Roundup: Sustainable development goals dominate UN conference

Representatives from about 140 countries continued here Tuesday to address the UN Speakers of Parliament Conference on a variety of topics, with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) taking the spotlight.

Nearly 70 people were listed on the second day of the meeting, which is held once every five years, with each speaker getting three to five minutes to take the floor at the world conference that kicked off Monday.

Next to parliament leaders, the conference also drew speakers from regional bodies and reports from its committees, sponsored by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The conference at the UN headquarters serves to prepare for a summit of more than 150 heads of state and government, which is set to formally announce the SDGs preceding the annual General Debate of the UN General Assembly.

Remarks about sustainable development dominated this year's conference, and among its topics were peace, development and democracy.

Donald Capelle, speaker of the Marshall Islands parliament, said his country "is one of the small countries in the Pacific with mixed results," facing "remoteness, smallness in size and capacities, limited resources, aid dependency and vulnerability to climate change and global economic shocks."

"Recognizing these challenges however, the burden is on us, the parliamentarians, to foster advancement, make concerted efforts and prioritize actions to fully realize sustainable development goals," he said. "We must make extraordinary efforts to build a better world not only for us, but for our children and our children's children. We have no time to waste but must act now."

His remarks were echoed hours later by Lord Tu'ivakano, speaker of the National Assembly of Tonga, another small nation facing remoteness and the effects of climate change.

The speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly, Laszlo Kover, also endorsed the SDGs, but was also concerned about the European migrant-refugee crisis.

"We are witnessing, among other things, a new Migration Age, and while the phenomenon is unprecedented in its dimensions, we should remember that old and new types of crises have both triggered it," he said.

"Beyond the fact that our draft declaration rightly calls on recipient countries to shoulder their general responsibilities concerning migration, in this context we must also focus our attention on other factors," Kover said.

He said there should be concentration on the responsibilities of "the countries where migrants are coming from," "the countries that caused the crisis which has eventually triggered the emigration wave" and "criminal gangs and political groups profiting from the migration."

"Accepting migrants without restrictions has sustainability-related and institutional limitations in destination countries," he said. "Disregarding these limitations will undoubtedly cause unprecedented chaos and serious conflicts in these destination countries as well."

A representative of the U.S. Congress from the State of New York, Eliot Engel, was present as well. "Climate change is a threat to security and prosperity around the world," he said, giving examples of successfully limiting pollutants.

"Greenhouse gas emissions from the United States will be more than 25 percent lower in the year 2025 than they were in 2005," he said. "The European Union intends to reduce its emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030."

While there were finally signs that global carbon emissions had stopped increasing, the effects of climate change were also worrying, Engel said.

"Last year for the first time the global economy grew but global carbon emissions didn't. Last month was the hottest month in recorded history. Last year was the hottest year in recorded history," he said.

Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, president of Thailand's National Assembly, focused on his nation's domestic development.

"Thailand has pledged to pursue strong foundations for sustainable development," he said. "We believe that democracy and development have a natural link. In Thailand, we are using His Majesty King Bhumibol's guiding principles of sufficiency economy for our national economic and development plans."

"Sufficiency economy means that one is not motivated by acquisitiveness but by the desire to live with contentment within one's, community's and the nation's means," Wichitcholchai said. "Sufficiency economy will contribute, at the individual level, to one's well-being and, at the local and national level, to sustainable development."

"It is our aim to enact laws facilitating and enhancing the capabilities of Thai people to live such lives," he said.

Many other speakers chose to tell their fellow parliamentarians about the challenges and accomplishments of their countries. Endi