The Leadership Meeting of the Global Consultation on Environmental Sustainability in the Post-2015 Development Agenda resumed on Tuesday, 19 March, at the Real Intercontinental Hotel in San José, Costa Rica. Representatives from international, non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, and civil society, as well as government representatives, met to continue reviewing the results of the first phase of the Global Thematic Consultation on Environmental Sustainability and discussed addressing environmental sustainability in the post-2015 agenda.

In the morning, Consultation Co-Chairs Veerle Vandeweerd, UNDP, and Maryam Niamir-Fuller, UNEP, provided an overview of discussions held during the first day of the meeting. Participants engaged in discussions to identify additional elements to be highlighted. Later on, participants convened in a working session on addressing environmental sustainability in the post-2015 agenda, breaking into smaller groups to discuss: protecting global commons while respecting national development; country typologies; building from the local level; governance, human rights, peace and security; and inequality and inter-generational issues. The five breakout groups aimed to: work towards consensus on issues that should frame environmental sustainability in the post-2015 agenda; identify areas where further dialogue, outreach and innovative thinking is needed; and provide specific recommendations to the UN High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (HLP). In the afternoon, rapporteurs from each of the breakout groups reported back on the various questions discussed and highlighted key messages.

During the closing plenary, moderated by Vandeweerd, Wael Hmaidan, Climate Action Network-International (CAN), emphasized: interlinkages across thematic issues; and that each MDG should have a test for environmental sustainability, such as whether it protects the global commons. Mara Murillo, UNEP, said transformation and structural societal changes to achieve sustainable development were possible with a strong commitment by everyone. Jean Baptiste Chauvin, Ambassador of France to Costa Rica, said that the time of working in "silos" is over, and that the battles are interdependent and "all have to be won." Javier Díaz, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Costa Rica, called for the soonest possible convergence of the post-2015 agenda and the SDG process, in order to avoid the inefficient use of scarce resources. Thanking participants, he closed the meeting at 5:03 pm.

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The Leadership Meeting of the Global Consultation on Environmental Sustainability in the Post-2015 Development Agenda opened on Monday, 18 March, at the Real Intercontinental Hotel in San José, Costa Rica. Around 100 representatives from international, non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, and civil society, as well as government representatives, met with the objective of reviewing the results of the first phase of the Global Thematic Consultation on Environmental Sustainability. The Consultation is co-led by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and is co-hosted by the Governments of France and Costa Rica.

In the morning opening plenary, Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator, underscored lack of progress in implementing some aspects of MDG 7 (Environmental Sustainability), and called for a shift in discourse from focusing on tradeoffs among growth, poverty and environment, to a “triple win approach” that advances all three dimensions of sustainable development. Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director, via video, highlighted that the challenge in moving towards the post-2015 agenda is not to fixate on a date, but rather to devise a clear analysis of what has worked, a direction for facing future challenges, and catalytic opportunities to add to the global development agenda to “let us move forward faster.” Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of France for the Protection of the Planet, Nicolas Hulot, highlighted the need to work on a model of change, stating that environmental protection, inequality and poverty eradication have thus far been addressed separately and must be considered in an integrated manner. René Castro Salazar, Costa Rican Minister of Environment, highlighted local challenges in implementing sustainable development, stressing the need for moving from consensus on what “not” to do, to building upon agreement on “what to do.” Participants also exchanged views on expectations about the meeting.

In the afternoon, participants engaged in a working session on capitalizing on the MDGs and MDG7 achievements and addressing the gaps, specifically addressing: framing/achievements of the MDGs; content of the MDGs; and application of the MDGs. Participants split into breakout groups, and addressed key questions with the aim of seeking to validate the results from e-discussions and find common ground on important elements of the MDGs and how they relate to national development agendas. Later on, rapporteurs from each of the breakout groups reported back on the various questions discussed in the working session. In the evening, participants attended a reception hosted by the Government of Costa Rica at the National Museum. The meeting will resume on Tuesday.

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