Sustainable development – Beyond rhetoric and aspirations
For those of us working in UN circles, the logic and importance of sustainable development and its associated policy/global governance frameworks often seem self-evident. For others, however (especially those who are not well versed in these frameworks) this is not necessarily the case. Instead, the global Agenda 2030 for sustainable development and its monitoring framework, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), often seem long on rhetoric and aspirations, and short on pragmatic relevance to the real-world policy and programming challenges facing public- and private-sector decision makers.
This paper seeks to address this gap by briefly explaining why – in practical terms – sustainable development and the SDGs are increasingly seen as relevant and useful by decision makers. It also seeks to present some possible implications for Belarus.