BACKGROUND
As early as the 1970s, ‘sustainability’ was employed to describe an economy “in equilibrium with basic ecological support systems. Scientists in many fields have highlighted The Limits to Growth, and economists have presented alternatives, for example a ‘steady state economy‘, to address concerns over the impacts of expanding human development on the planet. The idea of sustainable deve
lopment was proposed by the Brudtland Commission Report of 1987 titled “Our Common Future”. Sustainable development ties together concern for the carrying capacity of natural systems with the social and economic challenges faced by humanity. To provide balanced approach and set agenda for 21st century, the global community translated the concepts and recommendations of Brundtland Commission Report in the form of Agenda 21 as an outcome of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. Agenda 21 is a non-binding, voluntarily action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. It is an action agenda for the UN, other multilateral organizations, and individual governments around the world that can be executed at local, national, and global levels. It has been affirmed and modified at subsequent UN conferences. In a recent development during Rio+20 Conference held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 2012, the Brazilian Government in collaboration with UNDP re-affirmed the agenda and announced the creation of Rio+ Centre, the World Centre for Sustainable Development. The Rio+ Centre has given the mandate to facilitate research, knowledge exchange and promote international debate about sustainable development by bringing together a broad international consortium of partners, consisting of government agencies, United Nations agencies, local governments, NGOs, universities, think-tanks and the private sector. Pakistan has shown strong commitment towards the Agenda 21 and practically translated its commitment by developing national and provincial conservation strategies and other sustainable development plans. It has re-affirmed the Agenda 21 by adopting targets for MDGs through medium-term and long-term strategies. According to UNDP progress evaluation report, Pakistan has adopted 16 targets and 41 indicators towards achieving the eight MDG’s. Pakistan has either achieved or is on the track to achieving target of nine indicators of the MDGs. Progress on other 24 indicators is off-track and data is unavailable for rest 8 indicators. Targets will be unlikely to be achieved at the current rate of progress, and at the same time the actual scope needs more collaborative actions beyond the current plan, strategy and course of action at the level of government and un-coordinated work by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). Many public sector institutions are working for different practical support towards MDGs for social, economic and or environmental agenda in Pakistan. But, all public sector institutions have limited mandate and thus unable to ensure sustainable governance and play role of bridging policy, research and implementation gap and meet the requirement of sustainable development agenda under single umbrella or through partnership and networking for integrated solutions with bottom-up approach. On the other hand, many local, national, and international civil society organizations are active in Pakistan but the objectivity is either not clear or based on short-term funding based outputs and mostly donor driven in an uncoordinated way. Some organizations are working for policy reforms while some are engaged in research and implementation with a loose mechanism and uncoordinated agenda. The scope of departments and centres at universities is very much limited to academic part only and inclined towards environment. Among non-profit civil society actors, the some highly acclaimed organizations have a good collection of activities but primarily inclined towards implementation and social component while the pure research and other two sustainability components are missing links. More or less same pictures are available with other civil society organizations which are inclined towards environmental sustainability while some claims its own agenda and advocacy role for policy interventions but very much limited in scope and apparently failed in creating and linking up real time partnership of all civil society actors in order to serve the need for MDG 8 of Partnership Approach (through fiscal or intellectual contribution arrangements). The overall governance mechanism for sustainable development has a dire need to bridge the gap between policy, research and implementation through supported and coordinated initiatives. Therefore, the need for the establishment of an institution i.e. “Sustainable Development Centre” in Pakistan is highly realized by a group of established professionals in order to provide services with extended mandate to cater the needs of Sustainable Development agenda under single umbrella. The Centre would inspire leadership for its strategic agenda by serving as think tank for research, policy analysis, and development of strategies, plans and programmes as well as hub for advocacy, implementation and capacity building of key stakeholders. SDC will also serve as arbitrator and a public debate forum as a whole by employing networking approach and partnership philosophy for collective efforts. This would be another addition in national level institutions with influential role and extended mandate of lobbying at South Asia regional as well as global level for rendering sustainable solutions at national as well as South Asia as a whole. THE OBJECTIVE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
The objective of the SDC will be to promote social, economic and environmental development through integrated planning and management, education and training, research and development, knowledge management, awareness raising, advocacy and capacity building, wide consultative and information sharing processes; and rendering services to the national and international organizations to support their initiatives in the related fields to promote sustainable development. THE ROLE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
The SDC is envisioned to serve as one of the reference points in Pakistan as well as in South Asia as a whole for the promotion of one of the defining debates of this century: the integration between the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Governments, private sector, and civil society actors will be able to use this Centre to learn from each other’s experiences, identify people and partners with critical expertise, plan ahead, and design programmes and policies. It will create a unique space for discussion of innovative ideas and actions for building a sustainable future. Efforts will be made to develop strong linkage with UNDP led World Centre for Sustainable Development, United Nation’s Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform, UNEP’s Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Initiative and EU’s SWITCH-ASIA Programme. The Sustainable Development Services Partnership, a new concept, will bring closer the multi-stakeholders (including communities, CSOs, and other INGOs) at local, national, South Asia regional level for solution and service oriented influential role of the Centre. UPFRONT AREAS OF INTERVENTION
1. Environmental Protection (including the agenda of climate change)
2. Conservation and sustainable use of natural resources
3. Sustainable Development (including Trade and Sustainable Development, Environmental Standards, Sustainable Industrial Development, sustainable livelihoods, SCP Initiative- Sustainable Consumption & Production etc.)
4. Poverty (including Health, Education etc.)
5. Governance (including Social Accountability, Local Governance, RTI, PIL etc.)
6. Disaster Risk Management (DRM)
7. Cross-cutting Issues (Like Mainstreaming Gender)
SCOPE OF WORK
1. Research and Capacity Building
2. Policy, Strategy, Plans and Programmes
3. Awareness, Communication and Advocacy
4. Projects, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation
5. Public Debate Forum
7. Publication and Resource Corner
8. Partnership – would establish Sustainable Development Services Partnership (SDSP), a platform for knowledge sharing and collaboration aimed at promoting resilience and advancing sustainable development service capabilities in Pakistan as well as South Asia as a whole. It will be an interdisciplinary Civil Society Network of sustainable development information users, providers, donors and researchers who share an interest in sustainable development services and be actively involved in the sustainable development services community. Members of the SDSP will recognize that their collaborative efforts have the potential to exceed those of any single institution acting alone.
