A Short History of the Sustainable Development Goals
Paula Caballero
Originally published in Deliver 2030, April 2016
REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION
Note: These are brief and informal reflections on a long and complex process. No attempt is
made to capture the full complexity of the negotiations. I merely seek to share a few highlights
of the SDG journey. Only a few names are mentioned as it would be impossible in this short
space to give full credit to the many friends and colleagues who made the SDGs a reality.
Shortly after joining the Colombian government as Director of Economic, Social and
Environmental Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in October 2010 I started to think about
Rio+20. It was such an historic opportunity to galvanize global political will around a renewed
commitment for an agenda on sustainability and equity. For better or for worse, I was
concerned that the entire Conference was to focus on green economy– a concept mired in
controversy – and a new international architecture for sustainable development. Neither were
particularly compelling for a broad audience. Most importantly, neither had the potential for
incentivizing the deep transformations at scale so urgently needed on a planet that is breaching
so many boundaries all at once, while remaining stubbornly inequitable at many levels.
Early Days
So in early January 2011 I convened a small group of government colleagues to a brainstorming
session. In the midst of the discussion I suddenly said, “I’ve got it! Here’s what we can do.”
Despite shortcomings that have been endlessly analyzed, the MDGs have brought about
widespread changes in approaches to development. I suggested that Colombia propose a new
set of goals, but one that would encompass the many dimensions of development. The idea
resonated and a short while later I went upstairs to Vice Minister Patti Londoño’s office. She
immediately grasped the idea. “You will have all the support you need, now go write it”. Over
the weekend I drafted a first version that I showed to a few friends. On Monday I shared it with
Vice Minister Londoño who promptly pinned it on her otherwise bare wall. A few days later, the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, María Angela Holguín, also expressed her unconditional support.
A few weeks later, using the opportunity of being in NY for other negotiations, I started to share
the proposal. It was largely met with skepticism - and in all truth, a healthy dose of derision.
Few colleagues were willing to even discuss the proposal, and among those that did two stand
out: Jimena Leiva of Guatemala and Ye-Min Wu of Singapore. In their personal capacities they
diligently went over the proposal and recommended that it be linked more explicitly with
Agenda 21 to demonstrate that it was fully embedded in Rio 1992’s legacy.
So I went back to hotel and wrote a revised version that posited the SDGs around the chapters
of agenda 21. This was the first of many versions and SDG-related documents that were drafted
at The Pod hotel on 51st street. As I often joked, we should put a plaque outside the hotel that
would read “The SDGs were born and raised here.” This was truly the first version of the SDG
proposal as it was the basis for Colombia’s advocacy over the next 7 months.
During those early months I used every opportunity around other negotiations in New York to
discuss and explain the SDGs. I spent hours and hours sitting in the Vienna Café on the second
floor of the UN New Lawn Building (NLB), talking to anyone who was willing to listen. There was
initially little interest, and often, fierce resistance. Arguments that would gain strength,
traction and advocates over the next months were tabled. Many – both from developed as well
as developing countries – saw the SDGs as an attempt to undermine the MDGs and to detract
attention from the “core” development issues. It was insistently pointed out that the MDGs still
had a few years to run and that a new set of goals could marginalize them. Why start
advocating for a new set of goals when the MDGs were still “unfinished business” and unlikely
to be fully met by 2015? Why think about Post-2015 when it was still early 2011? Much better
to roll over the MDGs after 2015, with a few minor adjustments. This is what came to be known
as MDG+.
Colombia always underlined that the SDGs were building upon the MDGs. Colombia had fully
committed to achieving the MDGs, and believed profoundly in their importance and continued
relevance. However, the fact was that the full achievement of the MDG targets could never be
achieved with an agenda that did not include energy, or governance, or food security (beyond
hunger), or connectivity –to cite just a few issues. Much has been written about the fact that
the gains in poverty eradication were largely achieved in China and India. Continued poverty
eradication in the future, in a planet facing natural resource degradation and scarcity, climate
change and climatic variability impacts, rapid and often unplanned urbanization, and increasing
landscapes of insecurity will be much more challenging. For that an agenda that embraces the
complexity of development in needed. A telling anecdote is a conversation I had in those early
days with a colleague from an African country who emphatically affirmed that Africa would
never agree to merge the three MDG health goals under a single health goal. We had an
interesting conversation because he did not realize that non-communicable diseases are
actually the greatest and growing public health care burden today for developing countries -
and were not included in the MDGs.
Moreover, the fact that what was being proposed was a universal agenda – applicable to all
countries and for which all countries were accountable – raised deep concerns on all quarters.
The concerns were varied. Some felt that a universal approach undermined the tenet of
differentiation around which key negotiations, like UNFCCC, were structured. Others felt that
only developing countries had “real” issues related to development, and that the agenda
should therefore focus exclusively on them. And others still queried what development targets
could mean for developed countries. I remember an early exchange with an outstanding
negotiator and good friend from the US delegation who encouraged me early on to desist,
noting that the US Congress would never accept the national application of targets set by the
UN. (Fast forward to the last days of negotiations in Rio+20 where the US played a uniquely
decisive and constructive role that ultimately helped to deliver the SDGs.)
Many questioned with a dose of exasperation why Colombia was even bothering to prepare for
Rio+20 when “it was still so far away”. And many asked “Why Colombia? Why is Colombia
leading on a global agenda?”
One interesting fact that stood out is that often there were completely different positions
within the same government. Some government agencies and delegates saw the SDGs as the
stepping stone towards an agenda of integration and change whereas others, in the same
government, would see these as a threat. I often noted that at some level, Colombia did not
negotiate the SDGs with 193 governments but with hundreds of delegates and constituencies.
Indeed, as the preparatory process got underway, civil society, private sector and academia
started to play an increasingly visible and influential role. Colombia always worked with the
same energy and commitment with these constituencies as with governmental colleagues. One
proud achievement for the Colombian government was the recognition that was often given by
civil society organizations of the best practice that we created in our many productive and rich
exchanges with non-governmental stakeholders. All the international consultations Colombia
organized had a place at the table for NGOs and CSOs. And we participated in innumerable
side-events organized by these colleagues.
Despite the challenges and minimal traction, the Colombian government was undeterred and
persisted. To us it was clear that business as usual is not tenable given that the development
trajectories and economic models that have prevailed over the past decades have set in place
trends that are both unsustainable and inequitable – as Minister María Angela Holguín often
put it, within nations, between nations and between generations. There is an urgent need to
rethink what growth and prosperity and well-being mean. In a small and fragile planet
development consists of an array of parameters - including on sustainability and equity – which
constitute a spectrum along which all countries are to be found– both developing and
developed. Shrinking planetary boundaries and the refugee crisis are bringing home the fact
that our human and natural systems are profoundly interconnected and that no one nation or
people can either develop or maintain high development standards separate from others. The
most controversial manifestation of this is the discussion around a global carbon budget, but
analogies could be made about other planetary resources and systems. This means that only by
working together towards a shared agenda of inclusion and sustainability can we avoid
approaching development as a zero sum game.
The MDGs were simply not up to the task. They had played a decisive role in galvanizing action
around fundamental development issues, and had changed how many approached these. The
MDGs stood out in the landscape of development assistance. But they reflected a minimalist
agenda that was unable to deliver the deep system-wide change and broad structural
transformations that are needed.
Another driver was precisely the need to create a platform around which all – public and
private sector, developing and developed, civil society and others - could converge. We were
working against a backdrop of contentious and at times seemingly intractable negotiations in
other fora – ranging from WTO to UNFCCC - that pitted different national perspectives and
made it difficult to find a common landing ground, let alone consensus. Colombia is a
G77+China country that aspires to join the OECD. We are bridge builders. The SDGs were
therefore an offering we put forward to create a single common agenda that entailed collective
responsibility and at the same time, collective empowerment. We wanted to catalyze a sense of
shared destiny.
The Beginning
On 27 May 2011 the very first informal intergovernmental consultation on the SDGs took place
at the Colombian Mission on 57th street. About 20 people came, a small but representative
group from all the UN regional groups. The proposal was met with friendlier skepticism but
there was no clear support. A few colleagues affirmed that it was interesting but considered
that it would be in impossible to get agreement around it. I was reminded yet again that the
themes for Rio+20 had been defined in a UN resolution, and that it could not be modified. A
few, however, said that Rio+20 definitely needed a higher level of ambition.
This meeting was a first milestone in a long journey where the Colombian Permanent Mission
to the United Nations in New York, under Ambassador Nestor Osorio as Permanent
Representative and Camilo Ruiz as Deputy PR, and with the support of David Rodriguez, our
delegate to the Second Commission, played a decisive role. The Mission was endlessly
supportive, facilitating negotiations, organizing events, and maintaining high levels of advocacy
in New York.
In June during the UNFCCC negotiations in Bonn, I continued Colombia’s advocacy work. Among
the many I talked with was Andrei do Lago, head of delegation of Brazil. He expressed interest
but at the time was still unclear as to how Brazil could formally support the proposal. Other
colleagues also started to come up to me in the hallways to express informal support for the
idea, affirming that Rio+20 desperately needed to deliver concrete and tangible results. This
seemed to be the only option on the table given that discussions around the two agreed pillars
had minimal traction: “green economy” had not advanced and was the subject of acrimonious
discussions around the very definition of the concept; discussions on the International
Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD) in the end proved to be the most difficult to
resolve of all.
By then, we had our sights on the upcoming consultations hosted by the Government of
Indonesia on the International Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD). Financing was
available so I submitted my request which was soon approved. The meeting in Solo, Indonesia
was the very first time the SDGs were presented at a UN event. Colombia was not given the
opportunity to discuss the SDGs, but we formally presented the proposal. However, what was
really exciting, a watershed in fact, were the conversations in the hallways. There were many
bilaterals with countries from various regions who wanted to understand the proposal better
and who had started to see this as a real possibility for Rio+20. I remember a very rich and long
conversation with the entire EU delegation. And it was during one of these meetings that the
representative of Guatemala, Rita Mishaan, confirmed her Government’s interest in supporting
this proposal. Many CSO's and NGOs were warmly encouraging and asked that Colombia hold
the course. It was the first time that there was a real sense of hope that the proposal might
prosper.
The following month, Brazil held the first of two informal consultations they were to host in the
run up to Rio+20. I asked for permission to present the proposal and it was confirmed that
participants could present any contribution they wanted. So on 21 August, in the first morning
session, I presented the SDG proposal - still the version linked to Agenda 21. There were other
topics on the agenda but the entire meeting started to refer to the SDG proposal. It was
incredible to see delegates from Cuba to Norway welcoming the proposal, keen to explore its
dimensions and implications. However during the day I realized that the linkages to Agenda 21
were more confusing than helpful and that a simpler proposal that focused only on the SDG
concept itself was needed. So that night I wrote out a new proposal in my hotel room
describing the SDGs and what they offered. I shared the draft with Vice-Minister Londoño and
with Rita Mishaan from Guatemala. I got clearance from the former and agreement from the
latter that the Government of Guatemala would co-sponsor it.
I came in early the next morning to Palácio Itamaraty in Rio de Janeiro, and requested
permission to use their printer. As participants came in for the second day’s sessions they were
handed a copy of the new version of the proposal, now with two governments supporting it-
Guatemala and Colombia. This is the version that is widely considered the basis of the SDG
proposal. The rest of the meeting centered mostly on the SDG concept. These were rich and
substantive exchanges, and even though many voiced concerns about the implications for the
MDGs, there was a broad sense of emerging support from several quarters. I distinctly
remember Ambassador Luiz Alberto Figueiredo of Brazil saying towards the end of the meeting
that Rio+20 could not focus only principles and that concrete deliverables were also needed.
He made no explicit reference to the SDGs, but his words seemed to imply tacit support for a
very tangible proposal.
At the time, my team was struggling to support work on the SDGs as it became ever more
demanding and intense. UNDP generously agreed to finance a dedicated professional to
support this work. Alicia Lozano joined the core SGD team at that time, and together with
Angela Rivera, Claudia Vasquez, Heidi Botero, Isabel Cavelier, Carolina Aguirre – and David
Rodriguez in the NY Mission - provided indefatigable support throughout the long road ahead.
The UNCSD Bureau had set 1 November 2014 as the deadline all Parties and constituencies to
submit their inputs for the so-called “zero draft” that would constitute the basis for the
negotiating text for Rio+20. Colombia knew that garnering sufficient support for the SDGs was
critical. This became the backdrop to our efforts over the following two months.
The next milestone on the journey was the regional meeting on Rio+20 held in the
headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean ( ECLAC) in
September 2011 in Santiago, Chile. Alicia Barcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, was an early
and energetic supporter of the SDGs. She had immediately gauged the potential. I recall rich
discussions in her office about how the SDGs could be structured, what they could encompass,
how they could be explained. For Colombia, this regional meeting was a unique opportunity to
substantively discuss the proposal for the first time in a formal UN setting, even if a regional
one. Colombia submitted the proposal well ahead of time so that it would be an official
conference document. As always Colombia’s objective was to get widespread support from all
countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region so that it could be presented as a regional
contribution to Rio+20. Colombia always aspired to having this be a proposal from the entire
region, not just a few countries and not just Colombia. Unfortunately, despite strong support
from many delegations, this proved ultimately impossible. In the end the final decision text
referred to the SDG proposal but did not endorse it.
While Colombia continued advocating and lobbying for the proposal through a steady stream of
communications, Vice Minister Londoño and I, with the support of Minister Holguín, decided
that it was important to have a formal international consultation on the SDGs. We are still
deeply grateful to the Government of Netherlands whose generosity made this meeting
possible.
October was a flurry of activity as we continued to drum up support for the SDGs while
organizing for the consultations, set for 4-5 November. Meanwhile the deadline of 1 November
drew closer and although we sensed growing momentum we had no way of gauging whether
enough support for the SDGs would materialize to get them into the zero draft.
The SDGs are in!
On 1 November, as proposals started coming in and were uploaded onto the UNCSD website,
my team was glued to their computers checking to see who was including the SDGs in their
submissions. In the end over 50 States and international organizations, including CARICOM,
mentioned SDGs as a tangible result for Rio+20. As the submissions came in we contacted the
Secretariat, and were happily informed that the SDGs “were in”. Enough support had been
evidenced. This was the decisive moment. What had been deemed impossible just months
earlier was now fast becoming a reality. The SDGs were slated to be part of the negotiating text,
and were therefore formally a part of Rio+20 preparations. Although the road ahead was
challenging, the first historic step had been achieved.
The meeting in Bogotá hosted by the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and chaired by Vice
Minister Londoño, kicked off with great dynamism and expectation in the impressive Salon
Simon Bolivar where the Libertador himself had worked. Over 40 delegates from a wide range
of countries, including representatives from Netherlands, Mexico, Kenya, India, Chile, United
Kingdom, Norway, United States, and Australia were present together with those from
international organizations, UNCSD Secretariat and NGOs. As always Colombia invited civil
society and NGOs to the table. The conversations were deeply probing and surfaced both
strong support for the proposal from many countries as well as sharp concerns about the
proposal from others.
The consultation was held under Chatham House rules, but the discussions were so informed
and rich that I was authorized to prepare a chairman’s summary, which was ultimately tabled as
“Insights from the Informal Consultations on the SDG Proposal”. The linkages between the
MDGs and the SDGs were a subject of intense discussion, but other aspects were also explored.
A few excerpts provide a good sense of the depth of the discussion:
“There was no consensus on an approach but it was agreed that there is a need for further
consultations on this issue. Some considerations that were iterated were:
- The MDGs are widely acknowledged as a highly/ successful and key approach for
enabling international cooperation at all levels.
-
- There is full consensus that the MDGs must not be in any way undermined by any other
process and that they should be amply supported. The MDGs must continue their
planned trajectory to 2015.
- There were suggestions that the SDGs could provide a useful input to the MDG review
process and to the definition of the post-2015 framework. Some noted that the MDGs
do not sufficiently address underlying economic and environmental issues and drivers.”
“In addition to the relation between the SDGs and the MDGs, other concerns were voiced
regarding issues that will need to be addressed in further elaborating the proposal. Among the
most salient:
- How to reconcile the universal dimension of the SDGs with the fact that these will need
to be tailored to specific national circumstances, i.e. one-size-does-not-fit all.
- How to approach issues of implementation, recognizing that implementation includes
not just financial resources but also institutional and governance capacities at national
level, as well as issues such as absorptive capacity for new technologies, dissemination
of best practices, and inclusion of key stakeholders ranging from youth to private sector
for effective implementation.
- Linking up with private sector and IFIs.”
During that meeting strong friendships were forged, that would prove decisive in the long
journey ahead. This group slowly coalesced over the coming months, and even after Rio, when
we were already in the Open Working Group discussions, would meet regularly to strategize on
how to achieve a high level of both ambition and common sense. We also agreed to work on a
series of informal consultations to enable stakeholders to better understand and mature the
idea, thereby garnering support. The SDG friends included Kitty van der Heijden of Netherlands,
Farrukh Khan of Pakistan, Jimena Leiva of Guatemala, Chris Whaley of UK, Victor Munoz of
Peru, Majid Hasan Alsuwaidi of UAE, Yeshey Dorji of Bhutan, Franz Perrez of Switzerland,
Damaso Luna of Mexico, Marianne Loe of Norway, Anders Wallenberg of Sweden and many
others. Sometimes, when the negotiations were particularly challenging, it was a space for
collective catharsis. In the long preparatory process, Surendra Shrestha of UNEP provided
permanent support. (Fast forward to Rio, it was he who mobilized the necessary support to
make the buttons we handed out in Rio on “SDGs – People and Planet”.)
In mid-December 2011 – right after the UNFCCC Cancun COP - the UNCSD Secretariat held
consultations in NY in preparation for the upcoming negotiations. At this juncture, building on
the discussions and exchanges of the previous 4 months I sensed that there was a need to focus
more strongly on the process ahead and the deliverables. Therefore, back at The Pod hotel, I
prepared a new version of the proposal that I shared with Vice Minister Londoño. As always she
was fully supportive. This time it was endorsed not just by Guatemala but also by Peru. This
was presented at a second international consultation hosted by Colombia in Room 3 of the NLB
which was attended by 114 countries. We know this because we counted. We could still not
quite believe how far we had come. It was a short affair, a 2 hour side-event with little
opportunity for a proper discussion. But momentum was growing.
Back in Bogota, conversations that had been ongoing since the November consultation picked
up. Many of the growing coalition around the SDGs felt that the meeting in Bogota had been so
rich that it was important to have another 2 day international consultation but with much
broader participation and in New York. And it had to take place before the formal negotiations
started in February. By now we were just days away from the Christmas holiday when many
were leaving. But we somehow came together and once again generous donors, including
Norway and Netherlands, confirmed their support. We were able to secure the venue of
Tarrytown and issued invitations for a consultation on 22-24 January 2012. We tasked a small,
diverse and dedicated group of colleagues in New York to relentlessly follow up on each
invitation. At this this juncture the World Resources Institute (WRI) –a global research
organization at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity and human well-being,
became a part of the informal SDG support group and prepared 3 briefing papers for the
consultations.
In the meantime, on 10 January, the UNCSD Secretariat issued the zero draft of the
Conference’s negotiation document “The Future We Want”. The SDGs were included in Chapter
V “Accelerating and measuring progress”. From that moment onwards the SDG proposal – now
formally endorsed by Colombia, Guatemala and Peru - was officially integrated to the
negotiations.
On 21 January, ahead of our second international consultation, I arrived in Tarrytown Estate
together with Heidi Botero from my team. We wandered the imposing grounds covered in fresh
snow, holding on to over 60 name cards and wondering if or how the SDGs would ultimately
see the light of day. Although many questioned the format, I organized the meeting around a
huge rectangular table that seated 80. We had a full house, with a widely representative group
of delegates from all regional groups as well as representatives from the UNSG’s office, UNCSD
Secretariat, several UN agencies and several NGOs and CSOs. The format worked wonders. The
fact that everyone could see each other created a sense of purpose and openness. The
discussions were intense, often contentious, and they surfaced the many diverse takes on the
MDGs, the MDG+ option, and the SDGs. There were difficult conversations around universality
and differentiation, about the unfinished business of the MDGs, about the need to “prioritize
people”.
Again, given the richness of the discussions and how enlightening they were as we collectively
matured the SDG concept, I got agreement to be allowed to issue a Chair’s Summary. The
following excerpts give a sense of how much this meeting contributed to the process:
“There was broad agreement on four core aspects:
- Rio+20 is a milestone event and the international community should strive for a high level
of ambition, with clear and robust outcomes in the form of a renewed and focused
sustainable development agenda.
- Sustainable Development Goals are understood in the context of the post-2015
development framework. SDGs have a definitive added value and will be further
elaborated and completed within the post-2015 process.
- There should be a single unified process leading to the definition of the post-2015
framework, building upon government consultations as well as inputs from stakeholders,
and expert and scientific advice.
- There should be a single set of international development goals with sustainable
development and poverty eradication the overarching focus.
There was strong support for including SDG guiding characteristics in the Zero Draft, including:
- Poverty eradication as an overarching goal;
- Universal relevance of the SDGs, but allowing for varied country and regional
circumstances and priorities and capacity for implementation of specific voluntary
targets;
- Action-oriented;
- Strongly linked to Agenda 21 and JPoI;
- Effectively address and integrate the economic, social and environmental dimensions of
sustainable development;
- Enable articulation of the nexus between the different issue areas covered by the SDGs;
- Voluntary application, in keeping with national realities, priorities, and capacities;
- Time bound and measurable, with targets and indicators; and,
- Few in number and easy to communicate and understand.
In addition, the following considerations were reiterated throughout the discussions:
- There was a clear understanding that the formulation of SDGs should not divert or in any
way undermine the focus of the international community on achieving the MDGs by 2015.
- SDG should build upon and complement the MDGs, and reflect lessons from MDG
implementation.
- In line with keeping the SDGs simple, succinct and few, many underscored the need for
the SDGs to set clear and focused priorities, which was a key strength of the MDGs.
- In addition to the definition of themes or issue areas for the SDGs, it is equally important
to define cross-cutting issues. These issues are no less important than those to be
captured in an SDG, and indeed are critical given their prevalence and relevance. Cross-
cutting issues could include aspects such as technology transfer, capacity building, means
of implementation, climate change, equity and gender.
- In the development of the SDGs, consideration must be given to the institutional and
governance arrangements required for their implementation, taking into consideration
the current mandate and work of existing agencies, as well as gaps and future
requirements. It will equally be important to work with an understanding of relevant
existing agreements and programs.
- The capacity of developing countries for managing information and data, and for
reporting, will need to be strengthened.
- Implementation will require the support and commitment of all stakeholders, including
civil society and the private sector, so their participation in the process is fundamental.”
The discussions also already evidenced strongly differing views on the process beyond Rio for
defining the SDGs that “reflect differing levels of ambition for Rio as well as different
understandings of the required process for defining the SDGs…”
This was exactly what was needed ahead of the negotiations, which started the following day,
on 25 January. The consultation enabled us to fully understand the political economy of the
SDGs for the first time, the baseline as it were. Over the coming months the SDG concept
continued to evolve through substantive and continuous exchanges. In those early days one
could sense delegations grappling with the concept, and exploring it in the context of their
positions on many other negotiating fronts in many other parallel negotiations. But gradually
the SDG concept was framed with increasing clarity, and as the discussions matured, came into
its own.
The Negotiations Begin
Up to that point, Colombia had tried several times to get endorsement from the Latin America
and Caribbean region so that it would be a regional proposal for Rio+20. The latest attempt had
been by then Minister of Environment Frank Pearl at the Latin American and Caribbean
Environment Ministers Forum on 31 January 2012 where the region registered support for the
proposal, but not full endorsement.
As the negotiations were about to start, the Colombian Government decided that it was time to
formally present the proposal to G77+China. Vice Minister Londoño travelled to New York for
the sole purpose of doing so. She did not do it at Ambassador’s level as the negotiating
responsibilities were in the hands of G77+China delegates who covered the Second
Commission. The Colombian Mission requested that a G77+China Second Commission meeting
be convened, and Vice Minister Londoño explained the proposal. She also met with several
regional groups. That a Vice Minister would undertake this task personally caused a deep
impression and signaled the decided commitment of the Government to take the proposal
forward.
This mission to New York also marked the first of many invigorating meetings with Sha Zukang,
then UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Secretary General of
UNCSD. He was supportive of the SDG concept from the start and helped our delegation to
mature the concept. Others in the Secretariat and in UNDESA were also incredibly supportive
including Nikhil Seth, Brice Lalonde and David O’Connor.
With negotiations about to start up, G77+China designated coordinators for each of the main
negotiation strands. The fact that the SDGs were adopted in Rio owes enormously to the
designation of Farrukh Khan from Pakistan to lead these discussions. Farrukh is an astute,
seasoned and innovative negotiator who had a deep knowledge of countries’ positions and an
acute capacity to steer negotiations. The SDGs found a truly unique champion in him.
January was eventful as President Santos of Colombia convened a meeting with the Ministers of
Foreign Affairs and of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia to discuss the
SDGs. The President was enthusiastic in his support of the proposal and instructed me to get it
approved at Rio in June “no matter what”. That decided and unwavering support from the
Colombian Government, at all levels and agencies, was decisive in enabling the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs to take the proposal forward.
The start of negotiations signaled for me the beginning of endless trips between Bogota and
New York. The agenda for Rio+20 was quite dense, and the number of items and paragraphs
rapidly spiraled. This meant that there was insufficient time to discuss the SDGs both informally
and formally. David Rodriguez from the Colombian Mission was the Colombian representative
to the Second Commission, and worked tirelessly to advance the negotiations. But the
negotiations quickly became very difficult which meant that I started coming to NY both for the
formal negotiations as well as the informal negotiations within G77+China. This was particularly
challenging as these informal negotiations had moving agendas and it was never entirely clear
when the SDGs would be discussed.
We also started organizing side-events and participating in innumerable side-events and
sessions in order to advance the understanding of the proposal, and to mature the proposal as
it was discussed and explored. A key aspect of the SDG concept is the degree to which it was
the product of endless dialogues, discussions, meetings. The SDGs are truly, from the
beginning, a collective construct. Inputs from countless engagements enabled Colombia to
gradually fine-tune and mature the proposal, both in terms of the concept as well as the
process.
In February Colombia organized another international consultation at our embassy in Nairobi
during the UNEP Administrative Council, and also hosted an event with civil society
representatives. By now momentum was really growing. Everyone wanted to talk about the
SDGs. No one asked any longer “Why Colombia?” There were endless bilaterals with Ministers
from developed and developing countries, high-level dinners, meetings with leading NGOs. We
had a particularly rich conversation with Minister Isabella Teixeira of Brazil who was supportive
of the proposal. Later in the month, Colombia was invited as a special guest to the United
Nations System Experts’ meeting on Río+20, to present the SDG proposal. The UN agencies
were increasingly interested and supportive of the proposal too.
The negotiations however, were off to a difficult start, even if at an informal level. Concerns
about the impact of the new proposed framework on the MDGs came to the fore. Many from
both developed and developing countries insisted that the MDGs were not going to be met by
2015 and that therefore they should be rolled over, with minor adjustments, for another period
– the MDG+ version. The broad agenda being proposed would detract from core development
priorities. The inclusion of the three dimensions in the SDGs – economic, environmental and
social – was also questioned by many who considered that “real development issues” – that is
economic and social issues - would be undermined by bringing in environmental considerations.
Not all negotiators appreciated the linkages between functional, resilient natural systems and
long-term human wellbeing. Both developed and developing country representatives fretted
that funding for the MDG’s core priorities would be diverted. There were real concerns that key
MDG targets would be waylaid. Many G77 delegations were concerned that the SDGs would be
turned into conditionalities that would constrain developing countries “policy space”.
At this time another challenging alternative proposal emerged that called for two completely
separate sets of goals, one for rich countries and another one for poor countries. This proposal
undermined some of the greatest strengths of the SDG option, and would have locked
countries into a static system that did not recognize the evolution of countries’ development
trajectories, the fact that both resources and responses are often shared. At the same time,
deep concerns about universality surfaced. The idea that development targets could be
relevant for all countries was rejected both by those who clung to a vision that was MDG-
centric as well as by those who did not welcome implementation (as opposed to only financial
support) responsibilities for developed countries.
Today is difficult to remember how much resistance there was to the SDGs and how
improbable their adoption often seemed. On the margins of the negotiations an array of
initiatives –side-events, consultations, dinners and breakfasts - took place to create spaces for
discussion, for explaining the SDGs, for building up trust. One suite of initiatives that stands out
was orchestrated by Franz Perrez of Switzerland. We organized dinners with both donor and
recipient countries, for frank discussions about continued financing for the MDGs to
demonstrate that the SDGs would not undermine commitment to the MDGs. I remember one
particularly memorable exchange one night, when a G77 colleague spoke bitterly about the fact
that the 0.07 target had not been met and questioned the commitment of donors. Marianne
Loe of Norway gently responded that her country was supporting the SDGs precisely in order to
better deliver on the promise of the MDGs but that Norway was committed to the MDGs and
would remain committed. He looked at her thoughtfully and replied, “You know what? I believe
you. Norway has always delivered”.
Colombia drafted a third concept paper on the SDGs which detailed the SDGs and the process
forward, which was endorsed by Guatemala and Peru.
In March Vice Minister Londoño decided it was important to explain the proposal to the Indian
Government which initially had serious reservations about it. Together we travelled to Delhi
where we met with a wide array of government officials and spent any fruitful hours in deep
and substantive conversations. In the end the Government of India understood the merits of
the proposal and its potential contribution to both the sustainability and equity dimensions of
development. The rich discussions helped Colombia to further mature the proposal. The
Government of India committed to supporting the proposal. A few weeks later, in G77+China
negotiations, one delegate who had participated only marginally in the drawn out negotiations
informed the Group that the SDG language agreed to that point – so painstakingly crafted -
would never be accepted by his government. There was deep silence and I sensed the gains of
weeks evaporating. Then the Indian delegate spoke up, and with characteristic thoroughness
and diplomatic verve pulled out the exact text that had been already agreed to, invoked the
principles that should govern G77+China discussions, and in an instant resolved the matter.
When I thanked Vivek Wadekar afterwards he looked at me with a smile and said “India said we
would support this proposal. India always keeps its word”. The SDGs continued to pick up
advocates as the negotiations advanced.
As the rounds of negotiations evolved, however, progress was often illusory. Dozens and
dozens of paragraphs were added to the text. I remember one paragraph that had something
like 27 different options to it at one point. This limited enormously the time allotment both
within G77 as well as in the formal negotiations for tackling the SDGs. Agreement on text made
at one meeting was undermined at the next. But gradually G77+China came around to generally
supporting the concept of the SDGs, and to broadly characterizing them.
In parallel, Colombia continued to host side-events and consultations. Another major
international consultations was organized in Tarrytown with generous support from donors and
WRI. WRI was a dedicated partner throughout the negotiation process and helped to organize a
suite of consultations during that period – and then over the coming years as the Open Working
Group process was underway. In March with the generous support of the Ford Foundation we
hosted a consultation for G77+China in the morning to which many Ambassadors came, and for
all governments in the afternoon. A total of 63 countries participated. These aimed to give
delegates the space to explore options, to understand what the SDGs implied, to have the
difficult informal discussions that are needed to advance negotiations. Colombia also continued
to participate, as special guest, in multiple events organized by civil society, international NGOs,
MDBs and others to present the proposal.
As the concept of the SDGs gained traction, I became increasingly concerned about what I
termed Rio+1 – that is, what would happen the day after Rio. I knew that unless we got
agreement in Rio on a specific and detailed process for defining the SDGs, we could easily
spend the years until 2015 just agreeing on this. (My concern was well founded: after Rio it
took Member States 7 months to agree on who would sit on the Open Working Group on the
SDGs). Colombia had three deliverables it wanted to see come out of Rio: agreement on the
concept, agreement on a “tentative, indicative, demonstrative, potential list” of SDG goals, and
agreement on the process. At that juncture, the first had essentially been achieved, and the
latter was the most important.
Therefore during the third round of negotiations in April Colombia prepared a fourth paper that
focused more on the actual process going forward. This paper marked a watershed because it
was endorsed not just by Latin American countries – Peru in the event, but also by United Arab
Emirates (UAE). This was a strong signal of how deeply the proposal had advanced. During that
week, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) informally expressed
support for the proposal, and agreed that Brazil would lead on it. Brazil, the Conference’s host,
stated that for President Rousseff one of the key results of Rio was to launch a process to
develop the SDGs. In parallel, the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of
Colombia, Frank Pearl, participated in a ministerial consultation on the SDG proposal hosted by
the Swedish government in a “Stockholm+40” event.
At the end of May a final informal negotiation round was convened to attempt to reduce the
negotiating text which at that point was a sprawl of over 270 paragraphs. Ahead of the
negotiations, I decided that another paper was needed, focusing exclusively on the process
after Rio. Given the broad scope of the negotiations negligible time was being devoted to this
key issue. Isabel Cavelier, a member of my team who was part of the UNFCCC delegation,
suggested that the Transitional Committee under the UNFCCC which had delivered the Green
Climate Fund be used as a model. It seemed a perfect fit. So we prepared a paper suggesting
that a small open (not open-ended) technical working group be convened, based on the
Transitional Committee model. Colombia shared the proposal informally and the idea gained
traction and adepts – this was the genesis of the Open Working Group.
My small core team – Angela Rivera, Alicia Lozano and Carolina Aguirre - arrived in Rio for the
informal preparatory segment of what was formally the Third Preparatory Committee Meeting
of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The full Colombian delegation
arrived over the coming days, led by President Santos with Minister Holguin, Minister Pearl and
Vice-Minister Londoño, and which included representatives from key line ministries. We
immediately entered into high stakes, intense negotiations both within G77+ China as well as in
the formal plenary. Farrukh Khan did a stellar job of managing the negotiations, keeping to the
highest possible ambition while respecting the very diverse views and concerns within the
Group. It is to no small degree thanks to Farrukh’s skillful management of the negotiations that
the SDGs were ultimately reflected in the final text, and included paragraphs on the process
going forward.
Substantial progress had been made already on the SDG concept and characterization, so these
negotiations were tractable. However, there had been little time or space to discuss, let alone
negotiate, the process after Rio. And there were bitter and deep divisions around this.
There were a number of perspectives on how to formulate the SDG’s. For the EU and the US, it
meant a technical working group appointed by the Secretary General. For many in the G77 and
China, the technical working group meant a working group comprising experts and negotiators
with significant political oversight and consistent with United Nations General Assembly rules.
This would have meant a political body, negotiated by the established groups including
G77+China and the EU. It would have meant a replay of the political wrangling that
characterized the Rio+20 negotiations. Colombia and others insisted that what we were
agreeing to was a metric with far-reaching implications for humanity and our planet, and that it
could not be beholden to political considerations. We envisaged a technical body that could
bring in experts on the daunting array of issues and themes that would need to be addressed,
and that would submit its technical (and therefore hopefully structured, evidence-based)
recommendations for approval to the UNGA. The discussions were contentious. After a few
days of incredibly difficult discussions, Farrukh and I convened a small group of G77+China
colleagues. After long hours we finally reached agreement on the concept of an open working
group, in the understanding that its work would be fully transparent. It would deliberate in an
open space so that all delegations who wanted to sit in could do so, and it would be
transmitted via internet so anyone in the world could key in.
Later, Farrukh and I drafted language to submit to the Brazilian hosts who were preparing a
revised negotiation draft. At that point, the discussions on the modality had been so protracted
and difficult that we had not had a chance to widely discuss many of the working details of the
group. As time was running out, Farrukh and I considered the composition of the group. After
some analysis we concluded that as a starting point, the text could call for a total of 30
representatives – 5 x 6 regional UN groups. And that was the number that was submitted. 30
seemed sensible because we knew that in the ensuing negotiations the number would spiral
upwards, closer to 60 or more. So 30 was a good starting point. We did not know that Brazil
would essentially present “take-it-or-leave-it-texts” that were not open for negotiation. And it
is for this reason that the Open Working Group that emerged from Rio had only 30 slots. (The
process after Rio however, proved us right. In the end groups of countries ultimately agreed to
share the 30 slots and the OWG ended up with over 60 countries sitting in it. However the
proposed model delivered. There were several OWG groupings that included countries that
were not all members of the same political groups such as EU or G77. And I would submit that
this was a key element in enabling the success, the ambition, the clarity of the final SDG
agreement.
The Brazilian delegation did a masterly job of managing what could have been intractable
negotiations. I remember the refrain from their delegates at all the meetings during the days of
negotiations: “If you cannot agree, if you cannot come to consensus text, you are leaving us no
option”. And then in fact they presented a single consolidated text which was open for minimal
discussion for a short time, and then a final text. They held marathon informal discussions and
negotiations with key delegations and produced text that broadly reflected viable consensus. It
was an astonishing and incredibly effective process.
The SDGs were never a done deal however, until the very end. Just 12 hours before the text
was due to be finalized, progress in the negotiations started to regress – just as the Heads of
Delegations started arriving. There was a new mixed political signal and this allowed latent
concerns with the SDGs to surface again. Just as we were about to close the deal, it was
unraveling all at once. I remember sitting late that night in the hallway with a close colleague
wondering if the SDGs would be undermined or derailed. He just shook his head and said, “I
honestly don’t know.” This is when diplomacy and trust amongst the core interlocutors came
to rescue, catalyzed by the sharp negotiating skills of Farrukh Khan and the dedicated
leadership of Brazil. And the proposal ultimately prevailed.
In the morning of 19 June, the Brazilian Presidency of UNCSD presented the final text to
delegates who had been up most of the night waiting for it. It was a masterly construct of
maximum consensus and ambition. The Brazilian Government had delivered a new
development framework. Although a few delegations still had issues related to the
international framework for sustainable development (which were not ultimately resolved until
the Plenary session), there was a long round of deeply felt and relieved applause. As we were
all standing around in blissful exhaustion, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Antonio Patriota,
called Viceminister Patti Londono and myself up to the crowded, overflowing podium where
everyone was celebrating. He pulled us aside and said that on behalf of his Government he
wanted to thank Colombia for what we had delivered for Rio+20 - for the SDGs.
After the SDGs were formally adopted in a moving and historic Plenary, and as Heads of State
spoke, the Secretary General of the UNCSD, Mr Sha Zukang came down from the podium and
walked to the Colombian seat in the Plenary to greet President Santos. He congratulated him
and said, “Colombia, it is not a big country. But it has big ideas that can change the history of
development.”
Postscript
After months of discussions as to the composition of the Open Working Group, it finally kicked
off in March 2013. Colombia had the privilege of sharing a seat with Guatemala, where we
continued to work closely on a fully shared agenda. Colombia continued to advocate for an
agenda that overcame sectoral and temporal silos, and presented several proposals including
“The Integrating Approach” and “The Dashboard Proposal”. Ultimately the dedication and
vision of two outstanding co-chairs, Ambassadors Macharia of Kenya and Csaba of Hungary, the
discipline and commitment of 193 countries and innumerable CSOs, NGOs, think-tanks, private
sector organizations and scientists, and a unique format that had never before been used at the
UN, delivered a metric that truly has the potential to be transformational1). It delivered a
platform that can bring all countries around a shared agenda for sustainability and equity.
Today the fact that the Nationally Determined Contributions under UNFCCC were approved
after the SDGs, means that these two agendas should naturally converge and serve to catalyze
each other. But the story of the journey of the Open Working Group process would need
another chapter.
Note
1 Many have strongly criticized the SDG framework agreed in July 2014, and consider that 17 goals and 169 are
excessive. However, the fact is that at the outset of the process, the dynamics of the group could have resulted in
over a hundred goals, and an exponential list of targets. Every constituency, every UN agency, every sector
considered that there should be a goal to reflect their specific issue or area. I used to joke that we would have
goals “from breast milk to nuclear waste” –these were in fact 2 of the goals that were proposed at one point. So
the fact that in the end 193 countries (because in the end all Member States did participate in the Open Working
Group), and innumerable, very dedicated and informed constituencies agreed to only 17 goals is remarkable. And
consider this: the High Level Panel on the Post 2015 Agenda convened by the Secretary General recommended 12
goals. But the fact is that at one point, the draft report included 16 goals. These were later reduced to 12, but the
HLP report – which marked a watershed in the Post 2015 negotiations and introduced such key concepts as “Leave
No One Behind” to the process – did not include key issues in the goals. For example, it did not include a goal on
cities and human settlements. So if one considers that an eminent group of 23 experts at one point came up with
16 goals, the fact that the most participatory intergovernmental process in human history ended up with 17 goals
is nothing short of a most remarkable miracle.