By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN (IDN) – Strategies to support and protect civil society to engage in the implementation and monitoring of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were the centerpiece of discussions at a conference in Berlin.

Jeffery Huffines, UN Representative of CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation, questioned the extent of civil society engagement in preparation of the first set of voluntary national reviews to be presented at the High-level Political Forum (HPLF) on Sustainable Development July 11-20. He stressed the 2030 Agenda’s participation rights should be used to open up spaces for civil society at the regional and national levels. 

HPLF is UN’s central platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on September 26, 2015.…

By J. Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and how it relates to indigenous peoples, will feature prominently in discussions at the fifteenth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

The Forum will also focus on issues of peace and conflict, often relating to indigenous peoples’ lands, territories and resources and to their rights and distinct identities. More than 1,000 indigenous participants from all regions of the world are attending the gathering at United Nations Headquarters in New York from May 9 to 20.

“Since its establishment, the Permanent Forum has expressed great concern over the continuation of conflicts affecting indigenous peoples in different parts of the world,” said Alvaro Pop, the incoming Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

“We want to draw attention to the particular challenges faced by indigenous peoples in conflict, and the important contributions that indigenous peoples and their traditions and practices can make …

Analysis by J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Group of 77 and China, representing 134 members from developing countries, has expressed “disappointment” at the outcome document emerging from the three-day United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up – FfD Forum – at UN Headquarters in New York.

Underlining the importance of the Forum, G77 and China Chair Virachai Plasai, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Thailand, explained that the developing countries’ fates “still heavily depend on how to meet the financing gap in order to achieve the goal to end poverty and hunger, as well as Sustainable Development Goals in its three dimensions”.

However, the FfD Forum is not only essential to developing countries but also to the overall global community since it takes stock of the implementation of Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), which is an integral part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and supports as well as complements the …

By International Press Syndicate

NEW YORK (IDN) – Asia-Pacific countries have reaffirmed the importance of a regional action-oriented follow-up plan for financing the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development at a high-level event organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

The event was co-organised with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Republic of Korea on the sidelines of the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development from April 18 to 20 in New York.

It provided a platform for discussion on innovative financing source modalities and priorities in Asia and the Pacific for implementation of the 2030 Agenda. It also considered key regional issues with special reference to the least developed countries, landlocked developed countries, and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).…