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Jump-starting the SDGs in Germany:
Natural Resources and Sustainable Consumption and Production

2-4 May 2016 | Berlin, Germany

Summary Highlights of the Meeting

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Web Coverage — About | 2 May | 3 May | 4 May | Summary

Highlights for Monday, 2 May 2016

View of Berlin (photo courtesy of the Andel’s Hotel, venue of the conference “Jump-starting the SDGs in Germany: Natural Resources and Sustainable Consumption and Production”

Alexander Müller, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) for Agriculture and Food, and German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE), Germany

The Conference “Jump-starting the SDGs in Germany: Natural Resources and Sustainable Consumption and Production” opened on Monday afternoon, 2 May 2016, at Andel’s Hotel, in Berlin, Germany. The meeting will address the challenges of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on natural resources and sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Participants met in two plenary and dialogue sessions to discuss the role of partnerships for SDG implementation.

During the first session on partnerships for a universal, transformative agenda, keynote speakers discussed the opportunities that can be realized and the challenges that can be addressed through partnerships in the context of SDG implementation. Non-governmental representatives of the nine countries included in the Swedish Government’s initiative of first mover countries, “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: A call for action,” then discussed expectations for the initiative’s implementation and outlined their experiences with partnerships. They noted challenges for partnerships including fragmentation among civil society organizations and government structures and competition for resources. Speakers also highlighted factors that can support partnerships, such as common interests among actors, implementation plans that engage civil society, defined responsibilities, established time frames, and monitoring.

The second session focused on examples and lessons learned from non-government partnerships and initiatives. Speakers stressed, among other things the importance of: shared visions; recognizing the intrinsic value of each actor and interdependencies among them; results-based frameworks; providing end-user feedback to governments; and addressing power imbalances. During the discussion, participants further stressed the need for capacity building for civil society, institutionalizing platforms for participation, and working with diverse groups of people.

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.

Abir Ghattas, Activist, Blogger and Digital communication strategist, Lebanon

Günther Bachmann, RNE, Germany
Room view during the session

Marianne Beisheim, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Germany

Stephen Chacha, Africa Philanthropic Foundation (APF), Tanzania

Layla Saad, World Centre for Sustainable Development (RIO+ Centre), Brazil

Masego Madzwamuse, Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa (OSISA), South Africa

Johan Kuylenstierna, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Sweden

Ivonne Lobos Alva, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Germany

Scott Vaughan, President and CEO, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Canada

John Patrick Ngoyi, Justice, Development and Peace/Caritas Committee of the Catholic Church, Nigeria

Rudolph Cleveringa, Executive Secretary, Global Water Partnership (GWP), Sweden

Måns Nilsson, SEI, Sweden

Jes Weigelt, IASS, Germany

Namhla Mniki-Mangaliso, African Monitor, South Africa

Farooq Ullah, Stakeholder Forum, United Kingdom

Hans Herren, President and CEO, Millennium Institute

Eugénio Fátima Lemos, Permatil, Timor-Leste

Javier Surasky, Centro de Pensamiento Estratégico Internacional, Colombia

Thomas Forster, EcoAgriculture Partners, US

Nadia El-Hage Scialabba, FAO

Martin Wittau, Germany
Scott Vaughan, President and CEO, IISD, with Lynn Wagner, IISD, Canada

Highlights for Tuesday, 3 May 2016

View of Berlin (photo courtesy of the Andel’s Hotel, venue of the conference “Jump-starting the SDGs in Germany: Natural Resources and Sustainable Consumption and Production”

Christian Schmidt, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Germany

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

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

Highlights for Wednesday, 4 May 2016

View of Berlin (photo courtesy of the Andel’s Hotel, venue of the conference “Jump-starting the SDGs in Germany: Natural Resources and Sustainable Consumption and Production”

Johan Kuylenstierna, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), with Alexander Müller, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) for Agriculture and Food, and German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE)

On Wednesday morning, Conference participants attending “Jump-starting the SDGs in Germany: Natural Resources and Sustainable Consumption and Production” reviewed lessons from the previous day’s dialogue forums, and discussed implications of the Conference’s outcomes for SDG implementation at the international level and in Germany.

On key messages taken from the dialogue sessions, speakers stressed: the role of information in ensuring accountability and promoting policy coherence; and that partnering activities require building trust, flexibility and resilience. Speakers also urged policy makers to consider solutions beyond the market economy, and citizens to be more critical towards markets and policies that do not reflect people’s concerns.

Chair Alexander Müller, TEEB for Agriculture and Food and RNE, presented the Conference main messages, including that it is time for governments to act and that industrialized countries need to change for developing countries to start changing.

On implications of SDG implementation, speakers noted that: the 2030 Agenda is a new social contract which recognizes interdependence, planetary limitations, and shared prosperity; and consumers, voters and citizens are the main drivers of change.

Representatives of four German federal ministries commented on implications for SDG implementation in Germany, noting, among other issues, the need for: a more comprehensive discussion of necessary changes in German lifestyles; recognition that German development cooperation includes domestic actions to address impacts of domestic consumption and production patterns in other countries; a platform to involve academia and scientists in implementation; and feeding a growing world population, at low prices, while managing natural resources sustainably. Another speaker urged using the SDGs to influence policies that may have adverse effects, such as the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.

Müller closed the meeting at 2:08 pm.

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.

Lewis Akenji, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)

Christiane Grefe, Die Zeit, Germany

Christiane Grefe, Die Zeit, Germany, and Klaus Töpfer, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS)

Douglas Williamson, Collective Leadership Institute

Lynn Wagner, IISD

Klaus Töpfer, IASS

Adolf Kloke-Lesch, Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)

Ulf Jaeckel, Chair of the 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP), Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), Germany

Klaus Milke, Germanwatch

Christiane Grefe, Die Zeit, and Miriam Block, Netzwerk N, Germany

Ivonne Lobos Alva, with Jes Weigelt, IASS

Alexander Müller, TEEB for Agriculture and Food, and RNE

Rômulo Paes de Sousa, World Centre for Sustainable Development (RIO+ Centre)
Christian Fronczak, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), Germany

Juan Mayr, Ambassador of Colombia to Germany

Volkmar Dietz, Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany
The IISD Reporting Services team holding their favorite SDGs. From L-R: Lynn Wagner, Stefan Jungcurt, Elsa Tsioumani, Eugenia Recio, Mike Muzurakis, and Olivia Freeman.

Discussion Illustrations

VenusBrass band

Web Coverage — About | 2 May | 3 May | 4 May | Summary
Funding for coverage of the Conference “Jump-starting the SDGs in Germany:
Natural Resources and Sustainable Consumption and Production,” has been provided by IASS Potsdam,
the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and the Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V.
IASS BMEL FNR