Concept Note: Stockholm+50 National Consultation: Kazakhstan

STOCKHOLM+50 NATIONAL CONSULTATIONS

Concept Note

CONTEXT

In 2015, 193 UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (hereinafter referred to as the global Agenda).The Global Agenda covers 17 Sustainable Development Goals (hereinafter - SDGs), which ensure a balance of all 3 components of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental well-being. In recent years, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic problems have negatively affected sustainable development indicators.

As a catalyst to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals during the Decade of Action including through a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN General Assembly has agreed to convene an international meeting entitled “Stockholm+50: a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity” with the generous support of the Government of Sweden. The high-level event will take place in in Stockholm on 2 and 3 June 2022 during the week of World Environment Day. The meeting will commemorate the 50 years since the convening of the UN Conference on the Human Environment, the first world conference to make the environment a major issue.

OVERALL GOAL

            The objective of the national consultations is to stimulate an inclusive, bottom-up debate on Stockholm+50 themes relevant to each national context. The idea is to facilitate a consultation process which is based on people’s experiences and ideas for “A Healthy Planet for the Prosperity of All”. Three main pillars or themes of the meeting should allow for discussions on a wide range of topics relevant to the main national and sectoral policies adapted to each country context.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

National consultations in Kazakhstan will be built under SDGs umbrella with nation-wide discussions of the second Voluntary National Review (VNR) and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which are currently under development and revision respectively, with UNDP leading both processes. To demonstrate practical implementation of SDGs integration in policy planning, the discussion will cover also Green Kazakhstan National project developed with the support of UN agencies within the joint Programme UN PAGE (Partnership for action on green economy). 

Consultations will take place in administrative centers of most of the regions of Kazakhstan. Using bottom-up approach, national consultations will run both in-person and virtually. In-person consultations will take place in Kyzylorda (South), Ust-Kamenogorsk (East), Pavlodar (North), Atyrau (West) and other cities in line with the schedule with participation of local authorities and relevant stakeholders from NGOs and private sector will be joined virtually.

Participants of the SDGs and Stockholm +50 national consultations will have a chance to know more about the objective of the Agenda 2030 and SDGs implementation, with deep dive into Planet[1] goals and opportunities for green recovery. Participants will also play the business game called “Mission 2030 on localizing SDGs” where they will be divided into groups and work on presenting recommendations how to achieve SDGs in the context of current COVID-19 pandemic, including action strategies to achieve a healthy planet for sustainable development. In addition, live streaming of the consultations will be provided on SparkBlue platform with moderated discussions and inputs from the consultations’ participants. The most active and inspiring participants from those regions will be invited to participate in the final expert consultation in Nur-Sultan. At the same time, all participants will be invited to also contribute to online discussions on SparkBlue. Using platform all relevant data, agendas, surveys and debates will be shared for stakeholders and available for ongoing discussions on main topics.

Final in-person expert consultation will take place in Nur-Sultan (May 2022) with most active stakeholder members and experts in the field, including governmental officials  representing line ministries, as well as stakeholders from local authorities of Kazakhstan, active participants from regional consultations, representing non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society, community- based organizations,  women’s and social movements, youth and children among others, stakeholders from business and industry associations, international financial institutions.

The consultations will run from March to end of May 2022. By June 2022, the results of the national consultations are expected to have been recorded and will feed into a global report to inform the Stockholm+50 discussions and its follow-up.