Your Excellency, Mr. Mahmadaminov, Vice-President of ECOSOC,Excellencies,Distinguished Delegates,Ladies and gentlemen,
I am honored to address the opening of the 2018 ECOSOC Integration Segment on behalf of the Secretary-General.
I commend the ECOSOC Bureau, for the focus of the Segment this year.
You have wisely chosen to address how technology and innovation can be leveraged to build sustainable and resilient societies from the ground-up.
New advances in science and technology hold immense promises for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
However, the rapid pace of technological change makes it difficult for governments and societies to keep up and harness the positive impact of innovations.
Too often, the advantages of cutting-edge breakthroughs have not been equitably diffused in society.
To truly leverage the benefits of science and technology for sustainable development, we need to prioritize solutions that are pro-poor and equitable. Only in this way can we ensure that no one is left behind.
Mr. Vice President,Ladies and gentlemen,
Several key risks can exacerbate vulnerabilities and have a regressive impact on development. For each of them, science and technology hold a part of the solution.
First, climate change is one of the greatest threats of our time. The past three years were the hottest on record, and greenhouse gas emissions are rising.There is a wide array of technological measures for climate change adaptation and mitigation. But we need clear strategies for moving away from carbon-intensive growth towards more sustainable and resilient pathways for development.
Second, rising inequality, vulnerability and exclusion is undermining the sustainability and resilience of societies and eroding human rights.Technologies can help provide jobs to disadvantaged groups in society. They provide new tools to teach, learn and empower.
Third, more than one half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, and almost every country in the world is urbanizing.
Urbanization holds great potential for aggregating opportunities for human development and innovation. But cities also face a range of challenges, from air pollution to insecurity to social exclusion.
Technology can help make our cities smarter and more sustainable, by facilitating new transport systems and improving management of natural resources.
And fourth, environmental degradation continues, with especially worrying trends in water degradation and biodiversity loss.
The health of our oceans is threatened by unsustainable consumption and production patterns and climate change. Numerous technologies have been shown to help mitigate and address these effects, such as innovations in sustainable fishing, enhanced surveillance of ocean acidification, and environmentally sensitive forms of pollution prevention and clean-up.What is critical is that technologies are geared towards the common good and supporting sustainable and resilient societies.
This is why the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development created the Technology Facilitation Mechanism and its collaborative multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, and an online platform.
The Technology Facilitation Mechanism aims to provide a platform for discussing and accessing information, knowledge, best practices and lessons learned, on science, technology and innovation facilitation initiatives and policies.
Mr. Vice-President,Ladies and gentlemen,
I will now address four key principles that are important to leverage technologies and innovation for building sustainable and resilient societies.
First, any efforts to leverage technologies and innovation in support of communities should be locally contextualized and driven. Local communities, municipal governments and community-based organizations all bring critical, locally rooted knowledge and experience to bear on such efforts.The second principle is that the use of technology and innovation needs to be inclusive and leave no one behind. Too many technological advances have not been sufficiently adapted or diffused to reach the poorest. Sustainability and resilience rely fundamentally on equity. Therefore, if anyone is left vulnerable, a community remains at risk.
Third, as we have entered the third year of implementing the 2030 Agenda, taking integrated approaches is of utmost urgency. Crises and shocks are increasingly complex and span the economic, social and environmental spheres. Working across silos ensures that we can focus on the potential co-benefits and trade-offs of policy interventions and of technologies.
And, finally, we need to build capacities and institutions for anticipating risk, and for planning and strategic foresight to effectively leverage technologies. There are many innovations in this regard. I look forward to hearing more about this topic in the discussions ahead.
Excellencies,Ladies and gentlemen,
I am confident that, in the three coming days, we will hone concrete recommendations to be submitted to the 2018 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in July.
Your discussions can make an important contribution to our collective ambition of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Thank you.
I am honored to address the opening of the 2018 ECOSOC Integration Segment on behalf of the Secretary-General.
I commend the ECOSOC Bureau, for the focus of the Segment this year.
You have wisely chosen to address how technology and innovation can be leveraged to build sustainable and resilient societies from the ground-up.
New advances in science and technology hold immense promises for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
However, the rapid pace of technological change makes it difficult for governments and societies to keep up and harness the positive impact of innovations.
Too often, the advantages of cutting-edge breakthroughs have not been equitably diffused in society.
To truly leverage the benefits of science and technology for sustainable development, we need to prioritize solutions that are pro-poor and equitable. Only in this way can we ensure that no one is left behind.
Mr. Vice President,Ladies and gentlemen,
Several key risks can exacerbate vulnerabilities and have a regressive impact on development. For each of them, science and technology hold a part of the solution.
First, climate change is one of the greatest threats of our time. The past three years were the hottest on record, and greenhouse gas emissions are rising.There is a wide array of technological measures for climate change adaptation and mitigation. But we need clear strategies for moving away from carbon-intensive growth towards more sustainable and resilient pathways for development.
Second, rising inequality, vulnerability and exclusion is undermining the sustainability and resilience of societies and eroding human rights.Technologies can help provide jobs to disadvantaged groups in society. They provide new tools to teach, learn and empower.
Third, more than one half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, and almost every country in the world is urbanizing.
Urbanization holds great potential for aggregating opportunities for human development and innovation. But cities also face a range of challenges, from air pollution to insecurity to social exclusion.
Technology can help make our cities smarter and more sustainable, by facilitating new transport systems and improving management of natural resources.
And fourth, environmental degradation continues, with especially worrying trends in water degradation and biodiversity loss.
The health of our oceans is threatened by unsustainable consumption and production patterns and climate change. Numerous technologies have been shown to help mitigate and address these effects, such as innovations in sustainable fishing, enhanced surveillance of ocean acidification, and environmentally sensitive forms of pollution prevention and clean-up.What is critical is that technologies are geared towards the common good and supporting sustainable and resilient societies.
This is why the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development created the Technology Facilitation Mechanism and its collaborative multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, and an online platform.
The Technology Facilitation Mechanism aims to provide a platform for discussing and accessing information, knowledge, best practices and lessons learned, on science, technology and innovation facilitation initiatives and policies.
Mr. Vice-President,Ladies and gentlemen,
I will now address four key principles that are important to leverage technologies and innovation for building sustainable and resilient societies.
First, any efforts to leverage technologies and innovation in support of communities should be locally contextualized and driven. Local communities, municipal governments and community-based organizations all bring critical, locally rooted knowledge and experience to bear on such efforts.The second principle is that the use of technology and innovation needs to be inclusive and leave no one behind. Too many technological advances have not been sufficiently adapted or diffused to reach the poorest. Sustainability and resilience rely fundamentally on equity. Therefore, if anyone is left vulnerable, a community remains at risk.
Third, as we have entered the third year of implementing the 2030 Agenda, taking integrated approaches is of utmost urgency. Crises and shocks are increasingly complex and span the economic, social and environmental spheres. Working across silos ensures that we can focus on the potential co-benefits and trade-offs of policy interventions and of technologies.
And, finally, we need to build capacities and institutions for anticipating risk, and for planning and strategic foresight to effectively leverage technologies. There are many innovations in this regard. I look forward to hearing more about this topic in the discussions ahead.
Excellencies,Ladies and gentlemen,
I am confident that, in the three coming days, we will hone concrete recommendations to be submitted to the 2018 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in July.
Your discussions can make an important contribution to our collective ambition of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Thank you.
File date:
Tuesday, May 1, 2018