Special News--September 2024Changing and Charting Our Course
UN Summit of the Future
UN Pact for the Future
Pact for the Future, paragraphs 1-3 (version 17 July 2024): "We, the Heads of State and Government, representing the peoples of the world, have gathered at United Nations Headquarters to protect the needs and interests of present and future generations through the actions agreed in this Pact for the Future.
We are at a time of profound global transformation. Too many of our fellow human beings face avoidable suffering. We are confronted by a growing range of catastrophic and existential risks. If we do not change course, we risk tipping irreversibly into a future of persistent crisis and breakdown.
Yet this is also a moment of hope and opportunity. Global transformation is a chance for renewal and progress grounded in our common humanity. Advances in knowledge, science, technology, and innovation, if properly and equitably managed, could deliver a breakthrough to a better and more sustainable future for all."
------------------Overview
This Update (#99) builds upon our March 2024 GI Update in preparation for the Summit of the Future which will be held at the Untied Nations General Assembly 22-24 September 2024. We share brief descriptions and links to help you explore the process, developments, and documents concerning this renewed global effort to make the world a safer, healthier, and equitable place for all. We want to especially emphasize the guiding outcome document, the Pact for the Future with its 58 action points organized into five areas. We have interspersed quotes throughout this Update which are from the Pact's opening 10 paragraphs.
“The Summit is a high-level event, bringing world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future. Effective global cooperation is increasingly critical to our survival but difficult to achieve in an atmosphere of mistrust, using outdated structures that no longer reflect today’s political and economic realities. This once-in-a-generation opportunity serves as a moment to mend eroded trust and demonstrate that international cooperation can effectively achieve agreed goals and tackle emerging threats and opportunities. In September, world leaders will convene at the United Nations to adopt the Pact for the Future, which will include a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations as annexes." (quote from UN website)
We believe it is important to stay informed about the Summit and the Pact and to seriously and critically consider their aspirations for a better and sustainable world. We do not want to see this latest global effort morph into the Summit and Pact of the Futile. What needs to happen to prevent this "morphing" from happening?
Not sure if you have the time or interest to explore the Summit and Pact? Then we encourage you to read the Pact's opening 10 paragraphs interspersed in this Update as well as the three-page background document for a quick overview, "The Summit of the Future: What Would It Deliver?" But we hope you will delve further and these two items are good places to start.
We conclude the Update with some personal perspectives on being "people of faith-hope-love" in the Christian tradition who embrace "common ground for the common good." It is an inclusive approach which encourages active learning and collaboration with a diversity of colleagues on behalf of wellbeing for all people and the planet.
Suggested Applications--Making It Personal
- Review the Summit of the Future website and familiarize yourself with the main documents and events in the lead up to the Summit. Identify a couple materials that you want to explore more.
- Read the Pact of the Future with its 58 action points organized into five areas. Note any thoughts and feelings that get stirred up for you. Are there things you strongly agree with, disagree with, or want to learn more about?
- Watch some of the Summit events on UN WebTV (22-34 September and archived). See the Provisional program HERE.
- Share this Update with your friends, colleagues, organization(s), and network(s). Discuss practical applications for your life and work.
See these Global Integration Updates:
Warm greetings,
Kelly and Michèle
MCAresources@gmail.com
Featured Resources
Changing and Charting Our Course
UN Summit of the Future
UN Pact for the Future
Pact for the Future, paragraphs 4-7 (version 17 July 2024):
"We believe there is a path to a brighter future for all of humanity, including for the most vulnerable. Through the actions we take today, we resolve to set ourselves on that path, striving for a world that is safe, sustainable, peaceful, inclusive, just, equal, orderly, and resilient.
This will require a recommitment to multilateralism, without which we can neither manage the risks nor seize the opportunities we face. This is not an option but a necessity. Our challenges are deeply interconnected and far exceed the capacity of any single State alone. They can only be addressed collectively, through strong and sustained international cooperation guided by trust and solidarity.
We recognize that the multilateral system and its institutions, with the United Nations at the centre, must be strengthened to keep pace with a changing world. They must be fit for the present and the future – effective, prepared, representative, inclusive, interconnected, and financially stable.
Today, we pledge a new beginning in international cooperation. The actions in this Pact represent meaningful changes to multilateralism so that it delivers a better future for people and planet. This will enable us to fulfil our existing commitments while rising to new and emerging challenges and opportunities."
UN Summit of the Future
Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow
Image above: "A view of the Eduardo Kobra mural, which was at UN Headquarters...The theme of the artwork is Sustainable Development, in particular the concept of meeting the needs of the present without compromising Earth’s ability to meet the needs of future generations." UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
Some Background
"On the 75th anniversary of the United Nations [2020], Member States pledged to strengthen global governance and asked the Secretary-General for his recommendations to address current and future challenges (Resolution 75/1). The Secretary-General responded with Our Common Agenda (A/75/982) [2021], calling for solidarity between people, countries and generations and a corresponding renewal of the multilateral system to accelerate the implementation of existing commitments and fill gaps in global governance. In the report, he proposed a Summit of the Future as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take these steps.
The Summit in September 2024 in New York will produce an inter-governmentally negotiated, action-oriented Pact for the Future with chapters on sustainable development and financing for development; international peace and security; science, technology and innovation and digital cooperation; youth and future generations; and transforming global governance. It will also produce a global digital compact and a declaration on future generations (Resolution 76/307).To support Member States, the Secretary-General provided proposals in [12] policy briefs, deepening ideas initially laid out in the Our Common Agenda report.
The Summit of the Future will build on the 2023 Sustainable Development Goals Summit. Many proposals will turbocharge the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by improving the “how” of global cooperation to in turn enable us to deliver on the “what” by: (a) getting the Sustainable Development Goals back on track, while also (b) responding to new opportunities and risks." (quote from Summit of the Future 2024--What Will Ill It Deliver? by the United Nations)
Explore and Engage
Summit of the Future: Learn how organizations, groups, and networks have engaged on the Summit
Preparation for the Zero Draft of the Pact for the Future: View written submissions from NGOs and civil society and other stakeholders
Declaration on Future Generations: Find out how organizations, groups, and networks have engaged in the process towards the Declaration
Common Agenda: Have a look at 12 Policy Briefs developed in route to the Summit
“We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to international law, including the Charter of the United Nations and its purposes and principles. We also reaffirm that the three pillars of the United Nations – sustainable development in all its dimensions, peace and security, and human rights – are equally important, interlinked and mutually reinforcing. We cannot have one without the others.
The quest to achieve sustainable development for all, leaving no-one behind, is and will always be a central objective of multilateralism. We reaffirm our enduring commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals. We will urgently accelerate progress towards achieving the goals, including through concrete political steps and adequate finance. Poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, remains the greatest global challenge and its eradication is an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. We are mindful that sustainable development can only be secured if we succeed in drastically mitigating global CO2 emissions in order to keep temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius, and support developing countries to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change.
The UN Charter commits to protecting succeeding generations from the scourge of war. With that scourge taking on new and more dangerous forms, our efforts must also evolve. We will comply with our obligations under international law and reverse the erosion of international norms. We will make full use of all the instruments and mechanisms set out in the UN Charter and international law, intensify our use of diplomacy to resolve our disputes peacefully, strengthen accountability and end impunity.”
Personal Reflections
Being People of Faith-Hope-Love
As people of faith who practice Christian spirituality, we are committed to responsibly engage with others in the challenges facing our world, locally through globally, while holding firmly to our belief that we are in God's hands. We pray that God's purposes "will be done on earth as they are in heaven;" acknowledge that prayer, repentance, and relationship with God are key to human-planetary wellbeing; and live in hope for the time when God through Jesus Christ will decisively intervene in human history with equity--righteousness and justice--to restore all things. And in the meantime, we seek to embrace lifestyles of integrity that prioritize a deep, practical love for truth, peace, and people--and this includes being willing to acknowledge, resist, and confront evil in its many forms (starting with ourselves, etc.)
We do not want to further problematize our world's plight by focusing primarily on the negative. Rather we want to also promote the many examples of the good going forward, as people of integrity find common ground for the common good.
Finally, we want to highlight that the despair and disillusion that result from seemingly intractable problems like climate, conflicts, poverty, and corruption can also be quite positive. They can embody a crucial existential message about reality that can be "revisited"--explored and heeded--rather than simply "resisted." They can point us to Someone who is bigger than ourselves, the SDGs, humanity, and our world--the knowable, Eternal One who is both in and beyond space-time and who loves us all dearly.
The above thoughts build upon the Personal Reflections in Perils, Paralysis, Hope: Sustainable Development-Sustainable Destruction? (Global Integration Update, October 2022).
Member Care Associates
MCAresources@gmail.com
Member Care Associates Inc. (MCA) is a non-profit, Christian organization working internationally from Geneva and the USA. MCA's involvement in Global Integration focuses on the wellbeing and effectiveness of personnel and their organizations across sectors (e.g., mission, humanitarian, peace, health, and development sectors) as well as global mental health and integrity/anti-corruption, all with a view towards collaboratively supporting sustainable development for all people and the planet. Our services include consultation, training, research, resource development, and publications.
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