With the increased catch, the fisherman could soon buy a second boat, a cutter, a cold store, a smokehouse, a marinade factory, a helicopter and a fish restaurant, and then, all this is achieved to rest on one's oars. The fisherman appeases the stranger's ideas, presented with joyful excitement, and tells him humbly that he is already doing so. In his anecdote published on Labour Day in 1963, the German post-war writer Böll comments ironically on the new values from the economic miracle of the Federal Republic. The materialist of the affluent society, embodied by the tourist, meets the post-materialist, the poor fisherman, who does not need all this.
Half a century later – and more than 50 years after the founding of the Club of Rome and its report "The Limits to Growth" – a new questioning of our values seems to have begun with the formulation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN). Since the 1980s, neoliberal rationality has dominated the thinking and control of state decisions. Economic growth is the imperative of governments, even today, but no longer at any price. With the Millennium Declaration of 2000, the 193 UN member states decided to fight extreme poverty, make peace and save the environment. Fifteen years later, the international community has adopted 17 objectives, and a wide range of indicators, for sustainable development, also known as the 2030 Agenda.
The list of idealistic and inspiring goals set out in this "World Future Treaty" is long – 35 pages to be precise. The "UN Manifesto", for example, defines the extremely ambitious development goal of ending "poverty in all its forms and everywhere". To this end, "extreme poverty – currently defined as the proportion of people living on less than 1.25 dollars a day – for all people all over the world" is to be eradicated by 2030. This is one of the few targets that could actually be possible, since it is the most extreme form of poverty, and the last few years speak for this promising development trend. This SDG can be seen as a prerequisite for the success of all other sustainability goals, along with the creation of global peace. The fifth objective, for example, is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls for self-determination. The inclusive, equal and high-quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all are also on the programme.
Diplomacy for Sustainability
All over the world, countless events, conferences, projects, working groups, task forces and reports from various actors from politics, civil society and business have been shooting up for the past four years to raise public awareness of this complex topic and to get the social debate moving. The European Sustainability Week (ESDW) is such an initiative to promote the organisation of various activities that contribute to sustainable development and make it visible on an information platform. The Federal Foreign Office and ten European embassies in Berlin also took part in the action week in Germany from May 30 to June 5. As part of the motto "Diplomacy for Sustainability", the representatives dealt with the topics of species conservation, biodiversity, energy, emission reduction, water protection and international cooperation in various formats such as discussion panels, film screenings and games.
The Nordic Embassies chose the priority "Agenda 2030 and sustainable urban development" (SDG 11) and invited Oslo's mayor Raymond Johansen, Leipzig's mayor Burkhard Jung, Iceland's minister for tourism, economy and innovation, Thordis Gylfadottir, the head of the Nordic Council of Ministers, Anders Geertsen, Prof. Dr. Sigrun Kabisch from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig, Katarina Luhr, Deputy Mayor for the Environment of Stockholm, Torben Gleesborg, Executive Director in the Technical and Environmental Administration of Copenhagen, and Sirpa Hertell, Chairwoman for Sustainable Development Programmes in Espoo, Finland. The city representatives met UN young delegates in the discussion round. Together they talked about ways of successfully integrating sustainability goals into urban planning and how young people at the local, national and international level can be involved in the decision-making and implementation processes for the 2030 Agenda.
"What the hell is the diplomat doing all day?", asked Catherine Arnold brashly into the circle. Arnold is Head of the Illegal Wildlife Trade Department at the British Foreign Ministry and former Ambassador of Mongolia. She was a guest at the event "Combating Illegal Wildlife Trade" (SDG 15) of the British Embassy in cooperation with the WWF on June 5 and discussed with other participants how crime can be prevented in the face of rhino, elephant or reptile poaching. After all, this is also an internationally organised environmental crime. The associated corruption structures and illegal financial flows lead to conflicts and insecurity and undermine sustainable development by depriving the poorest of valuable resources. In any case, Arnold made clear with her question of how important the role of diplomats can be in promoting the 2030 Agenda objectives. Since ambassadors have a lot of networking in their day-to-day work, they have the opportunity to bring together many different sustainability players. These include above all companies that are not only leaders in the field of modern technologies but also drivers of innovation in general. Especially when it comes to financing new infrastructure projects for clean water, health care or energy access for all, public-private partnerships (PPP) are seen as a possible way to attract these additional funds.
Honest Moments
Many questions remain unanswered and high expectations are left behind. Even after the publication of the UN sustainability targets in 2015, criticism from all sides began to spread. The private sector would use the 2030 Agenda for its particular interests. Its democratic deficit is also evident: the word does not appear explicitly in it. There is a lot of leeway for states, especially authoritarian regimes, to simply bail out of the hedged goals and subgoals of the global sustainability agenda, always bearing an escape clause. There is no obligation and no responsibility. Mayors would think twice about implementing controversial sustainability projects – for fear that they could cost votes in the next election. US economics professor William Easterly once wrote: "The SDGs are about as likely to result in progress as beauty pageant contestants' calls for world peace."
Are the SDGs utopian, unattainable and unquantifiable? Will it perhaps take longer than twelve years to implement sustainable global structural change and establish environmentally compatible and resource-saving production and consumption practices in order to prevent poverty, hunger and avoidable death? Do we first have to be satisfied with minimal implementation steps? The answer is maybe. Maybe the SDGs need a little more time. Maybe it will be a while before their urgency is recognised not only by young people, until we are snoozing on the shore like Böll's poor fisherman and catching only as much as we really need.
TEXT Enrico Blasnik