Report of the Thematic Consultation on Environmental Sustainability in the Post-2015 Agenda
Integrating environmental sustainability in the post-2015 agenda
Foreword
The post-2015 agenda provides an opportunity to mobilize partnerships, investment and urgent action to drive transformational change to put the world on a trajectory that stays within planetary boundaries. Environmental sustainability is simply not optional for the ‘world we want.’ People around the world are calling for this and are ready to be a part of the change. The narrative on environmental sustainability provides particular reason for renewed optimism. No longer is the discussion focused primarily on preventing harm to the environment but also about how environmental sustainability is fundamental to human development and well-being. There is recognition that poverty eradication is not a pre-condition for environmental sustainability but that these ambitions must advance simultaneously. Environmental sustainability can no longer be addressed in a silo. In shaping the post-2015 agenda the United Nations system and Member States are coming together to listen to what people have to say. In the report ’Breaking Down the Silos’, we present the results of the Global Thematic Consultation on Environmental Sustainability. Those engaged in this consultation -- academia, think tanks, representatives of civil society, youth, women and men from North and South – chose to focus the discussion on the linkages between environmental sustainability and human development rather than identifying a wish list of environmental goals. At the forefront of the discussions was the need for the post-2015 agenda to be based on principles related to integrated approaches to development, equality, human rights and resilience in order to fully embed environmental sustainability. Similar messages resonate across other consultations and inter-governmental processes and signal a shift in how we approach development around the world. Member States, with full participation of civil society, renewed commitment to sustainable development at Rio+20. The UN system is also committed to delivering as one to support this agenda. It is only through such shared commitments that the world can move towards an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future.
