Indicators of Sustainable Development Birgitte Alvarez-Rivero Division for Sustainable Development UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Mandate The CSD 3 rd Session (1995) approves a Programme of Work on Indicators of Sustainable Development Main Objective: A core list of indicators of sustainable development accessible to decision-makers at the national level by the year Achieved by defining them, elucidating their methodologies and providing training and other capacity- building activities, as relevant.

WSSD & CSD11 JPOI par. 130 & CSD11 par.13: Encourage further work on indicators for sustainable development by countries at the national level, including integration of gender aspects, on a voluntary basis, in line with national conditions and priorities …Reporting to the CSD guided by….effective use of indicators….. (CSD11 par. 14d)

Contributing Organizations DESA DHA UNFCCC UNICEF UNCTAC UNDP UNSO UNEP SBC UNU ECA ECLAC ESCAP ESCWA ECE HABITAT ILO FAO UNESCO WHO ITU WMO UNIDO World Bank IAEA Other Organizations: EUROSTAT OECD CIAT IUCN IISD IIASA RIVM NEF SCOPE WRI WWF The Wuppertal Institute

Contributing Countries Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia China, Japan, Maldives, Pakistan and the Philippines Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada Costa Rica, Mexico, USA, Venezuela Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, France, The United Kingdom, Switzerland

Indicators of Sustainable Development

CSD Indicators of Sustainable Development Guidelines and Methodologies Core set of 58 indicators with flexible adaptation at the national level Description of themes and sub-themes Methodology sheet for each indicator by lead agency Guidelines for national implementation

Framework Dimension ThemeSub-ThemeIndicators Social Environmental Economic Institutional

Guidelines National Coordinating Mechanism & Focal Point Gap analysis including a baseline assessment and priority selection through a consultative process Assessment of capacity-building needs Action Plan Dissemination strategy Periodic evaluation and re-assessment

Challenges Lack of data and development capacity International harmonization efforts Further indicator development in “less advanced”substantive areas Training in integrated information management

DSD focus DSD responding to challenges by: Support for regional indicator networks Sustainable Development Information Management for SIDS in the Caribbean Region Country projects Disaster reduction indicators in the context of sustainable development with ISDR & UNDP

Training Activity In preparation: Sub-regional training programme in the development and implementation of national strategies for sustainable development (NSDS), monitoring and evaluation Project components: 1)NSDS preparation, 2) information management and, 3) national level indicator design

Millennium Development Goals Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2000 Commitment to a set of values and principles 8 Millennium Development Goals Indicators associated with goals to be reported on by member states

Summary Progress has been made since Rio, but challenges remain: Lack of data Harmonization Areas less advanced Training and capacity-building

CSD Indicators Website