Summary
On Tuesday morning, the Conference “Jump-starting the SDGs in Germany: Natural Resources and Sustainable Consumption and Production” opened with a High-level Policy Segment.
Noting that implementation can only proceed through partnerships, Christian Schmidt, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Germany, said adoption of the 2030 Agenda holds every country, company and individual responsible for implementation. He drew attention to inappropriate production in water-scarce areas, such as dairy production, and stressed the need for society to invest in renewable energies, including biomass, to monitor energy consumption and decarbonize.
During panel discussions, Maja Fjaestad, State Secretary for Strategic Development and Nordic Cooperation, Sweden, underscored Sweden’s strong commitment to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, including the aim to become the “first fossil fuel-free welfare state.” Harald Braun, German Ambassador to the UN, highlighted the importance of immediate action through inclusive, multi-sectoral approaches.
Ambassador Michael Gerber, Swiss Agency for Development, noted that the import of water-intensive products is equivalent to 82% of his country’s water consumption.
Klaus Töpfer, IASS, suggested asking countries to submit intended nationally determined strategies for SDG implementation to the High-level Political Forum (HLPF).
Noting that Agenda 2030 involves more than 200 indicators, Matteo Pedercini, Millennium Institute, presented a model that simulates the outcomes of implementing measures in countries concerning the multiple SDGs.
In the afternoon, eight dialogue forums were held in parallel discussing natural resources and sustainable consumption and production from a nexus perspective to address the 2030 Agenda. Participants explored the issues of food security and nutrition, climate, energy, land governance, water, and resource efficiency, to address the role of natural resources in achieving the SDGs. In the evening, participants attended the conference dinner at the House of World Cultures.
IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB+ Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and a summary report from the Conference: Jump-starting the SDGs in Germany. Our report is available in HTML or PDF format.
From L-R: Klaus Töpfer, IASS; Alexander Müller, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) for Agriculture and Food, and German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE); and Christian Schmidt, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Germany
Klaus Töpfer, IASS, with Christian Schmidt, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Germany
Christian Schmidt, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Germany, taking part in the #globalgoals selfie campaign
From L-R: Harald Braun, Permanent Representation of Germany to the UN; Klaus Töpfer, IASS; and Christian Schmidt, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Germany
Alexander Müller, TEEB for Agriculture and Food, and RNE
Harald Braun, Permanent Representation of Germany to the UN
Thando Tilmann, IASS
Tim Beringer, IASS
Maja Fjaestad, State Secretary for Strategic Development and Nordic Cooperation, Sweden
Ambassador Michael Gerber, Swiss Special Envoy for Global Sustainable Development
Klaus Töpfer, IASS
From L-R: Maja Fjaestad, State Secretary for Strategic Development and Nordic Cooperation, Sweden; Harald Braun, Permanent Representation of Germany to the UN; Ambassador Michael Gerber, Swiss Special Envoy for Global Sustainable Development; Klaus Töpfer, IASS; and Alexander Müller, TEEB for Agriculture and Food, and RNE
Matteo Pedercini, Millennium Institute (MI)
Parallel Dialogue Forum I: Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) and the 2030 Agenda: Complementing or competing?
Matheus Zanella, IAAS
Stephan Rist, Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, Switzerland
Discussion illustrators were transforming words into designs
Parallel Dialogue Forum II: Consume with care: Food waste and the Sustainable Development Goals
Matthias Meißner, WWF Germany
Ira Matuschke, IASS
Ryan Harty, National Association of German Foodbanks (Die Tafeln)
Parallel Dialogue Forum III: No 2 without 11: The urban side of food and nutrition security
Jane Battersby, African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Thomas Forster, EcoAgriculture Partners
Florence Egal, Food security and Nutrition expert, Italy
Parallel Dialogue Forum IV: Great expectations - soils for sustainable development and climate mitigation
From L-R: Tobias Reichert, Germanwatch; Knut Ehlers, German Environment Agency (UBA); Claudia Kammann, Geisenheim University; Tim Beringer, IASS; and Sébastien Treyer, Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI)
Christoph von Stechow, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change
Tim Beringer, IASS, and Sébastien Treyer, IDDRI
Parallel Dialogue Forum V: Bioenergy: Managing expectations and trade-offs of the 2030 Agenda
Julia Tomei, University College London
Helmut Haberl, Institute of Social Ecology, Klagenfurt University
Christiane Grefe, Reporter, Die Zeit, Germany
Parallel Dialogue Forum VI: Civil society’s space to support a human rights-based implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda
Christian Gräfen, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
Masego Madzwamuse, Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA)
Roman Herre, Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN) Germany
Elisa Gärtner, IASS
Parallel Dialogue Forum VII: A science-policy dialogue on resource efficiency and planetary boundaries - two complementary approaches for integrated SDG implementation
Lewis Akenji, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
Johan Kuylenstierna, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
Maja Goepel, Wuppertal Institute
Parallel Dialogue Forum VIII: From integration to nexus - Water pioneering for sustainable development
Falk Schmidt, IASS
Claudia Wendland, Women in Europe for a Common Future
Reception
