Highlights and images for 20 July 2016

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