Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals Research Articles

When Goals Collide: Politics of the MDGs and the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda

This paper examines problematic assumptions underpinning the MDG initiative and the draft post-2015 development agenda. Specifically, the paper argues that the latter’s seventeen goals and targets likely will lead to significant political problems, which will affect their prospects and their legitimacy. Engaging with the politics of disempowerment and exclusion, the paper contends that goals related to the strengthening of governance mechanisms have the potential to be used to justify disciplinary measures aimed at those struggling for fundamental entitlements, rights, and alternative approaches of development. To allow such an outcome, the author argues, would be tantamount to further entrenching a development framework that puts the promises of fundamental entitlements continuously out of reach.

Can post-2015 sustainable development goals survive neoliberalism? A critical examination of the sustainable development–neoliberalism nexus in developing countries

The Rio+20 summit of the United Nations in Brazil in 2012 committed governments to formulate a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) that would be integrated into the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) following its expiration in 2015. This decision has pushed sustainable development agenda into the limelight of development once again. Meanwhile, we note that the development agenda of many developing countries has been dominated by neoliberal orientation driven by market reforms, social inequality, and a move towards enhancing the economic competitiveness of the supply side of the economy. In this paper, we discuss the relationship between neoliberal economic agenda and sustainable development. We do so by examining how neoliberal policies of privatisation, trade liberalisation and reduction in governments spending stand to affect the attainment of sustainable development ideals and their implications on the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. The paper then suggests that relying solely on the mechanisms of the market in governing and allocating environmental resources is necessarily insufficient and problematic and therefore calls for a new approach—one which goes beyond just recognising the interdependency among social, environmental and economic goals and places issues of equity and addressing unfavourable power relations at the centre of interventions aimed at achieving the ideals of sustainable development.

Towards a framework convention on global health

Introduction What will it take to eliminate the gross health inequities that continue to plague the world, the unconscionable health gaps between the rich and poor? The eyes of the global health community are focused on the post-2015 sustainable development goals, with the World Health Organization [WHO] advocating for universal health coverage. Adding healthy life expectancy as an overarching goal would capture the broader determinants of health and offer a richer integration of multiple sectors. Beyond improving health, the United Nations [UN] should focus on equity, human rights, inclusive participation and accountability, (2) The stage is set for the post-2015 agenda to embrace global health with justice--improving healthy lives for everyone, with particular attention to marginalized communities. The sustainable development agenda, however, cannot achieve global health with justice without robust global governance. We urge adoption of a legally binding global health treaty--a framework convention on global health grounded in the right to health. What are the purposes and content of a framework convention and how can such a treaty help to achieve global health with justice? And what steps need to be taken to galvanize support for its adoption and implementation? This perspectives paper seeks to spark international dialogue on a framework convention on global health and to explore the pathways towards a global health treaty. Core purposes and content The Millennium Development Goals were instrumental in achieving considerable progress in global health, but they failed to close the health gap. The overriding purpose of a framework convention on global health would be to dramatically reduce the health disadvantages experienced by the marginalized and the poor, both within countries and between them, while reducing health injustices across the socioeconomic gradient. Guided by principles underlying the right to health and mutual responsibility, a framework convention would universally ensure three conditions that are essential for a healthy life: a well-functioning health system providing quality health care; a full range of public health services, such as nutritious food, clean water, and a healthy environment; and broader economic and social conditions conducive to good health, such as employment, housing, income support and gender equality. Substantial improvements in health would be achieved through a population-based strategy centred on the essential conditions for the public's health, ranging from food, water and clean air to hygienic conditions, injury prevention and liveable communities conducive to physical activity and to healthful eating habits. By embedding the conditions for good health within the environment and bringing these benefits to everyone, including the poorest and most remote communities, public health services would give everyone a fair chance for a healthy life. Universal access to all levels of health care [community services and primary, secondary and tertiary care] and to financial protection [to prevent impoverishment and catastrophic health expenditures] would afford everyone the services needed to prevent and treat injury and disease. Importantly, policies and actions across the full spectrum of government ministries are needed to ensure education, employment, housing, clean energy, transportation, gender equity and all other positive social determinants of health. A framework convention would establish a health financing framework with clear obligations, and would create an accountability regime with robust standards, monitoring and enforcement. It would advance health justice through engaging marginalized and underserved populations in making and evaluating policies and through comprehensive strategies and targeted interventions designed to overcome the barriers that prevent these populations from enjoying the conditions required for good health. …

Recent Shifts in Global Governance: Implications for the Response to Non-communicable Diseases

Devi Sridhar and colleagues discuss how three major trends in global governance, the rise of emerging economies, the increase in multi-bi financing and institutional proliferation, have ramifications for whether NCDs will be included in the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals agenda. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

Bringing the “Missing Pillar” into Sustainable Development Goals: Towards Intersubjective Values-Based Indicators

This paper argues that the need for a core “fourth pillar” of sustainability/sustainable development, as demanded in multiple arenas, can no longer be ignored on the grounds of intangibility. Different approaches to this vital but missing pillar (cultural-aesthetic, religious-spiritual, and political-institutional) find common ground in the area of ethical values. While values and aspects based on them are widely assumed to be intangible and immeasurable, we illustrate that it is possible to operationalize them in terms of measurable indicators when they are intersubjectively conceptualized within clearly defined practical contexts. The processes require contextual localization of items, which can nonetheless fit into a generalizable framework. This allows useful measurements to be made, and removes barriers to studying, tracking, comparing, evaluating and correlating values-related dimensions of sustainability. It is advocated that those involved in operationalizing sustainability (especially in the context of creating post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals), should explore the potential for developing indicators to capture some of its less tangible aspects, especially those concerned with ethical values.

Ensuring the inclusion of sexual and reproductive health and rights under a sustainable development goal on health in the post-2015 human rights framework for development

Since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo placed reproductive health and rights firmly on the international agenda, civil society and other advocates have worked ceaselessly to ensure that they remain central to women’s empowerment and have taken all opportunities to expand the framework to include sexual health and rights. When the development process changed with the introduction of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, sexual and reproductive health and rights were excluded, and only in 2007 was universal access to reproductive health added back in. In 2014 and 2015, the future of ICPD Beyond 2014, the MDGs and the post-2015 development framework will be decided, following consultations and meetings across the globe. This paper takes stock of the key influences on efforts to achieve the ICPD agenda and summarises the past, current and planned future events, reports and processes between 1994 and 2014, leading up to the determination of the post-2015 development framework and sustainable development goals. It concludes that the one thing we cannot afford to allow is what happened with the MDGs in 2000. We must not leave the room empty-handed, but must instead ensure the inclusion of sexual and reproductive health and rights as a priority under a new health goal.

<b>Sustainable development and global health governance – From the Rio+20 to the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</b> - DOI: 10.3395/reciis.v6i3.636en

The authors examined the document resulting from the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), known as Rio+20, that was held in June 2012. They analyzed the role of green economy in the process of development and poverty eradication and the requirements for balanced governance of the environmental, economic, and social dimensions. The final document from the UNCSD, which is titled “The Future We Want”, advocates an inclusive multilateral system. It also proposes establishing a high-level intergovernmental political forum from the Commission on Sustainable Development and strengthening the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), highlighting the need for a broad participation of the programs, funds, and agencies from the United Nations, including financial institutions. The document recognizes health as a precondition and the result of the three dimensions of sustainable development, and it highlights the importance of setting coherent goals that are integrated with the post-2015 UN Development Agenda and the three health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The member states insisted on fulfilling the commitments related to the Official Development Assistance (ODA), including dedicating 0.7% of the gross domestic product (GDP) from developed countries to support developing countries. These member states emphasize the possibility of obtaining additional resources through the South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation as an expression of solidarity between countries. They also highlight the importance of flexibility in the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement to better use the technology needed for development. Finally, the member states approved the establishment of a working group (WG) to develop a proposal for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will be incorporated into the post-2015 development agenda and should have technical support from all UN agencies (World Bank [WB], the International Monetary Fund [IMF], and the World Trade Organization [WTO], including social agencies such as the World Health Organization [WHO], among others). The result of this effort will be presented to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 2013, which allows time to influence the formulation of the post-2015 MDGs and to improve human health conditions, in particular.

Towards a Better Integration of Global Health and Biodiversity in the New Sustainable Development Goals Beyond Rio+20

In June 2012, Brazil hosted Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) marking the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit. The Rio+20 outcome document entitled The future we want provides general guidance to shape sustainable development policies, but fell short of providing legally binding agreements or pragmatic goals. Negotiators agreed to develop a process for the establishment of new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), building upon the Millennium Development Goals, and setting the foundation for the post-2015 UN development agenda. Our objective is to argue that discussions beyond Rio+20 and toward the adoption of SDGs offer a critical opportunity to re-assess the major challenges for global health and sustainable development. There is an urgent need to translate the general aspirations put forth by Rio+20 into concrete health outcomes and greater health equity. The way toward the post-2015 SDGs will likely be more effective if it highlights the full gamut of linkages between ecosystem processes, anthropogenic environmental changes (climate change, biodiversity loss, and land use), socio-economic changes, and global health. Negotiations beyond Rio+20 should strongly acknowledge the global health benefits of biodiversity protection and climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, which reduce diseases of poverty and protect the health of the most vulnerable. We argue that health and ecosystems are inextricably linked to all development sectors and that health should remain a critical priority for the upcoming SDGs in the context of global environmental change.

The Effect of Price and Income Changes on Food-Energy Intake in Sri Lanka

Data is used to analyze the food acquisition behavior of households from a 1980/81 survey designed to be nationally sectorally and regionally representative of Sri Lanka. The poor are shown to be much more responsive to price and income changes than other income groups. The urban population generally exhibits lower income elasticities of demand for food commodities. The poor appear to efficient substitutors thereby mitigating the effects of a price change on caloric intake. The important exception is rice whose elasticity of calorie consumption with respect to price was about 4 times higher than for any other commodity. The reluctance of households to substitute for rice even when faced with rising prices coupled with its large budget share show rice to be the most important consumption good. Higher rice prices are an important determinant of poverty for landless and urban workers. Moderating food prices preferably through technological change is a key ingredient to raising consumption among the poor. Simulations show that even if there are rapid and proportional increases in expenditures of all income groups this will not dramatically increase caloric intake among the poor. However if the absolute value of the increase in real expenditures were distributed equally to all households there would be a marked increase in the % of households consuming an adequate diet.