Strategic Context
Our world is in peril, facing a host of interlinked global crises and challenges that together are threatening the wellbeing of the world's people and the planet. Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, poverty, hunger, inequality, humanitarian crises, refugee crisis, global health challenges, water scarcity, food insecurity, armed conflicts, environmental degradation, deforestation, ocean acidification and soil erosion, among a host of others.
To address these pressing challenges, and realize a more sustainable, equitable, prosperous and peaceful world for present and future generations, the world's countries came together at the United Nations in 2015 and adopted a set of ambitious global agendas, These landmark agreements included the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, and dual UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions on sustainable peace. In 2016 the United Nations Secretary-General further launched the Agenda for Humanity aimed at strengthening humanitarian action and resilience.
Realizing these agendas and addressing our global challenges will be a monumental task for the world. It will require us to change our ways, and place the well-being of people and the planet at the center of our decisions and actions. It will require us to transform our approach to policy making and move away from isolated single issue interventions, towards holistic and integrated approaches and systemic change. Central to achieving the agendas is also the need for us to realize good governance; accountable and transparent institutions; and peaceful, just and inclusive societies; at local, national, regional and global levels.
It also calls on the world’s countries to commit to the required resources and political will, and for the international community to come together in global partnership and solidarity. It will demand an unprecedented level of global cooperation and collective action inclusive of all stakeholders of society and the full range of institutions across the public, civll and private sectors including governments, scientific institutions, farmers, indigenous peoples groups, NGOs, IGO’s, women’s groups, academic institutions, workers and trade unions, volunteer groups, local authorities, philanthropies, disability organizations, LGBTI+ groups, aging organizations, businesses, industry, youth groups and parliaments. Many of these institutions have been engaged in making a difference for people and planet for decades. However, they are now called upon to unite and work together in a more systemic and inclusive manner than before.
Moreover, the achievement of the agendas will require us to address a host of system-wide governance challenges that have long impeded our efforts in addressing global challenges and building a better world. Among others, the international community is chronically overstretched, due to the sheer scope and number of simultaneous global challenges and crises. Our global governance system, multilateral system and international architecture, established after WWII, have not been sufficiently upgraded for the needs of today’s world. There is insufficient financing and investment. Many of our institutions are underfunded and inadequately equipped. Short-term thinking and a lack of long-term planning remain challenges. There is a lack of trust in governments, between stakeholders and across sectors. We have systemic challenges such as fragmentation, institutional silos, poor integration and inadequate coordination. There is a lack of inclusion and participation in decision making processes, and civic space is shrinking around the world. We are furthermore facing new threats to multilateralism and international cooperation, such as nationalism and populism, political instability, and a deteriorating international security environment.
Left unresolved, these governance challenges will continue to undermine our efforts, impede our progress, and prevent us from achieving our global agendas. The United Nations Secretary-General lamented our dire situation during his remarks to the World Economic Forum in January 2019: “If I had to select one sentence to describe the state of the world, I would say we are in a world in which global challenges are more and more integrated, and responses are more and more fragmented, and if this is not reversed it is a recipe for disaster”. He also noted that our global challenges can only be solved through global responses, and that the “international community has enormous difficulty, at the country level and at the global level, to respond in a global way”. In his report on the future of global cooperation titled ‘Our Common Agenda’, released in September 2021, the Secretary General further noted that we are at an inflection point in history and that humanity faces a stark and urgent choice, breakdown or breakthrough. The UN Global Sustainable Development Report released in 2023 at the halfway point to 2030 further indicates that the world is far behind in achieving the 2030 Agenda. The report also reiterates that strengthened governance is one of the key levers that we need to employ, in order to get us back on track.
The pressing need to address our governance challenges and meet the integrated requirements of our new global agendas, urgently calls on the international community to address these issues head on. We need to undertake institutional reforms and make investments towards realizing the level of transformation, cooperation, integration, partnership and solidarity that we need for the road ahead. This includes investing in the collective capacity of stakeholders; making strategic investments in our governance structures; building out the institutional framework for cooperation; and taking the necessary steps to realize a modern, networked and inclusive multilateralism, international architecture and governance system, across local, national, regional and global levels.
To address these pressing challenges, and realize a more sustainable, equitable, prosperous and peaceful world for present and future generations, the world's countries came together at the United Nations in 2015 and adopted a set of ambitious global agendas, These landmark agreements included the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, and dual UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions on sustainable peace. In 2016 the United Nations Secretary-General further launched the Agenda for Humanity aimed at strengthening humanitarian action and resilience.
Realizing these agendas and addressing our global challenges will be a monumental task for the world. It will require us to change our ways, and place the well-being of people and the planet at the center of our decisions and actions. It will require us to transform our approach to policy making and move away from isolated single issue interventions, towards holistic and integrated approaches and systemic change. Central to achieving the agendas is also the need for us to realize good governance; accountable and transparent institutions; and peaceful, just and inclusive societies; at local, national, regional and global levels.
It also calls on the world’s countries to commit to the required resources and political will, and for the international community to come together in global partnership and solidarity. It will demand an unprecedented level of global cooperation and collective action inclusive of all stakeholders of society and the full range of institutions across the public, civll and private sectors including governments, scientific institutions, farmers, indigenous peoples groups, NGOs, IGO’s, women’s groups, academic institutions, workers and trade unions, volunteer groups, local authorities, philanthropies, disability organizations, LGBTI+ groups, aging organizations, businesses, industry, youth groups and parliaments. Many of these institutions have been engaged in making a difference for people and planet for decades. However, they are now called upon to unite and work together in a more systemic and inclusive manner than before.
Moreover, the achievement of the agendas will require us to address a host of system-wide governance challenges that have long impeded our efforts in addressing global challenges and building a better world. Among others, the international community is chronically overstretched, due to the sheer scope and number of simultaneous global challenges and crises. Our global governance system, multilateral system and international architecture, established after WWII, have not been sufficiently upgraded for the needs of today’s world. There is insufficient financing and investment. Many of our institutions are underfunded and inadequately equipped. Short-term thinking and a lack of long-term planning remain challenges. There is a lack of trust in governments, between stakeholders and across sectors. We have systemic challenges such as fragmentation, institutional silos, poor integration and inadequate coordination. There is a lack of inclusion and participation in decision making processes, and civic space is shrinking around the world. We are furthermore facing new threats to multilateralism and international cooperation, such as nationalism and populism, political instability, and a deteriorating international security environment.
Left unresolved, these governance challenges will continue to undermine our efforts, impede our progress, and prevent us from achieving our global agendas. The United Nations Secretary-General lamented our dire situation during his remarks to the World Economic Forum in January 2019: “If I had to select one sentence to describe the state of the world, I would say we are in a world in which global challenges are more and more integrated, and responses are more and more fragmented, and if this is not reversed it is a recipe for disaster”. He also noted that our global challenges can only be solved through global responses, and that the “international community has enormous difficulty, at the country level and at the global level, to respond in a global way”. In his report on the future of global cooperation titled ‘Our Common Agenda’, released in September 2021, the Secretary General further noted that we are at an inflection point in history and that humanity faces a stark and urgent choice, breakdown or breakthrough. The UN Global Sustainable Development Report released in 2023 at the halfway point to 2030 further indicates that the world is far behind in achieving the 2030 Agenda. The report also reiterates that strengthened governance is one of the key levers that we need to employ, in order to get us back on track.
The pressing need to address our governance challenges and meet the integrated requirements of our new global agendas, urgently calls on the international community to address these issues head on. We need to undertake institutional reforms and make investments towards realizing the level of transformation, cooperation, integration, partnership and solidarity that we need for the road ahead. This includes investing in the collective capacity of stakeholders; making strategic investments in our governance structures; building out the institutional framework for cooperation; and taking the necessary steps to realize a modern, networked and inclusive multilateralism, international architecture and governance system, across local, national, regional and global levels.
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Top Banner Image Credit | Nasa Apollo 8 | William Anders
