The United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) is a subsidiary body of both the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

and the

United Nations Economic and Social Council The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...

responsible for the entire organization's policy on

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The ...

. It adopts negotiated declarations, reviews commitment and the progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 17

Sustainable Development Goals The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future".United Nations (2017) R ...

, SDGs or Global Goals). The Forum replaced the Commission on Sustainable Development on the 24 September 2013 Meetings of the Forum are open to all Member States of the United Nations.

Mandate and tasks

As the Forum is held under the authority of both the Economic and Social Council and the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of pres ...

, the body hosts two different types of meetings: * While under the auspices of the General Assembly: Once every four years at the level of Heads of State and Government for a period of two days. * While under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council: Yearly, for a period of eight days, including a three-day ministerial segment. The HLPF was created with the aim to strengthen sustainable development governance at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

. It works to achieve this through its mandate, which states the following in respect to sustainable development: Resolution A/RES/66/288:Resolution A/RES/67/290:

Sustainable Development Commitments Review

The Forum is responsible for the follow up and the review of progress of implementation of the following sustainable development commitments: *

Agenda 21 Agenda 21 is a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. It is a product of the Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. It is an action age ...

* Johannesburg Plan of Implementation * Barbados Programme of Action * Mauritius Strategy *

Rio+20 The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as Rio 2012, Rio+20 (), or Earth Summit 2012 was the third international conference on sustainable development aimed at reconciling the economic and environmental goals ...

* LDC-IV As well as the relevant outcomes of other United Nations summits and conferences.

Meeting themes

Every year since 2013, the HLPF has held a session. The meetings are held in July. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the forum took place virtually in 2020 for the first time.

History

The HLPF has its origin in the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), which was created in 1992 to ensure follow-up of the Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). This Commission met a total of 20 times, with its last session on 20 September 2013. At the 2012 Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, it was decided that the Commission would be replaced by the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. This new Forum would meet under the auspices of both the Economic and Social Council, as well as the General Assembly. The Forum was formally created by Resolution 67/290 on 9 July 2013.

References

External links