A New Era for The United Nations: The Post-2015 Agenda and The Climate Change Agreement

• Author: Jordano Rosales
• Position: St. Thomas University School of Law
• Pages: 207-238

e Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law

ISSN: 2338-7602; E-ISSN: 2338-770X

http://www.ijil.org

© 2014 e Institute for Migrant Rights Press

a nEw Era for thE unitEd nations

thE post-2015 agEnda and thE ClimatE ChangE

agrEEmEnt

Jordano Rosales

St. omas University School of Law

E-mail: jordano.rosales@gmail.com

For the past 15 years, the United Nations has been setting the stage for this crit-

ical point, and now nally, the global stage has been set. e stars have aligned

and this year brings us two key agendas to be adopted that will transform the fu-

ture of international politics, and bring about a drastic transformative approach

to sustainable development and climate change alike. e two agendas at the

forefront of the United Nations: the Sustainable Development Agenda and the

Climate Change Agreement, bring about a critical opportunity for the United

Nations, Member States and NGOs to collaborate and not only identify prob-

lems and issues plaguing the globe, but to eectively implement mechanisms

to mitigate and support the problem areas. However, despite the serendipitous

nature of the simultaneous discussions, we must encourage and implore world

leaders to ACT and seize the opportunity being presented.

Going forward, this topic will discuss the decline of the Millennium Develop-

ment Goals and why they failed, as well as discuss and how the Sustainable De-

velopment Goals aim to revitalize the approach to sustainable development and

pick up where the MDGs le o. is paper will also consider climate change

and its long-term and short-term eect on the countries, which the SDGs are

aimed towards aiding, as well as the proposals that are at the forefront of the

new Climate Change Agreement. More importantly, this paper seeks to encour-

age the United Nations to consolidate the SDGs and the CCA in order to better

address the global issues we are facing today and it will also address the inade-

quate resources that the U.N. and other organizations have due to the seemingly

inevitable lack of g lobal funding.

Keywords: International Environmental Law, Millenium Development Goals, Sus-

tainable Development, Global Governance, Climate Change.

III Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law 207-38 (April 2016)

208

Rosales

I. INTRODUCTION

e year 2015 was a pivotal year for the United Nations, and the world.

In 2015, the General Assembly was set to promulgate a new agenda

referred to as the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda, or 2030

Agenda or Sustainable Development,1 which will recongure the U.N.’s

goals of sustainable development for the next een years. e Unit-

ed Nations was also set to enact a new Climate Change Agreement

(“CCA”)2 that addresses the impeding threat of climate change and dis-

cusses the necessary remedial measures every nation must take. is is

a historic moment for United Nations, and many world leaders agree

that the outcomes of the discussions will play a critical role towards

achieving the goals set forth by the United Nations Charter.3

e Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon,

heralded the adoption of the new agendas as the “signal moment”

of 2015.4 Given the shortcomings of the Millennium Development

Goals (“MDGs”),5 the adoption and implementation of this new

transformative agenda is the central focus of the U.N. However, the fact

this new agenda coincides with the adoption of a new Climate Change

Agreement has created quite a buzz at the United Nations. e CCA

was in Paris at the United Nations Climate Change Conference,6 and

although both proposed agendas are distinct from one another, the

1. See U N, P- D A, S

D: K P, https://sustainabledevelopment.un-

.org/post2015.

2. See e United Nations and Climate Change, http://www.un.org/climatechange/

blog/2015/02/2015-pivotal-finalizing-universal-climate-change-agree-

ment-ban-tells-member-states/.

3. See United Nations Charter (constituting instrument of the Organization,

setting out the rights and obligations of Member-States, and establishing the

United Nations organs and procedures. It was adopted on Oct. 24, 1945).

http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/.

4. See Meeting of the General Assembly, Sixty-Ninth Session, January 8th, 2015,

Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon gave remarks in an informal meeting of the

General Assembly on the upcoming year, http://www.un.org/apps/news/info-

cus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=2476#.VUBUbFxvbdk.

5. See Millennium Development Goals, http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/.

6. See Tacking Climate Change, http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cli-

mate-change/.

209

A New Era for the United Nations: e Post-2015 Agenda and e Climate Change Agreement

Rosales

alignment of the two at the forefront of the United Nations discussions

has prompted many world leaders to consider both simultaneously and

tailor discussions that will aid each agenda in achieving their goals.7

e new post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”)

will play an instrumental and critical part of the new Climate Change

Agreement and vice-versa whether directly or indirectly, intentionally

or inadvertently, specically, in a discussion between world leaders,

Jerey Sachs, the Director at the Earth Institute and SDSN, stated that

climate change and sustainable development are “all part of the same

agenda.”8 Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed his concern in a

speech directed at the General Assembly saying, “Addressing climate

change is essential for realizing sustainable development. If we fail to

adequately address climate change, we will be unable to build a world

that supports a life of dignity for all.”9 However, despite the serendipitous

nature of the simultaneous discussions, we must encourage and implore

world leaders to act and seize the opportunity being presented.

Going forward, Part II of this paper will discuss the decline of

the Millennium Development Goals and why they failed. Part III will

discuss how the Sustainable Development Goals aim to revitalize the

approach to sustainable development and pick up where the MDGs le

o. Part IV will consider climate change and its long-term and short-

term eect on the countries, which the SDGs are aimed towards aiding,

as well as the proposals that are at the forefront of the new Climate

Change Agreement. More importantly, in Part V, this paper seeks to

encourage the United Nations to consolidate the SDGs and the CCA in

order to better address the global issues we are facing today.

7. See e.g., High-Level Panel Discussion on “e Post-2015 Agenda and a New

Climate Agreement: Building Mutually Reinforcing Processes., (Co-organized

by the Permanent Missions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Peru,

Sweden, and Viet Nam) (Feb. 10, 2015) http://unsdsn.org/news/2015/02/12/

the-post-2015-agenda-a-new-climate-agreement-building-mutually-reinforc-

ing-process/.

8. Id.

9. See Meeting of the General Assembly, supra note 4.