Policy Dialogue 1 - Millennium Development Goals: Measuring progress towards social justice

This Policy Dialogue will be organized in partnership with the World Health Organization in Geneva. It will consider the potential for giving a higher profile to health in the debate and follow-up to the Rio+20 Conference. The reason for this is that health has not been a high priority during the last 20 years despite its pivotal place in the Rio Declaration adopted in 1992.This Policy Dialogue will consider how synergies between health and other priorities, such as renewable energy consumption, or the green economy, can be strengthened by reconsidering the Millennium Development Goals. It is argued that measurable health targets can be a usefulway of reforming governance on sustainable development because health indicators are goodmeasures of social progress to reduce inequalities and inequity. In the context of the upcoming Rio+20 Conference, the aim of the Policy Dialogue is to discuss the opportunity for a shift to a green economy and the policy frameworks needed to implement it. A closer look at the Millennium Development Goals will also give the opportunity to assess the relevance of launching new Sustainable Development Goals in Rio.

- What are the achievements and shortcomings of theMillenniumDevelopment Goals?

- How can the monitoring of MDGs be enlarged to measure progress towards social justice?

- Which lessons should be learnt from the MDGs for the forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals?

(For further informations, see .pdf file appended.)