Peru holds brainstorming session with 20 countries to include mountains in Post-2015 development agenda13.02.2014Diplomats from twenty countries convened at the Permanent Mission of Peru to the United Nations in New York, USA, on 6 February 2014 to discuss how to integrate mountains in the Post-2015 development agenda. Almost all of the countries in attendance belong to the Mountain Partnership and also serve on the UN General Assembly’s Open Working Group tasked with drafting the sustainable development goals. Over quinoa from the Andes, ambassadors and staff members exchanged ideas and experiences, such as promoting ecotourism as a tool to improve mountain community revenues as Morocco has undertaken and empowering the socially and economically disadvantaged mountain peoples as suggested by Italy and Sri Lanka. Environment-focused proposals came from Guatemala and Colombia, who wish to see the good management of life-support ecosystems. The Permanent Representative of Peru, Ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra highlighted the importance of having targets that can best be mainstreamed in the SDGs in an integrative manner. In this regard, he mentioned that the purpose of the working lunch was to start that thinking and, if at all possible, to come up with a number of targets that can be supported by the group during the next phase of the Open Working Group on SDGs. Ambassador Csaba Körösi of Hungary sparked a discussion on universality, which led to the conclusion that although mountains cover 25 percent of the earth’s land surface, they have universal importance because of the essential goods and services – such as water, biodiversity and energy - they provide to all humanity. Hofer summed up the consensus drawn at the meeting when, at its conclusion, he said, “Defining the SDGs is a country-driven process. We only advocate that mountain ecosystems and their importance to people are not neglected.” The meeting hosted by Peru saw the collaboration of the three UN agencies mandated by Rio+20 – FAO, UNEP and UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) – to support UN Member States in strengthening their sustainable mountain development efforts, as specified in ‘The Future We Want’. List of participants |
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