The Legal Mandate of Multilateral Development Banks as Agents for Change Toward Sustainable Development

1998 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 642-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Günther Handl
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Global Environment ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Agenda 21 ◽  
Multilateral Development Banks ◽  
Resource Degradation ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
Environment And Development ◽  
Development Banks

In its June 1997 review of the state of the global environment and the implementation of Agenda 21, five years after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), the UN General Assembly drew a rather gloomy picture. While acknowledging that some progress toward sustainable development had been made, for example, in curbing pollution and slowing the rate of resource degradation in a number of countries, the Assembly’s report noted that, overall, trends tended toward continued deterioration. Not surprisingly, therefore, the report also reiterated Agenda 21’s call upon, inter alia, multilateral development banks (MDBs) to ensure that development funding “contribute to economic growth, social development and environmental protection in the context of sustainable development.” The report, in short, enjoined MDBs to strengthen their commitment to sustainable development.

Sustainable Development: Linking Environment and Development

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluf Langhelle
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Global Environment ◽  
Capitalist System ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Environment And Development ◽  
Environmental Limits ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Key Questions

This chapter starts with the origin of the concept sustainable development and establishes what the innovation of sustainable development represented – the merging of environment and development. It then explores what has happened with this concept in its 30 years of existence in terms of two key questions: What has been the impact of sustainable development? Has sustainable development made any difference at all? These questions are discussed in light of two different but equally important issues that have permeated the whole complex of global environment and development linkages since the late 1960s: the question of (environmental) limits and the question of economic growth. The chapter argues that sustainable development is both simple and notoriously complex. It is simple in the sense that it builds on intuitive ideas which merge environmental and developmental concerns. It is complex in the sense that it demands the cooperation of all countries in a globalized, competitive, capitalist system. Further, the merging of environment and development is argued to be inescapable–there is simply no way out of the sustainable development equation. Sustainable development will therefore continue to be the main framework for the integration of the challenges of environment and development.

The UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: to what extent are human rights and sustainable development mutually compatible in the field of migration?

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-252
Author(s):  
Elspeth Guild
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Global Compact ◽  
Un Global Compact ◽  
Agenda 2030 ◽  
Development Framework ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
Un General Assembly

AbstractIn this contribution, I examine the links between the human rights basis of the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and its embeddedness in the UN Sustainable Development Agenda 2030. While the GCM grew out of a development framework, it was rapidly incorporated into the UN human rights system. Even during the negotiation of the GCM, human rights took priority over development. The resistance that was manifested against the GCM on its endorsement by the UN General Assembly was directed not against its development links, but rather concerns about its human rights impact. This paper examines the placing of migration in this dual framework and the ways in which outcomes compatible with both are achievable.

scholarly journals A managerial approach for the coherent development of sustainable development law

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-99
Author(s):  
Stephanie De Moerloose ◽  
Makane Moïse Mbengue
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Integrated Development ◽  
Multilateral Development Banks ◽  
Law System ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Development Banks ◽  
European Investment

While judicial bodies have proliferated in the last fifty years in a process that has been deemed “quasi-anarchic” (Guillaume, G., 2000) creating a risk of inconsistency in their decisions which would endanger the international law system, quasi-judicial bodies such as Multilateral Development Banks' accountability mechanisms are not spared by this legal phenomenon. They have diverse proceedings and jurisdictions, operate with different sets of environmental and social safeguards, but may confront similar factual scenarios, especially in the case of co-financing. The recent Kenya Electricity Expansion Project presented before the World Bank and the European Investment Bank’s accountability mechanisms illustrates that, through a managerial approach, potentially conflicting findings can be avoided. This paper aims to show that quasi-judicial bodies can constitute a source of inspiration for the integrated development of international law.

scholarly journals Mainstreaming the ‘Brown’ Agenda

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 6660
Author(s):  
Pranita Shrestha
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Developing Country ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Global Environment ◽  
Ecological Protection ◽  
Environment And Development

‘Sustainable development’ is a term that came into use after the Brundtland Commission’s report on global environment and development in 1987. This term is also referred to as an ‘oxymoron’ as it comprises two words ‘sustainable’ and ‘development’ that are in many ways contradictory to each other—well illustrated by the clear divisions between the ‘green’ and the ‘brown’ agendas. This paper attempts to empirically represent this contradictory nature of the term through a specific case of ecological protection of a river versus human well-being of squatters within the context of a developing country in South Asia. The paper argues for the need to explicitly emphasize the justice aspect of sustainable development through mainstreaming the ‘brown’ agenda.

scholarly journals PERAN PEREMPUAN DALAM PEMBANGUNAN BERKELANJUTAN WOMEN IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELPMENT

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-64
Author(s):  
Yusriani Sapta Dewi
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Millennium Development Goals ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Agenda 21 ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Gender Perspectives ◽  
Environment And Development ◽  
Sustainable Organizations ◽  
Gender Specific ◽  
United Nation

The United Nations are formally commited to gender mainstreaming within all policy areas and programs. In 1992 the United Nation Conference on Environment and Development produced Agenda 21, which recognized women as one of the nine major groups whose active participation is essential to sustainable development. It was agreed that the advancement of women is indeed a pre requisite for making sustainable development a reality. The World Conference on Women in 1995 adopted the Beijing Platform for Action, in which governments agreed to implement gender mainstreaming. Other United Nation conference have also acknowledged the importance of adopting a gender specific approach to implementing policies; gender equality has been identified as one of Millennium Development Goals and designated as a crosscutting theme for work of the commission on sustainable organizations, national government, and most civil society groups still fail to integrate gender perspectives adequately into their policies and their actions.

scholarly journals Between Development and Sustainability: Symbiotic Synergy or Irreconcilable Duality

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Agata Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Human Resources Management ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Minor Importance ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Agenda 21 ◽  
Business Partner ◽  
Financial Flows ◽  
Continuous Growth

Aim: This paper studies the concept of sustainable development, which has been overly present in recent times on global arena of debates about issues most pressing to humanity in variety of contexts, political, legal, social and environmental. It has been appropriated by governments and NGOs alike. It is being advocated to promote both, continuous growth and reversal of unsustainable pattern of limitless growth. The aim of this paper is to follow the history of the concepts of development and sustainability, its evolution and current status and question whether future developments in the area of sustainable development are likely to support “development” part of it, through drive to maximum economic growth, increase of financial flows and investments, consumption and production; or whether the “sustainability” part of the agenda, with protection of environment, human rights and climate as a priority, will prevail.Design / Research methods: The article follows the historical origins and developments of the concepts of development and sustainability, since industrial revolution of the eighteenth century where progress has been linked with economic growth and material advancement. The concept of sustainability on the other hand is closely connected with human relationship with nature, which went through a profound change when people started to make permanent settlements, domesticate animals and farm the land. This paper explains how sustainable development term rose to political prominence following publication of the Brundtland report in 1987 and how subsequent global political initiatives, like Agenda 21, Johannesburg Declaration and 2030 Agenda, gradually reaffirmed the place of sustainable development as an important element of international agenda and broadened the meaning of the term.Conclusions / findings: The role of business partner is present in 10% of the examined enterprises, with the source of capital and the entity size being of minor importance. Projects play a key role in the development of contemporary undertakings. Moreover, the primary role in terms of the implementation of any organizational activities is exercised by people. Thus, the opportunity emerges to implement and modify the concept of HR business partnering. This will lead to a greater professionalization of staffing, which will ultimately affect positively the implementation of strategy of the organizations under discussion.Originality / value of the article: The publications on project management as well as those concerned with human resources management have so far not addressed the issue of the development of the HR business partner role in the organizations under discussion. The considerations, of both theoretical and practical nature, contribute to the theory of management, being much relevant owing to the ever growing popularity of the concept of management through projects.

scholarly journals THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: NORMATIVE VALUE AND CHALLENGES FOR IMPLEMENTATION

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (26) ◽  
pp. 13-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Pavoni ◽  
Dario Piselli
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
Normative Value

This article explores the implications for international environmental law of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which occurred at the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Summit. Following a summary of the main outcomes of the Summit, the paper evaluates the process and vision of the SDGs against both the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the past efforts of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in the field of sustainable development. The paper then examines how the environmental dimension of the SDGs is integrated into the general framework of the post-2015 development agenda and addresses two important questions which will most likely prove instrumental in the achievement of the Goals themselves. First, it the light of UN General Assembly Resolution 70/1, it discusses the normative value of the environmental obligations of States enshrined in the SDGs. Secondly, it deals with problems of implementation of the outcomes of the Summit, and accordingly attempts to identify the main legal challenges for the operationalization of the environmental component of the SDGs, in the wider context of the Agenda and taking the recent developments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) into account.

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