Mohammad Badrul Ahsan :
The government should involve private sector, civil society to successful implementation of sustainable development goals (SDG) and reach targets on climate change adaptation, experts said.
They also said the achievement of SDG would not be possible by the government alone as different sectors and multilateral issues are involved with the initiative.
“The society and its people at large will have to be incorporated in our efforts to achieve the SDGs. We have to find out how we can involve private sector and civil society organisations,” Prof Shamsul Alam, a member of the government’s General Economic Division told the New Nation on Friday.
Alam, who led the team that prepared the sixth and seventh five-year plans, said the seventh plan has been prepared in line with the SDGs.
He also opined that the government should involve civil society organizations and non-government organizations (NGOs) to monitor and assess the activities of the targeted progress of SDG.
“Coordinated efforts with the private sector and an action plan with accountability hold the key to achieving the United Nations’ 17-point sustainable development goals,” said Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute (PRI).
He also called for strong and effective institutional mechanism, involving all stakeholders including public representatives, civil society members and development partners to achieve SDGs.
Executive director of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), A Atiq Rahman said Bangladesh has been able to do a good job in areas where the central government, the local government, the civil society, the non-governmental organisations, the private sector and the public at large worked in a team.
“Seven of the 17 SDGs are directly linked with trade, business and investment. So, without real and effective collaboration between the government and the private sector, the SDGs cannot be achieved,” he added.
Rahman also said the emission of greenhouse gas has to be reduced as there is no alternative to that. “Otherwise, our cost of adaptation will only go up and up.”
“Besides, Bangladesh has to figure out how much funds it would take to implement the SDGs and how much of the funds it would arrange itself and how much it would require from outside.”
The BCAS Director added, “The achievement of SDGs implementation cannot be measured if the communities are not involved in the process.”
However, Dwijendra Mallick, a climate change and adaptation specialist, expressing his dismay over the delays that normally take place in reaching an international agreement.
“There had been 20 climate change meetings over a period of 20 years before last year’s agreement. We cannot afford such delays.”
Meanwhile, Hamidul Huq, director of the Centre for Sustainable Development at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh disagrees with the opinion to involve NGOs in to monitor and assessing the activities of the targeted progress of SDG saying non-development organisations cannot play the role of the civil society as many of them have come under the government regulations because of their microcredit operations.
Besides, he also urged the government for more allocation of fund to the sectors those directly contributes to the achievement of SDGs of Bangladesh.
However, at the Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September, 2015, UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which included a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030.
The SDGs, otherwise known as the Global Goals, build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight anti-poverty targets that the world committed to achieving by 2015. The MDGs, adopted in 2000, aimed at an array of issues that included slashing poverty, hunger, disease, gender inequality, and access to water and sanitation. Enormous progress has been made on the MDGs, showing the value of a unifying agenda underpinned by goals and targets. Despite this success, the indignity of poverty has not been ended for all.
The new Global Goals, and the broader sustainability agenda, go much further than the MDGs, addressing the root causes of poverty and the universal need for development that works for all people.
The government should involve private sector, civil society to successful implementation of sustainable development goals (SDG) and reach targets on climate change adaptation, experts said.
They also said the achievement of SDG would not be possible by the government alone as different sectors and multilateral issues are involved with the initiative.
“The society and its people at large will have to be incorporated in our efforts to achieve the SDGs. We have to find out how we can involve private sector and civil society organisations,” Prof Shamsul Alam, a member of the government’s General Economic Division told the New Nation on Friday.
Alam, who led the team that prepared the sixth and seventh five-year plans, said the seventh plan has been prepared in line with the SDGs.
He also opined that the government should involve civil society organizations and non-government organizations (NGOs) to monitor and assess the activities of the targeted progress of SDG.
“Coordinated efforts with the private sector and an action plan with accountability hold the key to achieving the United Nations’ 17-point sustainable development goals,” said Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute (PRI).
He also called for strong and effective institutional mechanism, involving all stakeholders including public representatives, civil society members and development partners to achieve SDGs.
Executive director of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), A Atiq Rahman said Bangladesh has been able to do a good job in areas where the central government, the local government, the civil society, the non-governmental organisations, the private sector and the public at large worked in a team.
“Seven of the 17 SDGs are directly linked with trade, business and investment. So, without real and effective collaboration between the government and the private sector, the SDGs cannot be achieved,” he added.
Rahman also said the emission of greenhouse gas has to be reduced as there is no alternative to that. “Otherwise, our cost of adaptation will only go up and up.”
“Besides, Bangladesh has to figure out how much funds it would take to implement the SDGs and how much of the funds it would arrange itself and how much it would require from outside.”
The BCAS Director added, “The achievement of SDGs implementation cannot be measured if the communities are not involved in the process.”
However, Dwijendra Mallick, a climate change and adaptation specialist, expressing his dismay over the delays that normally take place in reaching an international agreement.
“There had been 20 climate change meetings over a period of 20 years before last year’s agreement. We cannot afford such delays.”
Meanwhile, Hamidul Huq, director of the Centre for Sustainable Development at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh disagrees with the opinion to involve NGOs in to monitor and assessing the activities of the targeted progress of SDG saying non-development organisations cannot play the role of the civil society as many of them have come under the government regulations because of their microcredit operations.
Besides, he also urged the government for more allocation of fund to the sectors those directly contributes to the achievement of SDGs of Bangladesh.
However, at the Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September, 2015, UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which included a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030.
The SDGs, otherwise known as the Global Goals, build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight anti-poverty targets that the world committed to achieving by 2015. The MDGs, adopted in 2000, aimed at an array of issues that included slashing poverty, hunger, disease, gender inequality, and access to water and sanitation. Enormous progress has been made on the MDGs, showing the value of a unifying agenda underpinned by goals and targets. Despite this success, the indignity of poverty has not been ended for all.
The new Global Goals, and the broader sustainability agenda, go much further than the MDGs, addressing the root causes of poverty and the universal need for development that works for all people.
