Incheon Communiqué emphasises need for strengthening sustainable development planning and implementation capacities at the national level

The first meeting of the UN Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD) took place in Incheon, Republic of Korea on 14-16 November 2012. The meeting brought together representatives and experts from governments, United Nations system, civil society and academic institutions, and culminated in the publication on the Incheon Communiqué.

The Communiqué noted the positive trends over recent regarding the integration of sustainable development aspects directly into the existing national development plans and processes of developing countries in particular. However it also raised concerns about a number of undesirable trends including the recent termination of several prominent multi-stakeholder councils for sustainable development; weak or non-existent accountability mechanisms for the achievement of committed targets; and a continued disconnect between those who create strategies for sustainable development and those who are responsible for implementation.

It goes on to recommend the immediate need to distil the key lessons learned from defunct multi-stakeholder councils in order to provide guidance to other existing and proposed councils so that they can continue to play the crucial governance role for which they were established. To ensure sustainable development priorities are included in national planning instruments, it suggests a number of important knowledge gaps and capacity building needs for strengthening planning and implementation of the sustainable development agenda at all levels, including the operationalisation of multi-stakeholder councils for sustainable development.

For the full document click here.