Talking to Mr. Ravi Karka - Expert Adviser Children and Youth - UN HQ

It was a great pleasure to talk to Mr. Ravi Karka via skype on youth engagement for post 2015 development process on September 24, He is an expert adviser on children and youth, UN Head Quarters. We had a productive conversation on “Sri Lankan Youth Movement for Beyond 2015 Development Agenda”. I met this inspiring person first time at the United National Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio De Janeiro; specifically at the Youth Blast..

Catch Mr. Karka on http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=27243007&locale=en_US&trk=tyah

At the 67th UN General Assembly (UNGA) High-level Debate, the opening glimpse recognized linkages between peace and security and sustainable development. Speakers highlighted the importance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and noted the role of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) in mobilizing action for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and forming a post-2015 development agenda.

The UN panel starting work on a post-2015 development vision faces huge pressure to cover issues left out of the original goals, to decide who to consult and how to set measurable targets. For the past 12 years, the millennium development goals (MDGs) have shaped policy, guided political agendas, and channelled hundreds of millions of dollars of aid money around the globe. But with the MDGs due to expire at the end of 2015, the international community is starting to tackle the huge, inevitable follow-up question: what comes next?

The post-MDG process will officially begin on Tuesday (25^th Sep), when a UN-appointed committee of international political big-shots will meet for the first time in New York. Led by the UK prime minister David Cameron,Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf , and Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono , the 26-member committee has been assigned the task of creating a "development vision" to replace the MDGs after they expire.

Rio+20, one of the largest conferences ever convened by the United Nations, ushers in a new era for implementing sustainable development. The Conference was a rare opportunity for the world to focus on sustainability issues - to examine ideas, forge partnerships and solutions.

There were several outcomes to the Rio+20 Conference. The political outcome, The Future We Want, agreed to by all 193 countries, charts the way forward for international cooperation on sustainable development. In addition, governments, businesses and other civil society partners registered more than 700 commitments to concrete actions that will deliver results on the ground to address specific needs, such as sustainable energy and transport.

•             Rio+20 outcome document, The Future We Want: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/futurewewant.html

•             Follow-up to Rio+20: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/rio20.html

•             How is the UN System following up to Rio+20? See our interactive matrix at: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/followupbyunsystem.html

•             Partnerships for Sustainable Development: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnerships.html

•             Newly launched registry of Voluntary Commitments: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/commitments.html

•             Sustainable Development in action: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sustainabledevelopmentinaction.html 

•             Read up on a wide range of Sustainable Development related topics/areas:http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics.html

International Peace Day!

It's September 21, 31st International Day of Peace celebrated all around the world, with participants at many events calling for a total cessation of hostilities. This year’s theme, "Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future,” was chosen within the context of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or Rio+20), which convened in June in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.





Celebrations at UN Headquarters in New York began with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the President of the General Assembly ringing the Peace Bell. Following this ceremony, the 15th Student Observance was held, highlighting environmental causes of conflicts and the need to address the ownership, control, management and ownership of natural resources in post conflict countries.
After ringing the Peace Bell, Ban said the UN “works for sustainable peace across the world… Today we must ring the peace bell with extra force and conviction. We need its beautiful sound to be heard above the voices of discord and extremism that have sparked violence in recent days.” Ban also stressed connections among sustainable peace, sustainable development and sustainable futures, noting that “armed conflicts attack the very pillars of sustainable development. Natural resources must be used for the benefit of society, not to finance wars.”

Youth for 2015 MDG

Check little video.....The Voice of Youth Should BE HEARD!

Building The Future We Want!

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is running a global online forum for sustainable development accessible through multiple social media platforms.

UN ECOSAC – Building the Future we Want (Photo – UN.org)

The forum is being used to allow people from all over the world the ability to question government officials participating in a meeting to be held on 24^th Sept, 2012.

The forum, which is being conducted through various social media platforms until Sept 24, 2012, seeks to provide people with the opportunity to be part of ECOSOC’s Special Ministerial Meeting.

The meeting is supposed to be an update for progress on the issues discussed at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Brazil in June.

Selected questions from the forum, which has theme of “Building the Future We Want”, will be answered by experts during an interactive dialogue at the meeting on the 24th, which will also be broadcast live from UN Headquarters in New York.

“In Rio, governments renewed and strengthened political commitment to sustainable development. They provided a foundation for building the future we want,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told ECOSOC members during the Council’s recent high-level segment. “We need an agenda that is concrete, action-oriented and focused on poverty eradication, inclusive economic and social development, environmental sustainability and peace and security for all.”

The Rio+20 outcome document, entitled “The Future We Want”, called for a wide range of actions, including beginning the process to establish sustainable development goals, and:-

-         detailing how the green economy can be used as a tool to achieve sustainable development;

-         strengthening the UN Environment Programme (UNEP);

-         promoting corporate sustainability reporting measures;

-         taking steps to go beyond gross domestic product to assess the well-being of a country;

-         developing a strategy for sustainable development financing; and,

-         adopting a framework for tackling sustainable consumption and production.

GYBN Policy WG - Meeting Minutes- 22/09/12

GYBN Policy Working Group

2st Meeting - 22.09.2012 - 1pm GMT:

Agenda

Participants: Sikander, Isabel, Mpha

Facilitator- Sikander

Note Taker- Isabel

Start of the meeting: 3.30 GMT, proposed end 4.14 GMT

- Round of Introduction: 

SIkander- Sri lanka, Post 2015 MDG Cordinator

Isabel - Germany, Student of International Relations

Mpha- Malawi, Student at UNU-IAS,(MSc. Environmental Governance)

- GYBN Side Event on October 16th - we have time to present both GYBN and our Position Paper there-> proposal not to talk about it as the action group already works on that

- Discussing a Strategy to work on the policy paper

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WtdraL1hvPY1XMtMSBJHYmGnVLgVf2RqH0qQmLcEvBk/edit?pli=

-- Lobbystrategy for COP11. How do we want to use our position paper for lobbying activities at the COP?

Sikander: proposal to have a working group on the wider policy document as well as to have more precise subgroups for the lobbying in order bring more the youth perspective in/indentify topics that are important for youth

Mpha: difficult to bring a specific youth perspective in, youth require different things depending on where they live

Isabel: we have to remember that we will have a opening speech and a speech at the end, where we will have to talk about the general issues as Strategic Plan, Finance etc.

Sikander: but specific interventions 

Sikander: identify issues that relate to youth

- education

Isabel: if we have a seperate working group on the policy paper and subgroups to lobby will create parallel structures

Mpha: but lack of time

Isabel: proposal to take out mountain biodiversity of the position paper, as it is not longer in the offical agenda of the CBD Secretariat

Sikander and Mpha: important to take it in again!use it as lobbying point

Finalization of the position paper

Sikander: problematic, because people are not turning up to the skype calls

Mpha: important that others refer to the position paper, important to stress that the 29th is the last day to comment

Sikander: googlesheet and share it

Official Agenda for the COP 11:

http://www.cbd.int/cop11/agenda/

Lobbying Points/WG

Isabel: identify the subgroups: 

Structuring the subgroups to lobby:

01. CBD operational process: Strategic Plan, Finance, ...

02. UN Decade on Biodiversity

03. Group on mountain biodiversity: lobby to take the issue back into the agenda

03. Other substantive issues: Forest, Marine and Coastal biodiv, agriculture, 

04. Cross cutting issues: Ecosystem services, Climate Change and biodiv, subsidies, biodiversity and development

05. Capacity building/youth involvement

06. Tradition knowledge(Art. 8j) and Benefit sharing (ABS)

Sikander: important to identify topics which are related to youth and forming WG

Tasks to Do-

Isabel 

- Email: sending the link of the pad, finalization of the position paper by the end of this month

- voting for the topics in doodle for (select most important topics until tuesday 5GMT) -> same people will work on the parts of the wider position paper

GYBN Steering Comm and Facilitating Team Meeting Minutes

Steering Committee + Facilitators

Participants: Christian, Dayna, Melina, Sabuj, Sikander

1. Education & Capacity Building Prepartion for the COP

- GYBS in collaboration with Action WG (Svana)

- Webinar (?)

- Following the COP and posting it online (Together with Communication and Outreach)

- Briefing material on GYBN - task for Communication WG (?)

- Briefing material on the COP11 issues - Task for Education WG

 --> Compiling all the existing material, summarize it and post ir in the webpage

2. Policy

- Position paper and Statute open for final comments and to be adopted on the 28th

COP Preparation

- Lobbying: finding the major lobbying points in our document

   - Identifying lobbying points and choosing strategic ones to fight for

   - Focus on Youth related issues

   - UN Decade for Biodiversity

   - Major groups

   - Officially recognize the importance of youth participation: "Parties should encourage champions networks for biodiversity"

   --> Christian is sending the text

   - Future generations : 

   - youth focal point (?) - talk with Neil and Chantal - Dinner - Acknowledge their work   

- Working groups on the position paper

* Collaboration - Policy WG + Education CB - Read the documents BEFORE the COP, especially the ones related to our lobbying points

@Christian - Send the COP documents to the list and the policy WG

@Policy WG - Identify 5-6 Lobbying points

@Steering Committee -Go Through the document and find the points related to our lobbying points

To Do: Have policy working group identify 5 points for us to track, have experienced people look at the text to figure out lobby points, have education working group give updates about our progress on these points

Big Challenge: Lack of people's participation

@Steering Committee - Contact Chantal to get the contact for all the youth groups attending the cop - make an introductory email for Indian youth

@Policy WG + Education WG - Making presentations for GYBS

* Collaboration (GYBS) - Policy WG +Education CB + Action

 --> Prepare a presentation on our policy focus and instructions (?) to coordinate GYBN activities during the COP

 --> Collaboration with CBD Alliance  - Join their Capacity building session

 

 @Everybody - Encourage everybody to review important policy documents before attending

 

 @Policy WG - Proposal: Identify 5 lobbying points, put into the GYBN group and the get comments from people, see who are interested in and have people going throught the texts and preparing specific lobbying points

 

 Next steps:

 

 - Lobbying point

 - Position papers

 - Logistics

 - Coordination with CBD Alliance

 - Interventions - Opening ceremony of the COP + Opening ceremony of the High level Segment - Closing ceremony with Go4Biodiv

 

 Opening speech - What youth needs to be done during the next days - more specific

 

 @Christian & Melina - Policy WG - Draft - Opening, Closing, High Level Segment speech - Open to everybody - Create a google document and share with everybody

 

 @Everybody should get involved in the policy WG

 

 - How to elect focal points and people who are doing the interventions

 

 @Dayna - Send an email to the list regarding the election of focal points

 

 - Collaboraion with Go4Biodiv

- Energizer session - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfoXEogx_Hw&feature=fvst

My Small Video Clip on "Biodiversity"

Click here to get the Youtube link

I was privileged to attend the GYBN Youth Strategic Meeting in Berlin City, Germany from 21st of August to 27th August as a Youth Facilitator and representing South Asian Young People. GYBN stands for Global Youth Biodiversity Network and is a unique network of individuals and youth organizations from all over the world whose common goal is to halt the loss of biodiversity.