Disasters and resilience in the SDGs: An analysis of the co-chairs’ working document prepared for 5-9 May session of the open working group
One of the main outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012, was the agreement by Member States to launch a process to develop a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Rio+20 did not elaborate specific goals but stated that the SDGs should be limited in number, aspirational and easy to communicate. The goals should address in a balanced way all three dimensions of sustainable development and be coherent with and integrated into the UN development agenda beyond 2015. A 30-member Open Working Group (OWG) of the General Assembly is tasked with preparing a proposal on the SDGs.
The Open Working Group was established on 22nd of January 2013 by decision 67/555 (see A/67/L.48/rev.1) of the General Assembly. The Member States have decided to use an innovative, constituency-based system of representation that is new to limited membership bodies of the General Assembly. This means that most of the seats in the OWG are shared by several countries.
The Rio+20 outcome document The Future We Want states that, at the outset, the OWG will decide on its methods of work, including developing modalities to ensure the full involvement of relevant stakeholders and expertise from civil society, the scientific community and the United Nations system in its work, in order to provide a diversity of perspectives and experience.
On 17 April 2014, the Co-Chairs of the Open Working Group (OWG) of the Sustainable Development Goals, Ambassadors Kamau and Kőrösi, produced a new working document to guide deliberations at the eleventh session of the OWG in May.
This document has been written to propose refinements and improvements to the targets on disasters and resilience, to propose new targets where necessary and to encourage states to express their support for these targets to the Co-Chairs, as they finalise their annex on goals and targets. Delegations are invited to send any additions to the Secretariat by 30 April 2014: email to [email protected], copy to [email protected]