Manuel F Montes, Senior Advisor on Finance and Development of The South Centre, participated in the a side-event co-organized by the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN, CIDSE and Social Watch on Thursday, January 29, 2015 in the UN Conference Building, New York. Dealing with responsibilities in a financing sustainable development context, this event generated discussion on conceptual challenges such as an evenhanded approach to the three pillars of sustainable development, adapting a framework like the Financing for Development process to the universal agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals without denaturalizing and decontextualizing it and how to incorporate important principles agreed at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development.

Montes said that even when he does not know how long it took diplomats in 1992 to arrive at the CBDR formulation it is an accurate shorthand characterization of the balance of responsibilities in the climate change framework.  It is not true that developing countries do not have obligations in the climate change treaty. Developing countries have obligations under the convention but “[T] The extent to which developing country Parties will effectively implement their commitments under the Convention will depend on the effective implementation by developed country Parties of their commitments under the Convention related to financial resources and transfer of technology and will take fully into account that economic and social development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of the developing country Parties” (United Nations 1992, paragraph 4.7).

2015 is a pivotal year. The post-2015 sustainable de­velopment agenda currently being drafted is premised on the reality that the present model of development is not working, given worsening in­equalities and straining planetary boundaries. All countries and peoples—and the planet on which we depend–have the right to live with a better model, one that is inclusive and sustainable.
An increasingly urgent imperative for change informs the two-track negotiations unfolding at the United Nations from now until September. One track in­volves the post-2015 sustainable development agen­da; the second focuses on financing for develop­ment, an independent process that began at the 2002 Monterrey Conference. While the two talks are separate, the issues in each are deeply interlinked, and the success of any new model depends on the outcomes of both. The political stakes are high, but so are the opportunities—perhaps once-in-a-genera­tion—for genuine transformation.

Despite snowstorm warnings and ice-cold temperatures in New York, the Financing for Development (FfD) negotiations managed to pick up speed when governments convened for the first drafting session at the end of January. They are currently negotiating the outcome of the upcoming Addis Ababa Conference on Financing for Development, which will take place on July 13-16 this year, and is planned as a key milestone ahead of the Post-2015 Summit and the UNFCCC Climate Conference later this year.

Photo: ANND.

The Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) organized, in cooperation with the CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness, a sub-regional workshop held in Beirut, Lebanon on January 24 and 25, 2015 for the Levant states. This workshop,  aimed to assess and determine the mechanisms and prospects of accountability for the various parties involved in development, be they governments, donors, civil society organizations or the newcomer, i.e. the private sector. Sessions focused on two issues, accountability and the civil society working.

The workshop was attended by representatives of organizations from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq and Palestine.

CELAC Summit (Telesur TV).

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), inaugurated in Venezuela in 2011 and comprising all 33 nations of the region, held its third summit in San José, Costa Rica on 28-29 January 2015. The summit also marked the handover of the Presidency of CELAC from Costa Rica to Ecuador. CELAC is an important example of a developing country forum. It serves as a mechanism of dialogue and political coordination.