WCC 2016 Res 062 - Progress Report

The Secretariat continued to implement the 2017-2020 Programme, which is organised under the framework of the SDGs. As before, this means that any reporting at the project and Programme level is not only done to the Results and Sub-Results of the IUCN Programme, but also regarding the different SDGs, in order to keep track of IUCN's contribution to this important agenda.

As an official custodian agency on SDGs indicators, IUCN worked to ensure that a sound methodology exists for any official SDG indicator mobilised by IUCN, and participated in meetings of the Inter-Agency Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal indicators (IAEG-SDGs).

In addition, in 2018, IUCN built upon its work of policy influencing on SDGs and of SDG-related processes. On the basis of this Resolution, a number of position papers were developed that highlighted the inter-linkages between different goals and targets, stressed the importance of biodiversity and healthy ecosystems for achieving the SDGs, and emphasised nature-based solutions as the preferred sustainable development option, among many others.

Furthermore, in collaboration with the IUCN Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations in New York, IUCN organised side events at the United Nations relating to the Expert Group Meeting on SDG 15 (Life on land) and at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), and made several statements in the plenary of the latter. IUCN also participated in and co-sponsored a side event at the Regional Forum for Sustainable Development in Geneva, one of the key inputs into the HLPF.