Summary
The 2016 meeting of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) concluded on Wednesday, following two sessions on Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) in the morning, a session on “Prospects for the future: projections, scenarios and new and emerging issues” in the afternoon, and the general debate. A Ministerial Declaration focusing on the theme of “Ensuring that no one is left behind” was adopted during the closing session, after the retention of a paragraph relating to the Paris Agreement on climate change was put to vote. 141 countries voted to retain the paragraph, one voted against, and three Member States abstained, and the Declaration was adopted with the paragraph intact.
IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, has provided daily reports, daily web coverage and a summary and analysis from HLPF 2016, which is available in HTML and PDF format.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth
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Voluntary National Reviews: Session 4
View of the dais during the fourth session on Voluntary National Reviews
Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava, Permanent Representative
of Zimbabwe to the UN and Vice President of the UN
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Komi Sélom Klassou, Prime Minister of Togo
Hanno Pevkur,
Minister of Internal Affairs, Estonia
Rosemarie Edillon, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Philippines
Kathy Calvin, President, UN Foundation
Arvind Panagariya, National Institution for
Transforming India (NITI)
Adil Najam, Boston University
Observers follow the proceedings from the gallery
Voluntary National Reviews: Session 5
Delegates gather for the fifth session on Voluntary National Reviews
Simón Gaviria, Minister for National Planning, Colombia
Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to
the UN and Vice President of ECOSOC
Jongmoon Choi, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea
Ricardo José Menéndez Prieto, Minister of the People's Power for Planning, Venezuela
Li Baodong, Vice Minister
of Foreign Affairs, China
Sahar Nasr, Minister of International Cooperation, Egypt
Ségolène Royal, Minister of the
Environment and Marine Affairs, France
Marianne Loe, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Norway
Jesús García, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Spain
Philipp Schönrock, speaking on behalf of
Major Groups and Together 2030
Various video presentations are made during the session
Prospects for the future: projections, scenarios and new and emerging issues
Panel speakers during the session
Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland
to the UN and Vice President of ECOSOC
Irina Bokova, Director-General, UN Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Simón Gaviria, Minister for
National Planning, Colombia
Edgar Gutiérrez Espeleta, President, Second UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-2), and Minister for Environment and Energy, Costa Rica
Stewart Lockie, James Cook University
Fumiko Kasuga, Future Earth Global Hub, Japan
Nebojsa Nakicenovic, International Institute
for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
General Debate
View of the dais during the general debate
Amir Muharemi, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Croatia
Courtenay Rattray, Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the UN
Cristiane Engelbrecht, Venezuela
Ion Jinga, Permanent Representative
of Romania to the UN
Sylvie Lucas, Permanent Representative
of Luxembourg to the UN
Jerry Matthews Matjila, Permanent Representative of South Africa to the UN
Colin Allen, speaking on behalf of the stakeholder group for persons with disabilities, uses sign language for his intervention
Closing Plenary
Delegates gather for the closing plenary
Oh Joon, Permanent Representative of the Republic
of Korea to the UN and President of ECOSOC
The Secretariat distributes the draft Ministerial Declaration
Delegates read through the draft Declaration
Mohammed Bessedik, Algeria
Jaime Hermida, Nicaragua
Esteban Cadena, Ecuador
Achraf Ibrahim, Egypt
Delegates discuss taking a paragraph of the draft Declaration to a vote
Delegates huddle to discuss taking a paragraph of the draft Declaration to a vote
Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for
Economic and Social Affairs
The HLPF is gavelled to a close
Around the Venue
Delegates gather for the final day of the 2016 HLPF
Abdullah Abu Shawesh, State of Palestine
Delegates from Italy
Delegates from Togo
Delegates from India
Delegates read the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)
Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) and visit the website to keep track of proceedings
Delegates from Germany
Delegates speak informally
Natalie Raven LeVan and Patricia Chavez, UN
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA)
Irina Bokova, Director-General, UNESCO, speaks
with Nebojsa Nakicenovic, IIASA
Ségolène Royal, Minister of the Environment and
Marine Affairs, France, holds a press conference
Delegates from Botswana
The ENB team covering the meeting (L-R): Dina Hestad; Rishikesh Ram Bhandary; Cleo Verkuijl; Anju Sharma; and Kiara Worth
