Beyond the MDGs: A Framework for Development in the Post -2015 Era

On 31st May 2012, a conference titled “Roundtable on Post-2015 Development Goals” was held in Dhaka City, organized by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Bangladesh. The Roundtable majorly discussed policies on poverty and related human deprivations in Bangladesh and the key issue of the discussion was about environmental sustainability, which is critical in the formulation of any new development framework to succeed in the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The roundtable debate was particularly relevant to the main focuses of the upcoming Rio+20 conference on Sustainable Development, taking place from 20-22 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro.

Dr. Hasan Mahmud, Minister, Ministry for Environment and Forests of the Government of Bangladesh, was present as the Chief Guest at the conference. Dr. Atiq Rahman, the Executive Director of BCAS, presided over the conference, where concerns and views were also shared on some unfinished agendas with regard to MDGs, Hybrid Approaches of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and MDGs, Green Economy and private sector incentives and the right sort of technology transfer contributions in environmental protection, development in terms of technology advancements, gender equality, good governance, climate change, and, reconciling poverty reduction and equity objectives with environmental sustainability.

A few important speakers present at the conference were Dr. Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, Energy Advisor to the Prime Minister on Energy, Power and Mineral Resources, Saber Husain Chowdhury, Chairman of All Party Parliament Committee on Climate Change, and Neal Walker, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh. Many senior representatives of the United Nations, diplomatic missions, the private sector, and the civil society also expressed their voices in Bangladesh’s pursuit towards environmental sustainability in the country’s economic growth and combating challenges of poverty reduction.