In September 2015, the global community will agree upon a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This process is one of the main outcomes of the Rio+20 Conference where UN member states agreed to launch a process to develop a set of SDGs, which will build on the Millennium Development Goals and frame the post-2015 development agenda.
Implementation of the SDGs at the national level will require a sound monitoring framework and an active involvement of relevant actors at the national level from ministries and general statistic offices. The Asia-Europe Environment Forum (ENVforum) contributed to the knowledge exchange critical for successful SDG implementation by organising a briefing on SDGs entitled, “How will Countries in Asia Monitor Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? National Capacity in Means of Implementation” on 20 July 2015 in New York City.
The main objective of this briefing was to bring national perspectives on plausible monitoring frameworks based on individual country experiences, as well as to provide an overview of international challenges related to international coordination of the implementation. This event was co-hosted by the Hungarian and Vietnamese Permanent Missions to the United Nations, and was organised as a side-event to the second round of Post-2015 intergovernmental negotiations on the outcome document of the UN Summit for Adoption of Post-2015 Development Agenda.
The session was divided into two sections. The first was dedicated to national perspectives on what countries will need to do to implement the SDGs. This was followed by a facilitated discussion with experts on what needs to be done to enable effective implementation of the SDGs monitoring framework in their countries, what practical actions can be taken in the short run, and how the international community should assist in this process.
National perspectives drew from recently conducted research on Poland and Viet Nam’s readiness in implementing sustainable development goals (attached on the right-hand bar of this page). These national research case studies are a follow up of the ENVforum’s initial research on creating SDGs and framework methodology (published in Sustainable Development Goals and Indicators for a Small Planet, Part I: Methodology and Goal Framework) and indicators to measure progress in achieving SDGs (published in Sustainable Development Goals and Indicators for a Small Planet, Part II: Measuring Sustainability).
To watch the UN Web TV recording of the event, please click here.
Briefing Programme
1:00 PM Registration and Light lunch served adjacent to the Vienna Café
1:15 – 1:30 PM
Opening remarks
H.E. Mr. ZHANG Yan, Executive Director, Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF)
H.E. Dr. Zsolt HETESY, Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Hungary to the United Nations
1:30 – 1:45 PM
Keynote Briefing on Means of Implementation for SDGs
H.E. Mr. WU Hongbo, Ambassador, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs
1:45 – 2:45 PM
National Readiness for SDGs Implementation
Viet Nam perspective
Mr. DO Hung Viet, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to the United Nations
Poland perspective
Dr. Andrzej KASSENBERG, President of the Institute for the Sustainable Development, Poland
Panel Discussion
Mr. Stefan SCHWEINFEST, Director, United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD)
Dr. Lisa Grace S. BERSALES, National Statistician and Civil Registrar General, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Co-chair of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs)
Dr. Laszlo PINTER, Senior Fellow, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) & Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University (CEU)
