Environmental Affairs Minister Dr Edna Molewa is leading a South African delegation to the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development at the United Nations (UN) in New York, from July 17 to 19.
The forum is being hosted by the UN Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc) under the theme “Eradicating Poverty and Promoting Prosperity in a Changing World”.
The forum will take stock of the overall objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Agenda 2030, adopted at the UN in September 2015.
Ministers from across the globe will be assessing trends related to implementation of Agenda 2030 and identify issues that may affect future achievements and the actions required to address these.
Molewa will also participate in the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (Page) high-level panel discussion on how the development of green and more inclusive economies and financial mechanisms are delivering on the SDGs.
Following the adoption of Agenda 2030, the HLPF was designated a central role in overseeing a network of follow-up and review processes for the SDGs at the global level, working coherently with the UN General Assembly, Ecosoc and other relevant organs and forums to develop a negotiated Ministerial declaration.
“We note that, given the reality of countries being at different levels of development, success will be largely uneven,” Molewa said in a statement.
She added that there could be underreporting, given the challenge of available, accurate, timely and verifiable data in some countries in Africa and across the developing world.
The Minister has appealed to the UN Secretary-General that the UN system work collaboratively to share information, tools and expertise necessary for the gathering and centralisation of data sources required to improve the quality of reporting by individual countries.