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Promoting the mountain agenda at the UN

27.07.2016

Mountain Partnership (MP) members, with support from the MP Secretariat, campaigned for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in mountain areas, ahead of and during the United Nations High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development on 18-20 July in New York, USA.

The HLPF, organized under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC), is the central platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The inclusive and participatory Platform brings together Member States, Major Groups and others with an interest in sustainable development.

In July, the HLPF held its first session since the adoption of the SDGs. The theme of the 2016 HLPF was: “Ensuring that no one is left behind”; and the thematic discussion focused on “Infrastructure for sustainable development for all”.

In mid July, the United Nations released the “Sustainable Development Goals Report 2016” to provide an accounting of where global communities are on the global goals, a set of 17 interconnected, universal, and transformative goals adopted by world leaders at the UN last year. The session thus included voluntary reviews of 22 countries and thematic reviews of progress on the SDGs, including cross-cutting issues, supported by reviews by the ECOSOC functional commissions and other inter-governmental bodies and forums.

As part of the 2016 ECOSOC High-Level Segment for NGOs, three Mountain Partnership members with ECOSOC consultative status submitted written statements. Statements, calling for mountain communities and environments‘to be at the heart of the 2030 Agenda, were submitted by two current members and one former member:

The Mountain Institute (TMI), Washington, DC, USA: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/2016/NGO/51
Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RANS), Moscow, Russian Federation: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N16/153/75/PDF/N1615375.pdf?OpenElement and
Ecoforum, Tashkent, Uzbekistan: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/2016/NGO/21

Noting the vulnerabilities of mountain populations and ecosystems, the MP members called for concerted efforts to reach all the SDGs in mountains, rather than just the three targets that specifically mention them under Goal 6 and 15.

The HLPF was attended by MP members, such as Marie-Danielle Samuel, MP Focal Point of Yachay Wasi, and Yanko Dzhukev, Vice President of the Utah International Mountain Forum (UIMF), a coalition of student clubs at Utah Valley University. Currently, an intern at the United Nations Secretariat, Yanko looks for different opportunities to advance the sustainable mountain development agenda.

How to apply for ECOSOC Consultative Status

Twelve MP members currently have ECOSOC consultative status. If your organization would like to work with ECOSOC in future sessions, you can apply for ECOSOC consultative status at this link: http://csonet.org/?menu=83
Please note that applications must be received by 1 June of the year before the NGO wishes to be considered for recommendation by the Committee. Therefore, applications submitted between 2 June 2016 and 1 June 2017 will be taken up by the Committee on NGOs in 2018.

News by Yanko Dzhukev

Photo: UN/Manuel Elias