
The OTHER WAYS TO GET INVOLVED web site provides a list of other possibilities to collaborate with the MDGs summit and subsequent MDG activity.
COMMUNICATING WITH THE UN
CoNGO, the NGO Working Group on UN Access was created to address ongoing concerns about increasing restrictions on NGO access – physical and political – to the UN. Your concrete examples of access issues are imperative to the success of the work of the Working Group. You are thus invited to submit such to access@ngocongo.org
However, the United Nations cannot operate in a vacuum. During this month of September 2010, let us take time to send letters to government officials, the news media, national and transnational corporations, universities, research institutions, religious institutions, professional societies, and all who are in secular or religious leadership positions, requesting their support for the Millennium Development Goals.


4. Key References and Workings Documents

MDG-related reference documents and data:

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UN 2000-2009.
MDG Progress Chart 2009, UNDP 2009.
MDG GAP Task Force Report 2009, UNDP 2009.
Millennium Development Goals Report 2009, UNDP 2009.
Millennium Development Goals Indicators Database, UN STATS, 2009.
MDGInfo and MDG Data Wizard, DevInfo, 2009.
Millennium Development Goals. This directory of links by the National Peace Corps Association is adapted from The Millennium Development Goals: A Report Card for the World, by Joanne Dufour, November 15, 2009.
Poverty in Focus - The MDGs and beyond: Pro-Poor Policy in a Changing World, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG), UNDP, Brasilia, January 2010.
MDG Summit Fact Sheet, UN March 2010.
MDGs at a Glance, UN March 2010.
Women’s Human Rights and Development: Inclusion, Participation, and Equality, Outcome Document of CSDF 2010, May 2010.
Database on the Financial and Economic Crisis, CoNGO, Geneva, 2 June 2010.
Social institutions and gender inequality: The missing link to achieving the Millennium Development Goals?, Karen Barnes, OECD, 1 July 2010.
UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), UN General Assembly, 2 July 2010.
Making the Millennium Development Goals Happen, UN Foundation and Devex, 2010.
MDG Good Practices, UNDG, 2010.
FAQ About the UN MDG Summit, UNDP, 2010.
Mobilising Towards The World We Want: Five Point Action Plan for the Millennium Development Goals Review Summit September 2010, White Band, 2010.
New basis for UN Goals, Navi Pillay, Gulf News, 3 August 2010.
Former Chilean president to head new high-profile UN women’s agency, UN News Service, 14 September 2010.
Working documents for the MDG summit as of 1 September 2010:
Millennium Declaration, United Nations, 2000.
Official list of MDG indicators after the 2007 revision, effective January 2008, United Nations, November 2007.
Preparing the Summit, Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future, 22-24 October 2009.
Keeping the promise: a forward-looking review to promote an agreed action agenda to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 12 February 2010.
Global Civil Society Consultation for the MDG+10 Summit, UN March 2010.
2010 High-level Plenary Meeting Modalities Resolution, UN NGLS, 14 March 2010.
Summary of MDG Targets and Indicators, UN March 2010.
The MDGs at 10 and Civil Society, UN March 2010.
KEEPING THE PROMISE – UNITED TO ACHIEVE THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, "Zero Draft" of the Summit outcome document, dated 31 May 2010.
Report and Executive Summary of the Global Civil Society Consultation for the MDG+10 Summit, UN NGLS, June 2010.
What Will It Take to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals? – An International Assessment, UNDP, June 2010.
Ban Ki-Moon urged to take new approach ahead of key development summit, Letter by 170 Organizations, 13 July 2010.


5. Planned MDG Summit Meeting Agenda

As of 22 August 2010, the summit objective and planned agenda is as defined in the following web pages:

MDG Summit on 20-22 September 2010 in New York

High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly ("MDG Summit")

It is a good agenda. But is is hoped that the members of the U.N. General Assembly will be willing to face the fact that "business as usual" is no longer an option. It will take more than money. Surely, it will take more that the "phantom money" that is manufactured by Wall Street to keep the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. It will take a commitment to human solidarity and environmental sustainability; the kind of commitment that will lead to action and will not allow itself to be distracted by illusions and false hopes:

"If we look upstream for the ultimate cause of the economic crisis that is tearing so many lives apart, we find an illusion: the belief that money - a mere number created with a simple accounting entry that has no reality outside the human mind - is wealth."

David C. Korten, Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth,
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco, 2010.

We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today.
We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.
In this unfolding conundrum of life and history
there is such a thing as being too late.
Procrastination is still the thief of time...
We must move past indecision to action...Now let us begin.
Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter
-and beautiful- struggle for a new world.
This is the calling of the children of God,
And our brothers and sisters wait eagerly for our response.
Shall we say the odds are too great?
Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard?
... Or will there be another message,
of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearning,
of commitment to the cause, whatever the cost?
The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise
we must choose in this crucial moment in human history.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)



|Back to SUMMARY & OUTLINE|

|Back to SECTION 1|     |Back to SECTION 2|     |Back to SECTION 3|     |Back to SECTION 4|     |Back to SECTION 5|

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