The place of ‘culture’ in the ‘zero draft’ of the SDGs

IFACCA,
05 June 2014, International

On 2 June the proposed goals and targets for the Sustainable Development Goals were released. While the document, ‘Introduction and Proposed Goals and Targets on Sustainable Development for the Post 2015 Development Agenda’, includes some references to ‘culture’, IFACCA is still keen to see greater and more precise recognition of culture’s role as a driver and enabler of sustainable development in the final document. 

IFACCA and other key networks have been calling on governments and policy makers defining the post-2015 UN Development Agenda to ensure that targets and indicators on culture be included as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Released by the UN’s Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development, chaired by the Permanent Representatives from Hungary and Kenya, the ‘zero-draft’ and related letter and report are now available at http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/owg.html

The 21 page ‘zero draft’ lists 17 Proposed Sustainable Development Goals to be attained by 2030. Each of the first 16 proposed goals lists between 5 and 17 targets (an average of 10 targets per goal).  The final proposed goal, number 17 (Strengthen and enhance the means of implementation and global partnership for sustainable development), lists 46 targets which relate to the previous 16 proposed goals.

Those targets that mention ‘culture’ are as follows:

Under 4 re Education:
4.7 by 2030 integrate relevant knowledge and skills in education curricula and
training programs, including education for sustainable development and
awareness raising on culture’s contribution to sustainable development 

Under 8 re Economic growth:
8.7 create incentives for the development of sustainable tourism which takes into
account community participation, local culture and local products

Under 10 re Inequality:
10.6 promote and respect cultural diversity

Under 11 re cities etc:
11.9 protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage

While there are two other mentions of the term ‘culture’, they are used in the sense of 'a culture of ....'
12.7 by 2030 redouble efforts to create a culture of sustainable lifestyles, including
through education, awareness raising, sustainability information on products
and services, policies and incentives
16.7 by 2020 provide information and education on a culture of non-violence

The Progress  Report of the OWG, in section 83 under the section on Employment and decent work; social protection; education and culture; youth, notes that ‘Culture and cultural diversity are widely understood to be important to societies’ creativity, cohesion and resilience, but it is not clear that culture per se is “goalable”.'

The letter from the OWG’s co-chairs to the UN’s member states describes the process ahead as follows:

‘… the OWG process has only 10 days of formal work remaining. It is therefore crucial that delegations come prepared with concise and final language that will facilitate timely agreement of both goals and targets. It will be particularly important that we limit the amount of text and the size of the document particularly with regard to the number of targets.’

And the conclusion states:

“we would strongly request that delegations move directly into focused consideration of the proposed goals and targets contained in the zero draft in order to make progress towards a successful and timely conclusion …We would like to reiterate the importance of enumerating sustainable development goals …[that are] action-oriented, concise, easy to communicate, limited in number, aspirational, global in nature and universally applicable to all countries while taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and respecting national policies and priorities’

The ‘informal’ consultation with member states takes place on 9-11 June and the OWG 12 is on 16-20 June. The final session of the OWG will be on 14-18 July.

IFACCA has provided regular updates on the process of developing the goals.  It has partnered with other key international networks to launch, on 1 May 2014, a campaign calling on governments and policy makers defining the post-2015 UN Development Agenda to ensure that targets and indicators on culture be included as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Developed jointly with Agenda 21 for Culture, the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity, Culture Action Europe, Arterial Network, International Council on Monuments and Sites and the International Music Council, the campaign included a ‘Declaration on the Inclusion of Culture in the Sustainable Development Goals’ and called on the international community to support the campaign: The future we want includes culture.  To date, the declaration has been signed by nearly 1300 organisations and individuals.

Details are provided in the ‘Declaration on the Inclusion of Culture in the Sustainable Development Goals’. The Twitter hashtag is #culture2015goal.