As delivered
Message of H.E. Mr. Peter Thomson, President of the 71st Session of the General Assembly, delivered by H.E. Mr. Macharia Kamau, Special Envoy on SDG implementation and Climate Change, at World Data Forum
16 January 2017
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues
It is my pleasure to deliver this statement on behalf of the President of the General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Peter Thomson.
Let me begin by expressing my regrets that prior commitments have prevented my being with you today.
Allow me also to congratulate the UN Statistical Commission’s High Level Group as well as the Government of South Africa on respectively convening and hosting this first UN World Data Forum.
Ladies and gentlemen, this forum comes at a critical moment for our world.
Perhaps for the first time in history, the decisions we take over the next 14 years, will not only affect the lives of today’s generation but will have a very real impact on those of future generations as well.
With the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the 193 members of the United Nations have identified the path that we must all take to do right by our own citizens, our planet and our grandchildren.
By following this masterplan for a better world, not only can we make good on our commitment to the most vulnerable or on our promises to deliver peace and justice; but we can unleash a wave of opportunity and growth that is good for people, prosperity and the common home upon which we all depend.
But let me clear, time is not on our side.
The parents who see their children die from entirely preventable causes cannot wait any longer.
The woman who faces discrimination at home, at school or in the workforce cannot wait any longer.
The youth who are lounging by the road side, unemployed, cannot wait any longer.
And our biodiversity, ecosystems and our Ocean which are already suffering irreparable damage, not least from the effects of climate change, most certainly cannot wait any longer.
For this reason, I have made generating solid momentum on implementation of each and every Sustainable Development Goal the singular focus of my term as President of the General Assembly.
Momentum, however, must come from all of us and that of course includes those operating in the world of data.
In and of itself, data will not deliver the 2030 Agenda or the Paris Climate Agreement but clearly our ability to transform the world for the better is directly linked to our ability to generate, use and learn from high quality data at all levels.
Timely, accessible and good quality data and information informs the nature and quality of decisions as well as the policies of governments at all levels.
At the global level, a sound and widely accepted set of indicators and adequate data to monitor implementation is critical to the recently agreed framework for SDG follow-up and review, not least at the High Level Political Forum.
It is also critical for the world outside of government – whose participation in this transformation is essential. Here data is about citizen empowerment; economic opportunity and public accountability.
It is about identifying priorities, targeting solutions and reporting on successes and challenges.
Whatever the purpose, however, the momentous challenge for the data community is clear – finalize the SDG indicators framework and support each other to get SDG data flowing as quickly as possible.
In this regard, I commend the UN Secretary General’s Independent Expert Advisory Group for their ‘A World that counts’ report.
In addition to their insightful recommendations, allow me to share a number of complementary actions for your consideration:
First, I believe we must develop data and statistics platforms at local and national levels on SDG implementation, that are harmonized and standardized enough to allow comparison and evaluation of progress and that are open for broad utilization to support transparency and accountability.
Second, we must engage reliable providers and producers of data and statistics, including companies, civil society groups, academic institutions, foundations and citizens, in the elaboration of national plans and policies related to collection, management and exploitation of information on SDG implementation.
Third, we must address the critical issue of inequality and the exclusion of marginalized people from access to appropriate data and information. Similarly, we must ensure that data collection and use is disaggregated to ensure that policy prescriptions appropriately target each category in line with our commitment to leave no one behind.
Finally, to achieve all of the above, and given that data collection and use, requires knowledge, infrastructure, capacity, technology and of course, resources, we must urgently strengthen cooperation and collaboration at all levels. Recognizing the challenge faced by the most vulnerable countries, we need an effective global partnership to build data capacities and exchange best practices around data as a global public good. A global public good. We must be wary of privatizing data in the manner that denies it’s full exploitation for public good.
Excellencies,
as President of the General Assembly I am working on a number of key initiatives across each of the SDGs and I invite you to join me in making these initiatives a success.
In a few days I will be hosting the first ever conference on sustaining peace and sustainable development. Peace and development go hand in glove. And like with everything else we need data, information and knowledge on how we can build greater peace in our world in order to secure a sustainable development.
The Ocean Conference, for another example, taking place in New York from 5 – 9 June 2017, it constitutes a unique opportunity to reverse the cycle of decline in which the Ocean is currently caught.
As you may know, there are considerable data and knowledge gaps with respect to marine pollution and the precise scope of the impacts of acidification on the marine environment that will hamper attainment of SDG14. I look forward to your support and ideas on how best to overcome this challenge.
The challenge is broad as it is deep. For all the 17 goals and 169 targets we need the best, timely and accurate data we can generate.
To conclude, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to thank the organizers for the opportunity to share with you these few thoughts.
I wish you a successful Forum and encourage all of you to consider how you and your networks can deliver the momentum we need to get the SDG transformation firmly underway.
I thank you.