The OAS at the Forefront of the Post-2015 Debate on Sustainable Development

 “Countries must get rid of the duality with which they approach trade and the environment. The only way forward is sustainable development” declared Fernando Ocampo Sanchez, Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica when he addressed a group of policy makers and representatives from international organizations gathered to discuss “Sustainability at the Intersection of Trade, Environment and Development” at UN Headquarters in New York City on February 5, 2014.  

The meeting was held as a side event of the eighth session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and contributed to the discussions on how to mainstream sustainable trade in biodiversity within the process leading to the United Nations post-2015 development agenda. The event was jointly organized by the OAS-SEDI Department of Sustainable Development (DSD), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).  

“Countries will industrialize, some sooner than others. The millions of people that are climbing out of poverty will demand electricity, food and transportation and they will greatly contribute to climate change unless we get smart, and fast. I hope we can work together to continue to make “green” tradable and profitable” urged Vice-Minister Ocampo, representing one of the world’s richest countries in biodiversity.    The meeting was chaired by Ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations who attested to his country’s success in sustainably using wild flora and fauna and other biodiversity goods and services “Peru is already exporting more that 2 million USD on selected biodiversity-based products generated by 69 SMEs working in more than 50’000 hectares of managed land. While these amounts may sound small to many, they have a huge impact at the local level employing more than 3,500 producers.”  

Juan Carlos Vasquez from the CITES Secretariat also cited the Peruvian experience, highlighting the story of the Andean vicuña - a rare mountain mammal related to the llama and alpaca. “In the 1960s, vicuñas had been hunted to near extinction before being protected under CITES in 1975. By 1987, some populations had recovered so significantly that trade in vicuña wool was permitted. By 2012, the number of vicuñas had increased to over 450,000 so that now the species is soundly managed and local communities benefit directly from the trade in highly valuable vicuña wool.”  

“Seven billion people consume biodiversity-based products every day in the form of medicines, food, clothes, furniture, perfumes and luxury goods. With globalization, the consumption of these products is growing at an unprecedented rate, placing sustainability at the centre of the debate” said Mr. Vasquez, adding that “this has to be made visible and understandable to the general public and policymakers.”  

“Sustainable use and environmental conservation could also be the basis for the enjoyment of other basic rights such as the right to a healthy environment, social justice, economic welfare and rule of law” said Claudia de Windt from the OAS-SEDI-DSD.

The discussion is timely as member states and the international community debate on what the new global development agenda will look like. “The three pillars of sustainable development – economic development, social development and environmental protection – could not be unbundled and should, on the contrary, be coherently integrated in the post-2015 development agenda” said Mr. Bonapas Onguglo from the Trade, Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Branch at UNCTAD.  

The OAS-SEDI is committed to continue supporting the process of defining the post-2015 development agenda in order to incorporate the needs and priorities of the Americas. .