REPORT 3/2016 THE 2030 AGENDA: TRANSFORM CATALONIA, IMPROVE THE WORLD THE CHALLENGES FOR MEETING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN CATALONIA Barcelona, 27 September 2016 1 The Advisory Council for the Sustainable Development of Catalonia (CADS) is a body which advises the Government of Catalonia on issues relating to sustainability. Created in 1998, the Council reports to the Ministry of Transparency and Foreign and Institutional Relations and Affairs. According to Decree 41/2014 of 1 April, on the Advisory Council for the Sustainable Development of Catalonia, the Council's functions are: 1. To advise the Government of Catalonia on issues affecting sustainable development, especially on incorporating the principles of sustainability in policy, regional and sectoral planning instruments, draft legislation and regulations, and in the strategic projects and initiatives led by the Government. 2. To assess the strategic policies for sustainable development put forward by the Government of Catalonia, especially those related to energy, water, food security, climate change and the green economy, and to formulate proposals for these areas. 3. To encourage the transfer of knowledge between the Government, the academic world and civil society in the field of sustainable development. 4. To advise the Government on the design and implementation of measures to raise awareness of sustainability. 5. To encourage the involvement of economic and social sectors in the development process in Catalonia. Members and rapporteurs: Carles Ibàñez and Josep Maria Serena. Members: Ferran Rodés (president), Josefina Castellví (vice president), Xavier Bellés, Puri Canals, Sergi Ferrer-Salat, Maria del Carme Llasat, Mariano Marzo, Rafael Mujeriego, Josep Oliver, Isabel Pont, Joan Vallvé and Montserrat Viladrich. Technical team: Fina Ambatlle, Raquel Ballesteros, Sílvia Cañellas, Meritxell Rota and Arnau Queralt (director). Administrative support: Mercè Garcia. 2 CONTENTS PROLOGUE 5 INTRODUCTION 7 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere. 11 2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote 21 sustainable agriculture. 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. 31 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong 47 learning opportunities for all. 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. 61 6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation 73 for all. 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for 87 all. 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and 97 productive employment and decent work for all. 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable 113 industrialization and foster innovation. 10 Reduce inequality within and among countries. 131 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and 145 sustainable. 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. 163 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. 177 14 Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources 191 for sustainable development. 15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, 207 sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, 227 provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. APPENDIX: CONTRIBUTORS 243 3 4 PROLOGUE The Government of Catalonia created the CADS in 1998, entrusting it with a great responsibility and one which is strategic for our future: advising, with overarching and forward-thinking vision, on the process of sustainable development in Catalonia. The CADS' role is to advise the Government on how to incorporate sustainability in its main policies and measures. It is therefore drawing up recommendations on a highly complex matter, providing a systematic vision and ensuring that everyone in Catalan society is involved. Since its creation, the CADS has issued a great many reports, commissioned by the Government of Catalonia or on its own initiative, which now constitute a major body of knowledge and recommendations which all members of the public can consult through our website. The study of these reports and the many hours spent discussing these questions in the Council's plenary sessions have led the CADS to a concise definition of its general vision of a more sustainable Catalonia. This vision, which inspires everything the Council does, is based around three key goals: 1) Pushing forward progress on becoming a more mature, fairer, more cohesive and integrated society and a more innovative, competitive economy that uses resources more efficiently, with high levels of employment providing a decent standard of living, and with a strong business community with a global outlook. 2) Becoming a country with modern, efficient, effective and transparent public authorities and an articulate, informed public that plays an active role in the decision- making process. 3) Becoming a country that manages its natural resources, ensures the health of its ecosystems and the maintenance of their functions. A country with a quality environment that is resilient to the effects of climate change and which contributes to international efforts to ensure the sustainability of our planet. In September 2015 the General Assembly of the United Nations formally adopted The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, set out in the document Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It contains 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and 169 targets to be achieved by 2030. The Agenda is the fruit of two years intergovernmental efforts and is structured across five key areas: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership (this last being necessary for progress in the first four), and is based on premises which we would like to include in this preamble, given their significance: 1) The urgency of the measures needed to tackle the challenges and threats facing the sustainability of our planet. 2) The 2030 Agenda's potential for changing our current approach to the sustainability of the planet. 3) The global and universal nature of the SDGs and their targets, which must be applicable to every country (taking their current situation as the starting point). 5 4) The indivisible nature of the SDGs and targets in the 2030 Agenda, which must be met as a whole, taking an integrated approach so that no target is ignored. 5) Balancing the economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainability so that no one aspect is prioritised over the others. The 2030 Agenda and the systematic, transformational approach it proposes meshes with the view taken from the start by the CADS and strengthens our concerns about the magnitude of the challenges facing us on a global scale and in Catalonia (the two are closely intertwined). This is why the CADS has prepared this report, identifying the main challenges that, in our view, we must tackle as a country in order to successfully meet the global and common goals set out in the 2030 Agenda. If we tackle these challenges decisively we will advance towards a society that is, on a worldwide scale, fairer, more inclusive and more prosperous, where people have a decent standard of living and which respects the environmental limits of our planet. This document contains a chapter for each of the first 16 SDGs (number 17 is excluded from our analysis as it is purely instrumental in nature). Each chapter contains a short discussion of the Goal in an international and European context, followed by a brief diagnosis of each target, identifying the challenges it poses for Catalonia. Bearing in mind that the 2030 Agenda report drafted by the United Nations is intended to cover a very wide range of situations, our report states when a global target is not considered relevant to Catalonia. The report has been submitted to the Government of Catalonia so that it can be taken into consideration when the Government prepares the national plan required in response to the United Nations' 2030 Agenda. The CADS is aware that the drafting of this report is not an end in itself, but a means for ensuring that the 2030 Agenda goals are incorporated into all the Government's actions in order to ensure its transformational potential is realised. We would like to end by commenting on the hard work involved in the preparation of this report, which has been a challenge in itself, given the size of the task and the little time available (six months), and the lack of international experience to use as a benchmark. We are sincerely grateful to all the members of the Council for their extraordinary dedication over these six months, and for the involvement and support of the external experts who have helped us. They are listed at the end of this report in recognition of their contribution. We hope this report is of use to the Government of Catalonia. Ferran Rodés i Vilà Carles Ibáñez i Martí Josep Maria Serena President Member (rapporteur) Member (rapporteur) 6 INTRODUCTION At the United Nations General Assembly's summit of 25-27 September 2015, it formally adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development containing 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and 169 targets to be achieved by 2030. The SDGs set out in the document Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development1 are the result of two years of intergovernmental efforts based on the outcome document of the Rio + 20 Conference held in June 2012 entitled ‘The future we want’. The new agenda for sustainable development is based on five fundamental ideas: A sense of the urgent need to achieve the SDGs, i.e. to tackle the challenges and threats facing the sustainability of our planet. The SDGs and associated targets' potential for bringing about a change to our current approach to the sustainability of the planet. The global and universal nature of the SDGs and the targets associated with each of them, which must be applicable to every country, albeit taking their current situation as the starting point.