sustainable development 20 years on from the ... - José Eli da Veiga

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As part of the preparatory process for Rio+<strong>20</strong>, the idea of establishing a new set of goals on
<strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong> was put forward by Colombia, Guatemala and Peru. Their proposal was to establish
<strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong> objectives that would serve as a concrete reference for achieving the convergence of
and linkages between the three pillars of <strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong>. Similar to the Millennium Development
Goals, the <strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong> goals would be defined at the international level and would serve to
compare outcomes and identify opportunities for cooperation, including South-South cooperation. 5 As was the
case for the Millennium Development Goals, the objectives identified to determine compliance with the
<strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong> goals would have to be measurable. While sectoral objectives (such as water, energy,
food, housing and poverty, among others) could be more common, they could also be transversal, such as
improving national accounts, eliminating counterproductive subsidies, promoting innovation and introducing
legislation to improve access to information, participation and justice in relation to environmental matters.
Issues such as gender equality and empowerment of women should be covered on two counts: as sectoral
matters (in their own right) and as cross-cutting concerns (necessary for the achievement of all other goals).
Guideline 5
Produce and disseminate statistics and information on the environment
and <strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong>
It is difficult for economic decisions and public policies to support <strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong> and for civil
society to adopt an informed position in the decision-making process if the market sends no information
or signals with respect to the environmental and social costs of these decisions and policies. Market
silence also encourages a preference for short-term solutions that disregard future costs or the costs for
those without power to influence the decisions.
Decision-makers must have the tools and information they need to compare alternative courses of
action and monitor outcomes. The judicial system must have information on true environmental costs in
order to enforce justice in a proportional manner. Social stakeholders also need information in order to
lobby for better public policies and make informed choices.
The following actions are suggested in this connection:
(a)
Strengthen environmental information systems
Environmental information systems generate, systematize and make available statistics and
indicators that are indispensable to decision-makers and the general public for analysing and monitoring
public policies. While electronic platforms enable users to access these data from a single point of access,
their value obviously depends on the quality of the information they provide (see point (b)).
Although most countries in the region already have environmental information systems, they vary
in terms of coverage and quality. Building up those systems will require stronger national and regional
systems for compiling, monitoring and analysing data related to the environment, with a view to
guaranteeing the availability of structured and comparable official information, using the international
recommendations on environmental statistics adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission as a
conceptual and methodological framework.
5
See the initial proposal presented at the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Meeting Preparatory to the
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Santiago, Chile, in September <strong>20</strong>11 (ECLAC,
<strong>20</strong>11) and Colombia’s input to the Rio+<strong>20</strong> compilation document sent to the Conference Secretariat in October
<strong>20</strong>11 [online] www.uncsd<strong>20</strong>12.org/rio<strong>20</strong>/index.php?menu=115.