海角大神

A new set of United Nations goals for sustainable global development point to an emerging shift in views about development and how it works.

Out is the view of development as a technical enterprise largely funded by the world鈥檚 wealthy powers and other outsiders. In is seeing development as a political process involving a wide range of actors 鈥� well beyond technocrats and politicians 鈥� in which foreign aid and global development institutions take a back seat. The priority is on leveraging local communities and investment.聽

The result is a lengthier and more detailed set of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set to be unveiled later this month. The new SDGs replace the eight goals chosen 15 years ago with a more ambitious set of 17 goals to be reached by 2030.

In addition, the SDGs will also lay out 169 targets, such as maintaining the genetic diversity of seeds under the 鈥渆nding hunger鈥� goal and eliminating early and forced marriage under the 鈥済ender equality鈥� goal.

To critics, this massively expanded suite of tasks and participants is a recipe for a bland and unwieldy mixture of pie-in-the-sky aspirations. The new mish-mash, they worry, will be adopted with great fanfare then quickly forgotten.

But others say the new SDGs are not just a kitchen sink of development goals. They are the product of a more grass-roots process that began with input from a broader range of advocacy groups and everyday citizens than ever before for such a project, officials say.

鈥淲hat we had with the SDGs was a paradigm shift in the way we formed an agenda,鈥� says Amina Mohammed, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon鈥檚 special adviser on post-2015 development planning.

That shift, in itself, puts the UN in a different world from the one it has long operated in.

鈥淭he political inclusivity of this process and the breadth of the goals decided on together say that governments alone can鈥檛 achieve this, that it really requires all hands on deck,鈥� says Anthony Pipa, the US State Department鈥檚 special coordinator for the post-2015 development agenda. 鈥淭his is development as a political enterprise,鈥� he adds, 鈥渋t requires the participation of business and civil society [as well as] the political commitment of the leadership of countries.鈥�

It also reflects a nod to the 鈥渋ntegrated鈥� nature of development goals. In other words, it makes no sense to go full bore on reducing extreme poverty, supporters say, while ignoring the role the environment and accountable governance play in building prosperity.

The UN鈥檚 first take on goal-setting, the Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2000, had largely been reached by development experts meeting in a room and coming up with what they considered to be the eight pressing needs of developing countries. They ranged from reducing extreme poverty to cutting maternal and infant mortality and addressing HIV/AIDS.

But the three-year process that resulted in the SDGs was very different animal. 鈥淭his time it was about consultations, it was about ownership, but most important perhaps it was about engagement,鈥� says Ms. Mohammed.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a big difference between 鈥榗onsultation,鈥� where maybe you meet with civil society for two hours and go away and say you鈥檝e consulted,鈥� she adds, 鈥渁nd engagement that involves really listening and accepting new ideas, and a give and take and negotiations that aren鈥檛 always comfortable before the outcome is reached.鈥澛�

The SDG process included an online survey called 鈥淭he World We Want鈥� that was completed by more than 8 million young people. The survey revealed a worldwide anxiety about jobs 鈥� and led to a goal of 鈥渇ull and productive employment, and decent work for all.鈥�

The new goals are founded on the idea that the development model that prevailed when the Millennium Goals were adopted is no longer sustainable.

But critics say the SDGs are not sustainable, either. Some of the priorities conflict 鈥� for example, providing clean water and sanitation for all, while also calling for the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of 鈥渢errestrial ecosystems鈥� including rivers and other water sources.

And then there鈥檚 the sheer number of goals and targets. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a real danger they will end up on a bookshelf, gathering dust,鈥� said British Prime Minister David Cameron earlier this year, when he lobbied unsuccessfully for no more than a dozen (and preferably fewer) goals.

But Mr. Pipa of the State Department says that the SDGs merely reflect the realities of the times. Nations鈥� foreign-aid budgets are generally falling, which points to an era of more local action and less top-down or outside prescriptions for development.

He cites the Obama administration鈥檚 Power Africa program as an example of the principle at work in the SDGs. Instead of building power plants for African countries, the US has put up $7 billion that has leveraged $33 billion 鈥� about $20 billion of that private capital 鈥� to build the infrastructure to boost Africa鈥檚 electrical power generation.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the all-hands-on-deck approach,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd it reflects the shift and the change we鈥檝e seen鈥� as the world has come up with a new set of development goals.

And the seemingly contradictory nature of some of the goals merely points to a growing realization about the interconnectedness of development priorities. The Millennium Goals, for one, demonstrated that keeping girls in school longer and reducing rates of HIV infection were not stand-alone goals but in fact highly interrelated.聽

Nor should it be acceptable to make progress on one goal and slide backward on another.

鈥淭wo decades ago, many countries used coal-fired power plants or carbon-heavy energy as they focused on accelerating economic growth to meet the extreme poverty target of the MDGs,鈥� says Pipa. Yet while that worked to help bring down poverty, he adds, it also caused new health and environmental problems.

The SDGs address such contradictions by recognizing how one goal can have an impact on another 鈥� and by placing the emphasis on implementing sustainable solutions for reaching all goals.

On poverty, for instance, he says: 鈥淭he integrated nature of the SDGs forces countries now to balance improvements in poverty with sustainability, which requires cleaner energy.鈥�