This article has been written by Ms. Simran Nair, a Third-Year Law Student of Vivekanand Education Society’s College of Law, Mumbai.
ABSTRACT:
“At present, we are stealing the future, selling it in the present and calling it as gross domestic product.” – Paul Hawken
The concept of ‘Sustainability’ has evolved with advancements and gained significance in contemporary society. It plays a vital role in inculcating long-term goals and providing a better future. This comprehensive study navigates the domain of sustainability and the role of the United Nations and its agencies in conditioning a financial base for long-term goals worldwide. The exploration deeply analyses the journey of the UN in embarking upon nurturing the nations in various ways. This study also delves deep into the evolution of the UN capacitating its strategies to support the transforming financial landscape and focuses majorly on the recently established 2030 Agenda. Amidst the developments and modifications in the needs and wants, the aim of every nation-state is diversified. This has established challenges for the UN to strike a balance between development and sustainability and has polished the UN in terms of ensuring financial accountability. Post 2015, the UN agenda stated the Nations to be ‘more ‘fit for purpose’ to provide a ‘sustained development’ financing for long-term support. This provision of resources seeks to balance humanitarian financing and development as it is critically challenging for the fragmenting nature of the Nations’ policy frameworks. This exploration also observes the legal frameworks parallel to the UN Conventions, unravelling the intricacies of sustainable development and equitable mechanisms that would foster the diversified advancements, inlining the economic curves parallel to providing a sustainable growth. Lastly, the abstract encapsulates the UN’s roles in the ongoing discourse that fosters financial mechanisms for sustainable growth and suggests ways to overcome the critical challenges worldwide.
KEY WORDS:
United Nations, SDGs, sustainability, financial stability, Development, strategies, decision-making, economy, growth, legal frameworks, evolution.
INTRODUCTION:
“If you want to reap financial blessings, you have to sow financially.” – Joel Osteen
The globe is moving towards a finance-centric society, signifying every path towards financial security and finance building. The domains of real estate, assets and equities held by corporate entities, financial institutions and governments are advancing, yet there has been an equal focus on achieving global sustainable development. The need for sufficiency in the allocation and distribution of finance is rising parallel to the rise of possession of powers in the hands of the capitalists. In addition, the Oxfam report analysed that since 2020, 1% of the richest people got approximately $42 trillion, comprising two-thirds of new wealth. This report was released amidst rising hunger rates and poverty rates, along with over 1.7 billion workers living in nations where inflation exceeded their wages. The future is highly dependent upon the present financial framework of the nations. Further, the alignment of financial management and sustainable goals is essential, as most of the finances fail to align with sustainability. This inflicts imbalance or unequal distribution of wealth. For instance, when the government pays for the health of the people but fails to fund for economically backward classes, the distribution is concentrated and leads to mismanagement of funds affecting the financial sustainability.
Financial management involves governments, businesses and households utilising private and public resources. Taxation plays a pivotal role which helps in generating funds within the countries to manage the integral monetary assets. There also exists correlation and inter-dependence between the countries to fund each other or provide financial support through means of low-cost loans or grants to meet their goals.
To implement a global financial management system, the United Nations has come up with a plethora of agendas to foster financial sustainability. Their aims include budgets to provide not only for economic development but also education, health care, environment and pandemic. These agendas are implemented by various plans and authorities for instance the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, SDGs, Goal 17 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing, Paris Agreement and so on, that will be covered in the further part of the comprehensive research.
NECESSITY TO FUND SUSTAINABILITY FROM THE GROUND-ROOT LEVEL
The UN Authoritative Governments have set targets and goals to fund sustainable development. The progress so far has been an amalgamation of the commitments and plans of the UN. The present-day progress has been a variety of curves. On the one hand, financial management has overlooked the challenges faced by middle-income and poorer countries and on the other hand, the UN has been commended for its financial management to foster sustainable growth. However, many countries unable to fund their development adequately are struggling with economic development, healthcare, environmental protection and education even before the pandemic era. For such countries, the situation has worsened post-inflation, debt burdens, cost-ineffective lifestyles, natural disasters. This substantiated the necessity to fund sustainable growth from the ground-root level, ensuring that every country is financially secure and achieving long-term goals to secure their future. There was a need for equitable development and maximizing the financial agendas to expand the benefits.
FINANCIAL PLAN TO IMPLEMENT THE 2030 AGENDA
Historical Context:
The United Nations (UN) has had a history of fostering its member-states on funding for development. The UN system-wide financial data reporting exercises responsibilities upon the UN financial data standards. The UN Chief Executives Board for Coordination’s High-Level Committee on Management (HLCM) and the UN Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG) have collaborated to produce these data standards. This has intervened with the nations’ intergovernmental operations and programmatic and technical strategies through their management. The UN has enhanced its role to accelerate its funding in sustainable development with various strategies. These strategies focus on the following objectives:
- Aligning the global economic policies and financial systems with the 2030 Agenda
- Enhancing sustainable financing strategies and investments at regional and country levels
- Seizing the potential of financial innovations, new technologies and digitalization to provide equitable access to finance
Evolution and Introduction to 2030 Agenda
- 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The year 2015 was a landmark year for the multilateral agreements building their significance. The strategies of the 2030 Agenda, created a plethora of pathways in the form of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which came up with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals which aimed at preventing Poverty in all its forms, Zero Hunger, Health, Education, Gender equality and women’s empowerment, Water and Sanitation, Energy, Economic Growth, Infrastructure, industrialization, Inequality, Cities, Sustainable consumption and production, Climate Action, Oceans, Biodiversity, forests, desertification, Peace, justice and strong institutions, Partnerships for the goals.
This decade has been termed as the ‘Decade of Action’. There is a significant need for private and public investments to implement the Sustainable Development Goals. Amidst the complexities of the size and scale of the global financial system, the gross world product and the global gross financial assets are estimated at over 80 trillion USD and 200 trillion USD respectively. However, there have been some issues in channeling the funds toward sustainable developments at the speed, scale and necessity to achieve the SDGs and Paris Agreement goals. The need for coal mines and other resources has been increasing at a high rate and it has been necessitated to opt for sustainability and fund for the same.
The financial flows of the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) dropped to 23% in the year 2017, and the investments by the Private sector for the infrastructure included in the SDGs were lower in 2018 as compared to that in the year 2012. This has led to financial curves and unequal developments in some areas. However, SDGs persist in achieving their economic goals. It was foreseen that the SDGs would open up market opportunities worth 12 trillion USD as well as create employment opportunities by 2030. The goals are incorporated into large public funds and increasingly cooperating with the developmental strategies by greening the financial systems.
In the Contemporary world, as digitalization is establishing its importance at an increasing rate, the SDGs have aimed at the digitalization of finance, illustrating its capacity to nurture the utilization and mobilization of funds. The SDGs have, therefore, aimed at a full-fledged expansion of the available resources to serve sustainability to the nations.
- Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA)
This agenda created a blueprint to contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda by providing a structure for financing global development. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda was commended for its alignment between the financial curves and policies with developments in the economic, environmental and social areas. One of its imperative goals has been to deliver essential public services for all and provide social protection. This includes putting an end to poverty and fulfilling the incomplete businesses of the Millennium Development Goals.
This agenda has committed to efforts providing sustainable goals that are fiscally sustainable and would elevate the social conditions of all, nationally and globally. This would uplift the economically suppressed and socially inferior nations through the focus on those below the poverty line and the vulnerable groups who are often disabled from approaching or asking for help. The agenda also encourages countries setting their integral goals and fulfilling targets related to qualitative investments in public services fostering every corner of their nation including education, health, energy sanitation, water and other basic advancements.
- The Paris Agreement
This agreement implied the mobility of financial resources to the developed countries to assist the developing countries. This distribution of resources helped the countries on the verge of being developed to mitigate climatic risks and adapt to climate change. This agreement also recognizes the significance of funding both analysis of the effects of climate change as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions which leads to poor environmental conditions.
It is pivotal to comprehend the importance of environmental goals in the hierarchy of development. Therefore, the Paris agreement has vitalized environmental goals as well as implied the terms to fund for a sustainable habitat.
LEGAL FRAMEWORKS OF UNITED NATIONS IN SECURING FINANCIAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The Legal framework by the United Nations plays a significant role in authorizing the UN to foster the nations and appropriately enforce their conventions and agendas. These legal frameworks have substantiated the binding agreements and powers of the UN to address all the aspects of development, thereby authorizing the powers that the UN Agencies hold.
- UN Charter: This Charter was adopted in 1945. It was a foundational document that laid out the goals and tenets of the UN. The UN Charter’s Article 17 discusses the organization’s financial matters. It lists each member’s evaluations as well as the financial contributions made by each state to the UN budget.
- Assessments and Contributions: Financial contributions to the UN are made by member nations according to a rating system. The General Assembly sets the scale, which accounts for each member’s ability to contribute. The principles guiding the assessment of contributions, including the fair allocation of financial obligations among member states, are outlined in Articles 17 and 19 of the UN Charter.
- The Biennial Budget: The budget mechanism used by the UN runs on a biennial basis. The UN’s two-year budget is approved by the General Assembly, and member nations contribute according to a predetermined scale of assessments. Funding for the UN’s many bodies and initiatives is included in the budget; this includes funding for development initiatives, peacekeeping missions, and operational costs.
- Financial Regulations and Guidelines: The United Nations has devised comprehensive financial guidelines and policies that oversee its financial administration. Aspects including accounting, auditing, budget preparation, and procurement are all covered by these regulations. To guarantee responsibility, openness, and efficiency in the use of funds, these regulations are reviewed and revised regularly.
- Responsibility and Supervision: To guarantee accountability and transparency in the use of financial resources, the UN maintains internal oversight structures, such as the Board of Auditors and the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).
Therefore, these legal frameworks have capacitated the UN with an appropriate legal system to supervise and regulate the funds and strategies in a structured manner. The legal framework of the UN has signified its obligations and responsibilities in contributing to sustainable financial development.
CONCLUSION:
As the globe is thriving to achieve sustainable goals, the accelerating progress and rapid surge in finance need the countries to work together and agree upon mutual grounds to do so. In the end, the world shares the whole of finance. Therefore, expanding the feeling of financial security by distributing wealth in an adequate quantity would be beneficial to every person looking for a financially secure future. The UN has ensured this financial security through various means. Capacity building, technical assistance, data supervision, policy advocacy and overall humanitarian financing have led the UN to help countries enhance robust financial systems, improvise governance and enhance their abilities to control sustainable development financing. The UN also played a major role in collecting and analyzing the data which enhanced the access to rectifying gaps and regulating the policies. This comprised of the regulatory and frameworks to support the goals. Therefore, as a contributing body, UN has ensured the equitable distribution of funds and mobility of resources to address the needs for humanitarian assistance during difficulties and mismanagements. This has fostered development with funds and sustainability, thereby providing a collaborative approach to overcome the world’s critical and fiscal challenges.
REFERENCES:
WEBSITES:
https://unsdg.un.org/resources/role-un-pooled-financing-mechanisms-deliver-2030-agenda
https://unsdg.un.org/about/who-we-are
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/rio20
https://unsdg.un.org/un-entities/ifad
https://www.unepfi.org/policy-and-regulation/
https://www.unepfi.org/impact/positive-impact/
REPORTS:
- Third Global Conference on Strengthening Synergies Between the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda For Sustainable Development
- SDG Good Practices-A compilation of success stories and lessons learned in SDG implementation (First Edition) Year of publication 2020
- Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development
- Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Publication Year: 2015