Shanghai, 20 March 2015

The third intergovernmental negotiation on the post-2015 development agenda will take place on 23-27 March 2015 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. In the March session, the member states will discuss the Sustainable Development Goals and Targets based on the Outcome Document of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals.  In the OWG Outcome Document, transport was included in 7 of the 17 proposed goals.

In preparation for the negotiations next week, the SLoCaT Partnership reached out to the United Nations member states asking to strengthen the prominence of sustainable transport in the post-2015 development agenda.  In a letter sent to the permanent representatives, the SLoCaT Partnership stated that it was encouraged to see proposed targets on Road Safety (target 3.6); Air Pollution (target 3.9); Energy Efficiency (target 7.3); Urban Access (target 11.2), and Fossil Fuel Subsidies (target 12.c) and emphasized the need to maintain these targets in the next round of discussions.  

Furthermore, the letter highlights three areas where the present goal and targets structure can be strenghtened in terms of transport; importance of rural access for poverty reduction, inclusion of transport services in addition to infrastructure and recognition of the importance of efficient and effective logistics services.  The significance of access to rural transport was explained in detail in the Rural Transport Fact Sheet attached to the letter.  

In addition,  the SLoCaT Partnership presented the members states with a draft document for proposed SDG indicators on Sustainable Transport.

To showcase the contribution of sustainable transport to sustainable development, SLoCaT Partnership together with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy is organizing a side event to the Intergovernmental Negotitations on March 25th from 1:15-2:30 pm.  The side event is supported by the Communitas Coalition, EMBARQ-World Resources Institute, FIA Foundation and Ford Foundation.  The objectives of the side event are: to illustrate how sustainable, low carbon transport can contribute to the post-2015 development agenda, identify the areas where the currently proposed goal and target structure can be improved in linking rural transport priorities and transport services to the existing targets and highlight the link between sustainable, low carbon transport and alleviating poverty-which is the overall arching goal of the post-2015 development agenda.  

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For more information on the side event please contact Talya Enriquez Romano at talya.enriquezromano@slocatpartnership.org or Karl Peet karl.peet@slocatpartnership.org