Global Frameworks
Global frameworks are crucial for enhancing resilience. They can serve as transmission mechanisms that create international norms and help citizens hold national governments accountable. However, their effectiveness depends on the commitment and action of national governments, civil society, businesses, and citizens.
In 2015, the international community established three major frameworks that will help build global resilience: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. These overlapping agendas complement and reinforce one another. Since they emerged from different political processes, we need to do more to maximise their synergies. Still, they constitute the beginning of a more orderly global architecture for sustainable development and resilience.
The SDGs in numbers
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The Global Goals' animation shows what the world could look like if we achieve some of the Global Goals by 2030.
Video published by The Global Goals, 2016.
2030 Agenda: The roadmap for a sustainable world
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a global framework for prosperity, equality, and peace adopted by the United Nations on 25 September 2015.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the 2030 Agenda were prepared in a thorough and inclusive international negotiation process following the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 (or Rio+20 Summit) and replaced the Millennium Development Goals.
What is its contribution to resilience?
Development cannot be achieved without peace — and without sustainable development, peace will be fragile. The goals of the 2030 Agenda include peace, justice, and strong institutions. By improving people’s ability to cope with crises and securing their long-term livelihoods, sustainable development can help decrease the risk of conflict.
Why is the 2030 Agenda an outstanding achievement?
- It recognises that all dimensions of development are interconnected.
- It acknowledges that protecting our planet is essential for equitable long-term development.
- It sets goals for all countries, not just developing ones.
Consider the 17 sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda: How are they interconnected? How do they contribute to resilience?
Paris Agreement: Global Goals for a safe climate
In 2015, for the first time in recorded history, global warming reached 1°C above preindustrial levels. Our biosphere is extremely susceptible to small temperature increases. Like a small child with a fever, the entire system is endangered by even a tiny rise above normal.
The Paris Agreement establishes a global goal of limiting the world’s temperature increase to well below 2°C or even 1.5°C. The landmark agreement was adopted at the UN climate conference (COP21) in December 2015.
What is its contribution to resilience?
Climate change is a ‘threat multiplier’: its negative impacts on livelihoods, natural resources, and development progress can fuel conflict. Implementing the Paris Agreement will help reduce these risks by minimising these impacts and supporting communities as they adapt to changes that cannot be reversed. Climate projects can also help people cope with crises, strengthen community ties, and reduce local conflict.
Why is the Paris Agreement an outstanding achievement?
- It has the first binding targets on climate change that cover nearly all of the world’s countries.
- It is a rare diplomatic success following many failures to achieve multilateral consensus.
Find out more about the Paris Agreement
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The United Nations explain the Paris Agreement and what needs to be done to meet its goals.
Video published by the United Nations, 2017.
Sendai Framework: Managing risks, not disaster
Floods, hurricanes, droughts, and other disasters endanger lives and livelihoods. While these crises have always been with us, climate changes are making them more severe and more frequent. The Sendai Framework seeks to reduce the risks posed by both natural and man-made hazards. It was adopted at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in March 2015, building on its predecessor, the Hyogo Framework of Action.
What is its contribution to resilience?
Disasters have the greatest impact on society’s weakest groups. Disasters are not just bad luck; they are more severe where people are more exposed and more vulnerable. After a disaster, deteriorating living conditions and stressed governance structures provide fertile ground for political instability, human rights abuses, and conflict. To maintain stability, governments must prepare for extreme disasters, mitigate their impacts, and support swift and sustainable recovery.
Why is the Sendai Framework an outstanding achievement?
- It emphasises prevention and preparedness over coping with the consequences (managing risks, not disasters).
- It is the first disaster risk reduction framework that sets specific targets for measuring progress.
Explaining the Sendai Framework
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This United Nation's video explains you what the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction is and guides you through its seven targets and four priorities for action.
Video published by the United Nations, 2016.
Foreign policy as crisis prevention: The Climate Diplomacy Initiative
Climate change undermines people’s livelihoods and increases the risk of conflict and instability. To prevent the next crisis before it breaks out, we need a new era of climate diplomacy, one that considers climate risks in every aspect of foreign policy. Diplomats must use their entire toolbox to address the impacts of climate change and help create the enabling conditions for a sustainable energy transformation.
For example, Germany used its UN Security Council seat to discuss ways the international community can respond to climate risks. In 2015, the German G7 Presidency advanced shared understanding of climate-fragility risks, which led to an initiative to conduct the first-ever holistic risk assessment in the Lake Chad Basin.
The Climate Diplomacy Initiative is a collaborative effort of the German Federal Foreign Office in partnership with adelphi. It fosters a dialogue on these issues by bringing together different perspectives and connecting countries, stakeholders, and sectors. By reaching out to partners around the world through activities like this exhibition, the Climate Diplomacy Initiative seeks to raise awareness and explore new ideas for mitigating the impacts of climate change through foreign policy.
What is 'Climate Diplomacy'?
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Implementing the Paris Agreement and supporting nations to achieve their national climate targets remain a strategic priority of foreign and security policy. Furthermore, climate security risks have to mitigated, as climate change impacts such as water or food scarcity, land degradation, sea level rise and more exacerbate potential conflicts. Climate diplomacy helps to address causes and consequences of climate change in various ways. This video gives an overview of the diverse challenges, approaches and tools of climate diplomacy. It calls for a new era of climate diplomacy…
The interviews were conducted at the Planetary Security Conference in The Hague (5-6 December 2016).
USA, 2016
United States Secretary of State John Kerry, with grand-daughter in tow, signs the Paris Agreement on 22 April 2016 at the United Nations.