United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) 2008 High Level Segment,
New York, 30 June-3 July 2008: United Kingdom National Voluntary Presentation
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1. Introduction
1.1 A DFID Minister will deliver a UK National Voluntary Presentation
for the first time at this year's ECOSOC High Level Segment. This year's theme
is Millennium Development Goal 7 - Ensure Environmental Stability, and national
presentations may include a range of issues such as aid effectiveness,
conditionality, and the challenges of implementing development objectives on
climate change and sustainable development.
1.2 The UK presentation will be followed by a debate with other
stakeholders from the private sector, civil society and academia. Other member
states presenting at this year's session are: Belgium, Chile, Finland, Tanzania,
Laos, Luxembourg and Kazakhstan.
2. Issues for consultation
2.1 National consultations are taking place throughout April to
contribute to a first draft of each presentation with the UN Department of
Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) in early May. We value the views of external
stakeholders on ensuring environmental stability and related issues, and we look
forward to receiving your comments in April for the first draft. Further
comments will however be welcome throughout the preparation period leading up to
the High Level Segment in June.
2.2 Aid Effectiveness and the MDGs
DFID recognises that the quality of aid is as important as the quantity. We
aim to maximise the impact of UK aid on development outcomes to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs.) This means allocating aid efficiently and
effectively, so that resources are channelled to the countries where it has the
most impact. It means spending aid on the things that will save lives and reduce
poverty and meet the MDGs. It means measuring results achieved, with donors and
partners holding each other accountable for using aid effectively. And it means
using aid to promote long term changes that enable partner countries to lead
their own development processes, and become more effective at reducing poverty
with their own resources, policies and actions.
DFID believes that the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, agreed in
2005, is an important achievement in ensuring that all aid has maximum impact in
meeting the MDGs. DFID played a key role in securing international agreement to
the Paris Declaration and is on track to meet the targets by 2010. We are also
investing considerable efforts in ensuring that the Accra High Level Forum in
September 2008 is a successful, partner led event which agrees faster and deeper
progress on aid effectiveness. DFID’s priority areas for securing agreement at
Accra include predictability, mutual accountability, division of labour and
incentives within donor agencies.
We recognise that the Paris Declaration alone will not address all the
problems within the current aid system. Progress is also needed in other areas,
including: securing a more effective and coherent global aid allocation; more
effective multilateral organisations; involving non-traditional donors in the
aid reform process, and co-ordinating other donor policies that impact on
development.
Questions to consider:
- What can be done to encourage stronger partner country leadership of
the aid reform process?
- How can non-traditional donors become more involved in the dialogue
on aid effectiveness?
2.3 Millennium Development Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
MDG7 demonstrates a worldwide aspiration for development to be sustainable.
Its targets are to: integrate principles of sustainable development into
policies and programmes increase access to water and sanitation reduce
numbers of slum dwellers
Poor countries depend on environmental resources (eg water, forests,
agricultural land) to a much greater extent than rich countries. Many poor
countries rely on natural resources for their economic development. A World Bank
study estimates natural capital makes up 5% of global wealth, but it contributes
26% of wealth in low-income countries.
Poor people often have inadequate access to natural resources, such as clean
water, clean air and fertile land, essential for livelihoods and health.
Climate change is dramatically reshaping the environment upon which poor
people depend, with unpredictable consequences. The knock-on effects include
more droughts, increased flooding, reduced food security, spread of disease,
increased risk of natural disasters, and impacts on human settlements. The poor
are most vulnerable to these changes and have limited capability to respond.
The effects of climate change require a response at global, national and
local levels. Climate change impacts make better and more sustainable
environmental management even more urgent.
Questions to consider:
- How can we speed up progress towards integration of principles of
sustainable development into national policies and programmes, and what
have we learnt from the past?
- What additional challenges will climate change bring and how might
we adjust approaches to MDG7?
- What regional and global cooperation is required to accelerate
progress?
2.4 The MDG Call to Action
In 2000, at the Millennium Summit, 189 countries declared they would spare no
effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to eradicate global
poverty.
We have made significant progress in many countries and on every continent.
But seven years later and half way to 2015 we are off track. We cannot allow our
promises to become mere aspirations.
In January the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described 2008 as a year of
the “bottom billion” where critical progress on the MDGs must be made.
The MDG Call to Action was launched last July by the Prime Minister Gordon
Brown in New York, speaking alongside the UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, to
encourage the international community to accelerate progress to reach the MDGs.
The Call to Action is designed to support ongoing efforts to meet the
Millennium Development Goals particularly during 2008 – the year of action. It’s
about engaging a broader set of players – not just governments but private
sector, faith groups, NGOs, professional organisations and civil society – to
accelerate action.
A pivotal moment on the 2008 development calendar will be the UNSG-hosted
high-level meeting on the MDGs in New York on September 25. We hope that meeting
will see players commit to an action plan to accelerate progress on the MDGs.
Questions to consider:
- What are you or your organisation doing to help achieve the MDGs?
- How do you think the UK government is doing in its efforts to help
achieve the MDGs?
3. Background
3.1 The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The eight Millennium Development Goals were agreed at the UN Millennium
Summit in September 2000. Nearly 190 countries have since signed up to them. The
eight Millennium Development Goals are:
3.2 For more information on how DFID is helping to tackle
environmental problems, please see our
Millennium Development Goal 7: Environment, Water & Sanitation
3.3 For more information on the
 UN
Economic and Social Affairs Council
4.0 Conclusion
Thank you for taking the time to read this consultation. We are interested in
hearing your views in response to any or all of the questions we have raised,
and on any issues related to Millennium Development Goal 7.
Please send your comments for discussion on the first draft to
ecosocnvp2008@dfid.gov.uk
no later than 1 May 2008.
Or you can write to:
ECOSOC NVP 2008
UNCD, DFID
Abercrombie House
Eaglesham Road
Glasgow G75 8EA
Further comments will be welcome throughout the preparation period leading up
to the High Level Segment in late June.
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