Co-op News October 2019: Sustainable Development

Sustainable development
to build a future for all
CONNECTING, CHAMPIONING AND
CHALLENGING THE GLOBAL CO-OP
MOVEMENT SINCE 1871
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EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Rebecca Harvey
rebecca@thenews.coop
INTERNATIONAL EDITOR
Anca Voinea | anca@thenews.coop
DIGITAL EDITOR
Miles Hadfield | miles@thenews.coop
WRITER
Jen Banks
DESIGN
Keir Mucklestone-Barnett
ART & DESIGN PLACEMENT
Owais Qazi
INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH OFFICER
Elaine Dean
DIRECTORS
Barbara Rainford (chair), David Paterson
(vice-chair), Gavin Ewing, Tim Hartley,
Beverley Perkins and Ray Henderson.
Secretary: Richard Bickle
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“The history books of the future are being written daily.” This was Glenn Bowen,
speaking at the Social Business Wales conference (more on that on p34). But it
stuck with me. The climate crisis, the economy and global politics are all moving
so fast that every news cycle becomes a race to keep up with what monumental
changes have taken place today. What new developments – good or bad – will we
read about in the morning?
In 2015, the UN launched an idea for sustainable development: an agenda of 17
goals to make the world a better place for more people by making it fundamentally
fairer. The timetable for this was 2030. But with 11 years to go, the world is already
set to miss the deadline.
Deadly conflicts, the climate crisis, gender-based violence and persistent inequality
have all played a part in the delay – as was acknowledged at a high-level political
forum on sustainable development at the UN General Assembly in New York in
September (p38). But there is still time to make a difference.
At the forum, member states agreed a concise, negotiated political declaration,
which included an accelerated action plan. They committed to, among other things,
leaving no one behind; strengthening institutions for more integrated solutions;
bolstering local action – and solving challenges through international co-operation.
Conveniently, the International Co-operative Alliance’s General Assembly is
taking place in Kigali, Rwanda less than three weeks later (14-17 Oct), and the role
co-ops can play in implementing some of the SDGs will form the basis of many
conversations there. This issue we’ve caught up with a few of those who will be
facilitating some of those discussions (p42-45). We also hear from the ICA’s own
international development director (Marc Noël, p40) and one of the keynote
speakers (environmental activist Dr Vandana Shiva, p41).
There are more conferences on the horizon, too, with events hosted by the UK’s
Co-operative Councils Innovation Network (p29); the Co-operative Party (p28),
Co-operatives UK (p27) and the Co-op College (p26) – not to mention the NCBA
CLUSA Co-op Impact Conference and the Platform Co-op Conference in the United
States (p50).
The unifying central theme for most of these is development and growth – changing
things for the better through working co-operatively. Whether they’re in local
communities, countries, regions or sectors, co-operatives are resilient – and
hopefully the new developments we’ll read about in the morning will reflect that.
REBECCA HARVEY - EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Co-operative News is printed using vegetable oil-based
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waste) with the remaining 20% produced from FSC or PEFC
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OCTOBER 2019 | 3