The Sustainability Learning Forum

Being one with the global community

Manila Doctors Hospital

2015 proved to be a pivotal year as the global community welcomed the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and participated vigorously during the COP21 in Paris. So many opportunities are now being presented to the business sector to prove that it can be a force for good. As a responsible corporate citizen, the Manila Doctors Hospital (MDH) readily took action in identifying where it can best contribute toward the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Philippines. By choosing to focus on three SDGs, the Corporate Social Responsibility office (CSR) of MDH will allow it to maximize its resources and make a long-term commitment with its partners. more[...]

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The Post-2015 Agenda

"Three out of the eight millennium development targets – on poverty, slums and water – have been met ahead of the 2015 deadline, but much remains to be done. The future development framework – the Post-2015 agenda – should build on the lessons learned from working toward achieving the MDGs, which have been providing the structure for the UN’s development activities since the Millennium Summit in 2000." Source: UNDP more[...]

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Corporate Responsibilities in the Context of the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda

Prof. Dr. Klaus Leisinger

Extreme poverty, poor health, inadequate nutrition, and other forms of human deprivation are widespread and reduce development opportunities of the generation living today. One result is increased internal as well as international migration – depriving rural areas and poor countries of the most valuable development resource: the initiative and skills of young people. Even in rich countries, income and wealth disparities are widening, and high unemployment – particularly among young people – is becoming endemic. The world population will grow from today’s 7.2 billion people to more than 9 billion by the year 2050. more[...]

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Leisinger, Klaus

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Ten Lessons from Innovation Studies for a Sustainable Paradigm

Prof. Dr. Paul Dewick

Sustainability goals, such as those associated with the the post-2015 development agenda of the United Nations, have to be translated into new commercial products and services as well as different ways of making and delivering them that replace less-sustainable alternatives. This is the role for firms intending to profit from innovation while meeting sustainable goals. Sometimes these innovators are small entrepreneurial firms that see sustainable products as an ideal niche in which to start a new business venture. Sometimes these innovators are large firms that have identified opportunities where customers and/or technologies are new. Successful innovation at the firm level contributes cumulatively to industrial structural change in a process known as “creative destruction.” Through this process, a new paradigm can emerge, within which sustainable economic growth flourishes in an inclusive manner consistent with the goals of the United Nations post-2015 agenda. more[...] login_required

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Going Beyond GDP – Measuring Social Progress

Julia Vol

Agreement is emerging between politicians, social actors, and businesses worldwide – that economic growth alone cannot provide an accurate indication of prosperity. Relying on economic growth as the sole measurement for social progress provides an incomplete picture. But there is a new measurement that attempts to provide a better understanding of the components of a successful society and social order. more[...] login_required

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MDGs and SDGs: Are the Concepts Compatible?

Dr. Markus Loewe, German Development Institute

For the last 20 years, the international development debate has been dominated by two trends that seem, at first, to be heading in a similar direction. However, under closer scrutiny, they differ with respect to their focus and underlying philosophies. On the one hand, there is the agenda of reducing poverty in developing countries in its various dimensions, which found its expression in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). On the other hand, there is the idea of sustainability that became popular at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and that, at the Rio+20 summit in 2012, generated a parallel concept to the MDGs: the so-called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). more[...]

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UNDP-led partnership unveils key to successful community-driven sustainable development projects

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

The Equator Initiative - a United Nations-led partnership which recognizes the success of local sustainable development projects with the biennial Equator Prize - has launched a series of 127 case studies and a volume of “lessons-learned” outlining the key components of successful, community-based development initiatives. more[...] login_required

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The real issue is universal access to affordable basic services

Diana Mitlin, International Institute for Environment and Development

As global institutions and official development assistance agencies reflect on what should follow the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), this is an opportunity to recognise their critical flaw — global leaders have endorsed partial MDG targets. more[...] login_required

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Diets must become sustainable say FAO

Food and Agriculture Organization

Immediate action to promote sustainable diets and food biodiversity so as to improve the health of humans and of the planet is urged in a book just published by FAO and Bioversity International. more[...] login_required

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UN Secretary-General appoints high-level panel on post-2015 development agenda

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the members of a High-level Panel to advise on the global development agenda beyond 2015, the target date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). more[...] login_required

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Beyond the Millennium Development Goals

Prof. David Satterthwaite, International Institute for Environment and Development

How can we ensure the targets that replace the Millennium Development Goals lead to a future that low-income groups want? David Satterthwaite outlines five points to consider. more[...] login_required

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Mozambique Irrigation Project to help achieve UN MDGs

Mitsui & Co.

In cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mitsui is donating a solar power-operated pumping facility for irrigation water to a local farming community in Mozambique, Africa. In 2010, a partnership agreement to build an irrigation system was signed between Mitsui and UNDP, with the project currently at the construction phase. more[...] login_required

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Make Rio+20 Count

The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) provides an exceptional opportunity for swift policy action to accelerate and scale business solutions so 9 billion people can live well and within the limits of one planet by 2050. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) today pressed governments to overcome their differences and to take decisive action now. more[...] login_required

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MDGs: Some targets met, but much remains to be done

The 2012 Millennium Development Goals report, published last week, highlights the progress made towards some of these development targets. However, the UN experts pointed out a number of areas that must be addressed urgently, asking world governments to strengthen their efforts to achieve the MDGs while also ensuring that the post-2015 development agenda will be based on human rights obligations. more[...]

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