Global Citizenship

A journey to a more sustainable planet

 Felix Dodds
• Felix Dodds is a Senior Fellow at the Global Research Institute and a Senior Affiliate of the Water
Institue at the University of North Carolina and an Associate Fellow at the Tellus Institute.
• He was the co-director of the 2014 Nexus Conference on Water, Food, Energy and Climate.
• Felix was the Executive Director of Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future from 1992-2012.
• He has been active at the UN since 1990 attending and actively participating in the World Summits,
Conferences and has advised the Danish and UK Governments and the European Union
• In 2011 he chaired the United Nations DPI 64th NGO conference - 'Sustainable Societies Responsive
Citizens'.
• From 1997-2001 he co-chaired the UN Commission on Sustainable Development NGO Steering
Committee.
• He has coordinated some of the most innovative stakeholder dialogues at the intergovernmental
level Bonn Water (2001), Bonn Energy (2004) and Bonn Nexus (2011).
• He has written or edited thirteen books the latest is due out in May 2016 The Water, Food and
Climate Nexus: Challenges and an agenda for Action which he edited with Jamie Bartram.
• His next one out in September is Negotiating the Sustainable Development Goals: A
transformational agenda for an insecure world with Ambassador David Donoghue and Jimena
Leiva Roesch

March
2 Felix Dodds www.felixdodds.net
 Frank Borman, Commander of Apollo 8 (1968)

“I think the one overwhelming emotion that

we had was when we saw the earth rising in
the distance over the lunar landscape . . . . It
makes us realize that we all do exist on one
small globe. For from 230,000 miles away it
really is a small planet."

July 22,
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 The world becomes more global
• 1970 – First Earth Day
• US Environmental Protection
Agency created
• 1971 Greenpeace founded
• 1971 Friends of the Earth founded
• 1972 First UN Conference on Human
Environment
• 1972 United Nations Environment
Programme created
• 1973 European Union DG
Environment created

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 We are all connected
• 1984 British Antarctic Survey –finds
a recurring hole in the ozone layer
• 1985 UN Convention on Ozone
Depleting Chemicals
• 1987 UN Montreal Protocol on
Substances that Deplete the Ozone
Layer
• 1989 Entered into force
• By 2050-2070 ozone hole will return
to 1980 levels.

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 The Roadmap to the SDGs and Paris Climate
Agreement
• Earth Summit 1992
• Millennium Development Goals 2000
• World Summit on Sustainable
Development 2002
• Financial Crisis 2008
• Copenhagen Climate Summit and
Rio+20 2009
• Rio+20 2012
• Sustainable Development Goals and
the Paris Climate Agreement 2015
• Challenges for the UK

July 22,
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 Stakeholder engagement in the UN
1992 Earth Summit
Agenda 21 the first UN document to give ‘rights
and responsibilities for stakeholders to engage in
the development and implementation of the UN
Action Plan.
There were nine chapters representing different
sectors of society which were called ‘Major Groups’
1. Youth and Children
2. NGOs,
3. Women,
4. Indigenous Peoples
5. Local Authorities
6. Trade Unions
7. Business and Industry
8. Science and Technological Community
9. Role of Farmers

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 Rio+5 and the Commission on Sustainable
Development 1997-2001
1996 the UN General Assembly agreed that at
Rio+5 each of the nine major groups would have
half a day to present on what they are doing to
implement Agenda 21

1998-2001 – two days of the Commission on

Sustainable Development (4 sessions of 3 hours –
12 hours in total) were given over to a multi-
stakeholder dialogue with member states which
drew experience on what has happening on
implementing Agenda 21 and what policy
changes might be needed to enhance
implementation

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 The journey to Global Citizenship
We are moving from
Representative Democracy (Madison Democracy) to
Participatory Democracy (Jeffersonian Democracy)
But at this point in history we are engaged in
Stakeholder Democracy

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 Definitions and players
• Stakeholders: Those impacted by a
decision or impact on a decision
• Social movements: are a type of
group action. They are large,
sometimes informal, groupings of
individuals or organizations which
focus on specific political or social
issues. In other words, they carry
out, resist, or undo a social change.
• Civil society: is the "aggregate of
non-governmental organizations
and institutions that manifest
interests and will of citizens.
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• Global citizenship: defines a person
who places their identity with a
"global community" above their
identity as a citizen of a particular
nation or place.
• The idea is that one’s identity
transcends geography or political
borders and that the planetary
human community is
interdependent and whole;
humankind is essentially one
 Global Agendas
1991 UN Children's Summit
1992 UN Earth Summit
1994 UN Population Conference
1995 UN Women's Conference
1995UN Social Development Summit
1995 World Trade Organization
1995 UN Human Settlement
Conference
1996UN Food Summit
1997 UN Kyoto Protocol on Climate
Change

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 Millennium Development Goals 2000
2000 Millennium Development Goal
(MDG8)

2000 UN Global Compact launched as a

voluntary initiative based on CEO
commitments to implement universal
sustainability principles and to take
steps to support UN goals: promotes
ten principles – now over 8000
companies and 4000 non-business
participants

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 World Summit on Sustainable Development

July 22,
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 The Great Transition 2002 – Tellus Institute

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 ECOSOCO and UNGA

The strange rebirth of sustainable The Economic Downturn

development

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 Planetary Boundaries 2010 – Oxfam Doughnut 2011

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 What did Rio+20 actually do?
Agreed:
• To replace the Commission on Sustainable
Development by the High Level Political Forum
meeting annually and at Heads of State every
four years.
• Upgrading UNEP to meet biannually as a United
Nations Environmental Assembly with ALL
member states
• Accelerated the approach to the Green
Economy
 Set up a process to agree Sustainable
Development Goals to replace Millennium
Development Goals in 2015
 Set up a process to bring financing for
sustainable development to the Third
Financing for Development Conference in 2015
 Set up a process to break the disagreement on
technology transfer
July 22,
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 Tellus Institute – The Widening Circle (2012)
• The planetary challenge is urgent and systemic...
The world confronts twenty-first century perils hobbled by twentieth century mindsets
and institutions, a dangerous gap that bodes ill.
• A just and sustainable civilization is still possible...
We can forge a path to a different future: a world of lives enriched and nature resilient.
• A fragmented movement is incapable of systemic transformation…
Civil society efforts are vital, but lack an overarching vision and strategy matched to the
complexity of the historic task.
• A critical social actor is missing from the global stage…
The transition awaits the awakening of a vast cultural and political movement engaged on
all fronts in a supranational project of global citizenship.
• The global citizens movement will be adaptive and polycentric....
The living movement will evolve as a dispersed ecology of associations, spawning centers
of influence in every nation and community.
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 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 2015
To replace the MDGs:
• 100 National Consultations
• 11 Thematic Consultations
• Two High Level Panel Reports (2011
and 2013)
• Two Secretary General Report
• Rio+20
• 13 sessions of the Sustainable
Development Open Working Group
• 8 Intergovernmental Negotaions
Sessions

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 Sustainable Development Goals
What are the differences between the MDGs
and SDGs?

The MDGs just applied to developing

countries
The SDGs apply to ALL countries

The MDGS are addressing development

The SDGs are addressing sustainable
development

The MDGs address the symptoms The SDGs

address the problems and underlying causes
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 Sustainable Development Goals

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 Global Citizenship – Transforming Our World
“A revolution is coming — a revolution which will be peaceful if we are
wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are
fortunate enough — But a revolution which is coming whether we will
it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability.”
(Robert Kennedy, 1966)

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+www.felixdodds.net
Twitter: @felixdodds
Email: felix@felixdodds.net
Blog: http://blog.felixdodds.net/

Felix Dodds
Senior Fellow at the Global Research Institute
University of North Carolina