I found this appreciation codified in some of the core sustainable development documents from the UN. These documents recognize that indigenous peoples’ ability to fully engage in sustainable development practices, even on their own lands, has been limited by economic, social, and historical factors; likewise, they call for development practices to “recognize, accommodate, promote and strengthen” the role played by indigenous peoples in the development process. Similarly, the Conference Declaration from the 2012 Rio+20 Summit affirms the importance of indigenous peoples’ voices in sustainable development, referencing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. 

By the time I left Alberta, I felt very frustrated that indigenous peoples' traditional methods of sustaining the health of Mother Earth had been discarded in favor of exploitative management practices. Canadian mining corporations are also responsible for deplorable practices in the Global South that exploit people as well as the environment. This is regression, and it is not compatible with the promotion of sustainable development.

Two workshops took place today at UNHQ, entitled “Indigenous Peoples and the Post-2015 Development Agenda: Toward Full and Effective Participation,” and “A Dialogue on Foundational Values and Principles for the Sustainable Development Goals: Learning from the Peoples’ Sustainability Treaties.” Panelists called for a land and resource rights-based approach to sustainable development, the protection of traditional knowledge and livelihoods, and full participation and partnership in all relevant decisions. The development process is forfeiting a tremendously rich resource if it does not pay attention to the wisdom and ecological care embodied by indigenous populations. It is also essential that indigenous populations become increasingly less marginalized, and that the Sustainable Development Goals include and promote their interests.

Ghazali Ohrella, a panelist representing Tribal Link, said something that has stuck with me all day: indigenous peoples are “the mercury in the barometer of the successes and failures of the United Nations.” As we craft our Action Agenda at this conference, we must keep an eye on the temperature.

Granoff highlighted the incoherence and instability present in the current nuclear order. He asked the audience to "imagine if the Biological Weapons Convention said, ‘No one can use smallpox or polio as a weapon, but we’ll entrust international peace and security to nine countries who will be permitted to use and threaten to use the plague as a weapon.’” Granoff lamented the enormous amount of money poured into modernizing nuclear arsenals-an allocation of funding that actually subverts security.

I had the pleasure of reconnecting with some of my colleagues from Pax Christi International, the organization with which I interned this summer. Marie Dennis, co-president of Pax Christi International, was one of the panelists at the event. Dismissing our anthropomorphic worldview, Marie spoke of “the false dichotomy between human well-being and ecological integrity,” and called for sound environmental management. Other panelists represented the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, Soka Gakkai International, the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic, and the Congregation of Notre Dame. A Hiroshima survivor who had been present in the audience stood up during the Q & A session to deliver a meaningful testimony to the personal importance of forgiveness and the global imperative for disarmament.

By the way, the answer to the question posed in the workshop’s title, “Sustainability and Nuclear Weapons?" was a resounding no.

Ambassador Cousens acknowledged the difficulties and significant opportunities inherent in the quest to mobilize citizens, stakeholders from every sector, and 193 countries to agree on a shared development agenda in an ever-changing world. She urged attendees to seize the unique chance to set a transformative post-2015 development agenda.

Throughout the event, the importance of civil society input was emphasized. The MyWorld 2015 survey was popular among my friends from the Model UN club at my university. The interactive platform facilitates a democratic engagement with development goals, but it requires an Internet connection, which prohibits vast numbers of people from contributing. Building on such successes as the MyWorld platform and the Global Youth Call, Cousens called for still greater amplification of ordinary citizens’ voices.

Ambassador Cousens explained, "At the end of the day, this agenda will stand or fall on building global momentum around priorities that reflect the deepest needs and deepest aspirations of individuals and communities around the world, particularly the most vulnerable. And that by doing so we’ll be able to galvanize sustained actions at all levels of the kind we need to drive solutions.”

 "We need your voice, your ideas, and your insistence about what matters," Cousens concluded. "You need to hold our feet to the fire in making sure that we count it."

While student representatives led an interactive conflict resolution game, I had the pleasure of speaking with Christina Storm, founder and Executive Director of Lawyers Without Borders. “Access to justice is critical to economic development and alleviation of poverty,” she explained.

“At the village and rural level, where they don’t have the kind of access to courts and lawyers that they might have in the more highly populated areas, [conflict prevention] might be the only kind of justice they’re going to be able to get," Storm said. "In the more sophisticated societies, conflict resolution is used – the exact same principles – in very sophisticated negotiations, but certainly vis-à-vis the MDGs and the development agenda. This is one thing that can be used in the rural areas, has a very low economic impact, and can empower people and give them the kind of access to justice that’s very real and meaningful to them.”

Although the word “development” was not actually used in the first hour of the workshop, the session ended with the following quote from Desmond Tutu, which tied everything together: “Wherever we live, however we look, regardless of ethnicity, gender, geographic location or class – strengthening the rule of law is an essential ingredient to enhance justice, peace, and economic and social progress.”

Widespread threats necessitate universal goals

Such widespread threats as climate change demand universal solutions. Ambassador Power placed special emphasis on climate change, which was absent from the Millennium Development Goals. She explained, “Today, thankfully, we understand that if we don’t aggressively reign in climate change, its negative consequences could wipe out any progress we stand to make on other fronts.” Given these and other global threats, Power was clear about the need for a truly universal agenda, stressing that “we can’t meet global development goals if we only set targets for one part of the world.”

Conflict prevention as development

Power offered her recommendations to the leaders of the NGO community as they seek to work more effectively with governments. She emphasized the importance of development goals that promote peace and good governance. Far from being peripheral to poverty reduction, Power explained, passing just laws and building credible institutions ensure that societies are sufficiently cohesive to allow for effective development activities. Citing evidence that severe violence and extreme poverty go hand in hand, Power encouraged the NGO community to fight the inclusion of peace and good governance goals in the development agenda.

Ambassador Power closed her compelling address with an injunction to communicate widely and effectively about post-2015 development goals, since marginalized and poverty-stricken groups and regions are those with the most at stake in the development agenda.

 “All of our destinies are interwoven with one another,” Power explained poetically. “More than ever before, inequality and poverty in any part of the world not only goes against our values but also undermines our shared security and our shared prosperity.”