Sustainable Development

SouthViews No. 71, 23 July 2013

G77 on SDGs and Poverty Eradication

The G77 has stressed that efforts to eradicate poverty at national level have to be supported by global trade and investment rules to address developing countries’ constraints and marginalization as well as reform of the international financial institutions. Below are extracts of the G77 and China statement at the open working group on SDGs on 19 April, presented by Fiji’s deputy permanent representative Mr. Luke Daunivalu.

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SouthViews No. 70, 19 July 2013

G77: Each SDG Must Include International Dimension

Below is the statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China by its Chairman, Ambassador Peter Thomson of Fiji, at the second session of the General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (New York, 17 April 2013).

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SouthViews No. 69, 18 July 2013

SDGs: Food security and sustainable agriculture

The attainment of food security and the move towards sustainable agriculture, including increased food production in developing countries, are among the most important issues in the SDGs.

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SouthViews No. 68, 16 July 2013

SDGs: Poverty Eradication

This is a brief paper on conceptual aspects of poverty eradication as an issue for the SDGs.

In line with our overall approach to the SDGs, the issue of poverty eradication should have goals and targets for countries but also for the international dimension, which includes the Global Partnership for Development (that involves policies relating to global macro-economics, debt, trade, finance, and access to technology) and the means of implementation (i.e. finance and technology for developing countries).

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SouthViews No. 67, 15 July 2013

SDGs: Overall Conceptual FrameworkDevelopment

This paper of the South Centre on the overall concept of the SDGs was presented by its Executive Director Martin Khor during the expert panel at the opening day of the first session of the UN’s open working group on SDGs held in the General Assembly hall on 14 March 2013. It had also been presented to a meeting of the G77 and China in New York as part of its preparation for the meetings of the UN working group on SDGs.

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SouthViews No. 45, 3 December 2012

Unhappy first week at COP18; uncertainty over the final outcome

By Martin Khor

A big battle is taking place at the UN climate conference in Doha. In the first week of the two-week meeting, the developed countries have made it clear they want to close down the working group that has been the main negotiating forum on climate change actions without its having completed its work.

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SouthViews No. 44, 26 November 2012

Climate Change UNFCCC Talks: The Interests of Developing Countries at COP18

This article is adapted from a presentation made by Vicente Paolo Yu III, Programme Coordinator, South Centre, to the first Ministerial Conference on Climate Change of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP) at the ACP House in Brussels on 7 November 2012.

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Policy Brief 11, October 2012

Financial Instability as a Threat to Sustainable Development.

As seen over and again during recurrent financial crises in both developing and advanced economies (DEs and AEs), including the recent global crisis originating in the US and Europe, financial instability and boom-bust cycles undermine all three ingredients of sustainable development – economic development, social development and environmental protection. (more…)

SouthViews No. 21, 19 July 2012

Food Issues in the Rio+20 Spotlight

By Martin Khor

Among the issues that caught the public imagination at the recent Rio+20 summit was the right of all people to good, nutritious food, and the need to support small farmers and promote ecologically sound agricultural methods. Martin Khor reports on the Sustainable Development Dialogue on Food Security.

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SouthViews No. 20, 18 July 2012

Sustainable Development as an Answer to Economic and Financial Crises

Below is the speech delivered by Dr Yilmaz Akyüz, Chief Economist of the South Centre on the Sustainable Development Dialogue Roundtable on the Global Financial Crisis, UN Conference on Sustainable Development 2012, in Rio de Janeiro on 16 June 2012. (more…)

SouthViews No. 19, 17 July 2012

The Rio+20 Summit and its Follow Up

By Martin Khor

The Rio+20 summit from 13 to 22 June was disappointing to many, but it could still succeed through the mandated follow-up actions. The South Centre’s Executive Director gives an in-depth assessment.

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Policy Brief 9, November 2011

Proposals on the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD).

Twenty years after the Rio Summit 1992, the global sustainable development situation has deteriorated. The environment crisis has worsened. After a period of good development performances in some developing countries, the prospects for the global economy have worsened, with the financial-economic crisis now affecting Europe and the US, which has implications for developing countries. (more…)