The Food and Agriculture Cluster was formed in New York to support messages from Major Groups and Civil Society before, during and following the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. The Cluster continues to coordinate messages for the Post Rio processes and Post 2015 Thematic Consultations on sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition. As the first thematic discussion of the OWG will be on food security, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, land degradation, desertification, drought and water and sanitation during its third session on 22-24, the Cluster is helping to bring civil society voices into intergovernmental processes in New York at United Nations Headquarters. The Cluster looks forward to working with Member States, the UN System, Major Groups and other stakeholders to ensure that sustainable agriculture and food and nutrition security are prioritized and recognized as critical to achieving sustainable development.

1111_1198_Statement for OWG by Food and Agriculture Cluster.pdf

This one-page brief is a joint submission to the Open Working Group by Development Initiatives, Integrity Action, International Budget Partnership, ONE, Publish What You Fund, Publish What You Pay, Tearfund and Transparency International

1111_975_One_Page_Brief.pdf

The objective of a High Level Representative for Future Generations (HLR) is to balance the short-term nature of policy making processes and act as the UN’s principal advocate for the interests and needs of future generations. They would evaluate policy proposals for their impact on the lives of future generations, inviting a common vision and responsibility. He or she would be an individual with the leadership skills, the moral authority and vision to set an agenda in which the needs of future generations are considered alongside present interests.

1111_427_Bringing added value to the HLPF.pdf

The fourth informal meeting of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to define the format and organizational aspects of the high-level political forum (HLPF) took place at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on 11 April 2013. A brief IISD RS summary of the meeting is available at: http://uncsd.iisd.org/news/unga-informals-consider-hybrid-option-for-hlpf/

An expert group meeting to discuss the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) took place at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on 3-4 April 2013. The meeting addressed seven topics in order to provide “thinking on the various aspects of the HLPF and its role in the wider institutional framework for sustainable development."

The third informal consultation of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to discuss the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) took place at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on 21 March 2013. Member States continued to discuss the format and organizational modalities of the Forum.

UNGA Holds Third Informal Consultation on HLPF - Sustainable Development Policy & Practice
The third informal consultations of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to discuss the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) took place at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on 21 March 2013. Member States continued to discuss the format and organizational modalities of the Forum, working from documents compiled by the co-facilitators, and from the UN Secretary-General’s report on “Lessons Learned from the Commission on Sustainable Development” (CSD).

Please see attached piece in the latest issue of the scientific journal Nature. It appropriately makes the case for integrating the current, three-pillar UN sustainable development governance structure into a nested arrangement, with the economy serving society, which itself lies within the Earth's systems. The piece correctly notes that we cannot reach critical social goals such as alleviating poverty without at the same time addressing environmental well-being. The nesting of economy under society, with both nested within care for the Earth's systems that support us all, is the structural approach we should take moving forward.

Linda Sheehan
Earth Law Center, California, USA

Policy: Sustainable development goals for people and planet : Nature : Nature Publishing Group
Planetary stability must be integrated with United Nations targets to fight poverty and secure human well-being, argue David Griggs and colleagues.

On 30 January 2013, during the first informal meeting of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on establishing the High-level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF), Member States and Permanent Observers convened to discuss its format and organizational aspects. The IISD Reporting Services Summary of this meeting is available at:
nhttp://uncsd.iisd.org/news/un-member-states-begin-negotiations-on-hlpf/#more-181012

UN Member States Begin Negotiations on HLPF - Sustainable Development Policy & Practice
In the first informal meeting of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on establishing the High-level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF), Members States and Permanent Observers discussed the format and organizational aspects of the Forum.

I think the great problem with the SDG's is that they are development goals, not sustainability goals.

We should reverse the priority, to have top priority go to measurable progress toward hard targets for achieving sustainability. It's quite possible scientifically, but we’d need to use “The Commons Approach” organizationally (1). The tragedy now occurring, with the effort having the wrong order of priorities is that the implicit "sustainability goal" naturally becomes to make an effort to slow the rate of growing unsustainabiliy of the economy.

That is being achieved but fails as a way for the economies to become sustainable. It may well be thought of as an important step, but if we face the truth, it’s a total failure as a plan. You see that unfortunate trade-off in most agreements and metrics, a plan to slow the rate of growing impacts…. but it's a disaster for the earth and for the future of our complex societies.

1) The UN is Urged to Adopt “The Commons Approach” at All Levels Of Government and Throughout Society, to Achieve Real Sustainable Development and MDG goals
nhttp://www.worldwewant2015.org/node/274168#comment-41782

CALL FOR DISCUSSION NOTES (Now closed): TOPICS FOR POST-2015 THEMATIC CONSULTATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY | World We Want 2015

Two large practical problems with the UN's SD Goals.
1) The SDG's focus on development with seemingly little or no focused attention to rebound effects.
2) Projects that are intended to be sustainable are also widely using ill-defined standard measures that give misleadingly low indications of both present and future impacts.

1- lack of attention to rebound effects
The UN's SDG targets have the effects all development plans have, which is to increase human pressures on natural resources. The big "rebound effect" is the usual one, that "wealth breeds demand" because people using economic success to further invest in greater economic success. It should be but doesn’t seem to be factored into any of the plans, as if "unseen impacts don't count". We know they DO count, though, and are a quite genuine threats to success.

The development stimulus in less developed countries is one of the causes of the food crisis, for example. It both adds to the globally growing demand for resources, pushing up food prices. It also connects productive small farmers with foreign markets so they no longer sell their products in their own regions. There are lots of "back fire" effects like that. They are occurring because the SDG's are framed as development plans first, rather than as sustainability plans first.

The right step for the UN is to adopt The Commons Approach. That focuses everyone's attention on their mutual and common interests, so development avoids adding to the intensity of economic competition over resources that only speculators benefit from. In the present business climate focusing primarily on development interests is leading to plans that tragically backfire.

2 – need for a large change in our measurement methods
People need better measures of the real total effects of their choices. Better measures doesn't guarantee success but protect against failure, steering you to solutions that are much more likely to work and to last.

An unusual flaw was recently found, exposing a major source of misinformation in the design of the most familiar measures of economic impacts, the LCA and Scope 3 GHG measurement methods. Those and many other common methods use "economic accounting" not "environmental systems accounting". The two approaches are *radically different* as ways of counting the same “end product” or “whole business” externalities. The familiar methods count only the “consumption for production” of technology, and ignore the “consumption for production” for the human services needed to operate the technology(!). It's just left out.

It’s a BIG omission and a major inaccuracy for the physical measure of attributable impacts on the environment. The present LCA and Scope 3 GHG metrics are commonly leaving out 80-90% of the real environmental impacts for delivering business products and GDP! Two levels of peer-reviewed analysis of the problem are available, simple & complex, plus some collected “Slides & notes”.
- simple “Shining a light on dark energy”
nhttp://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/new-metrics/measuring-total-impacts-business
- complex “System Energy Assessment (SEA)"
nhttp://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/3/10/1908/
- collected “Slides & notes”
nhttp://www.synapse9.com/SEA/

It will take a significant effort to understand this new information on how to accurately measure and attribute the impacts of business operations and products, and then integrate it into the various CSR and Sustainability Dashboard models. Given the scale of the error it would help correct it would also seem sure to have significant value, for redirecting our efforts toward more feasible solutions.

Shining Light on “Dark Energy”: Measuring the Total Impacts of Business | Sustainable Brands
The common practice of counting impacts as “zero” for lack of information, creating a very large blind spot in our perception of the world, can be hard to avoid. It can be hard to even think about what one is leaving uncounted. We found a way to define “uncounted” in relation to global totals that needed to be accounted for.

Sustainable livestock production, of which animal welfare is an integral part, is an example of a comprehensive approach to development and an effective way of achieving the desired objectives of food security, social stability and environmental sustainability as well as promoting job creation and equitable economic growth. Over one billion of the poorest people on the planet depend on their animals as their main source of livelihood and food security. In other words, their animals are their main productive asset and this should be considered by the Open Working Group on the elaboration of the SDGs.

It seems critical that we realize the need for a commons approach and address our true common interests. A profound tragedy of the commons is developing as every country's great desire for growth results in ever more intense competition over our many kinds of limited and shrinking resources. We're not caring for the earth but fighting over it. Already we see how it creates the world food crisis and keeps us from responding to climate change, among numerous other terrible consequences.

I represent the Commons Cluster, and the sub-group Commons Action for the UN http://www.commonsactionfortheunitednations.org. See our Jan 15 proposal
"Urging the UN adopt a “commons approach” at all levels of government and throughout society". http://www.worldwewant2015.org/node/274168#comment-41782

Commons Action » Commons Cluster for the United Nations

This paper represents the Major Groups position to inform the open, transparent and inclusive intergovernmental negotiation process under the General Assembly that started in January 2013 to determine the format and organizational aspects of the high level political forum (hlpf) by May 2013.

1111_446_HLPF Position paper.doc

Strengthening the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD) was one of the two themes of Rio+20. The process and negotiations showed agreement on the need to strengthen IFSD. While several institutional options were discussed during Rio+20, the outcome document stronglyunderlines the importance of good governance and agreement was reached to establish a high-level political forum (HLPF) as the institution for sustainable development within the UN. The ultimate determination of the name, position within the UN hierarchy, mandate and responsibilities of the forum will signal to the world the importance given to sustainable development in global politics.

1111_444_SF - full briefing note - Governing for the Future - HLPF (1).pdf