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Strategic Planning and Direction
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Twenty years after the Earth
Summit, the 2012 United Nations
Con f e r ence on Su s t a i nab l e
Development (Rio+20) was held in
Rio de Janeiro. Besides examining
the progress and challenges
involved in promoting sustainable
development around the world, it
was also expected that the summit
would urge countries to forge a new
political commitment to sustainable
development.
Faced with the imminent 2015
target date for the MDGs, the UN
Open Working Group on Sustainable
Development Goals announced
17 draft Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) in July 2014. At this
time, the TaiwanICDF also actively
i den t i f i ed t he advan t ages o f
intervening, under the principle of
sustainable development, in order to
conform to the spirit of these SDGs.
In recent years, the TaiwanICDF has
since taken the initiative of promoting
climate change mitigation and
adaptation, environmental protection,
the conservation of biodiversity, the
development of renewable energy
and other projects and operations
related to sustainable development,
he l p i ng t he o r gan i za t i on t o
follow international development
communities and agendas.
The pos t - 2015 SDGs a l so
emphasize global public goods,
p r o p o s i n g s i x g e n e r a l a n d
overarching “essential elements”
– dignity, prosperity, justice,
partnership, planet and people –
and pursuing a course of integrated
development toward mutual human
prosperity, fundamental human
rights, and economic, social and
environmental sustainability. The
SDGs serve as a continuation of the
development agenda of the MDGs,
considering human development to
be the ultimate development goal,
and global public goods to be the
engine that drives the attainment
of such development results.
This development agenda, which
combines human development
and sustainable development, is
focused primarily on solving issues
of poverty, hunger, health, the use of
water resources, energy production,
urban housing, and the modes of
production and consumption. It
takes into consideration human-
centered needs such as affordability,
safety and accessibility, stresses
the continuing effects of global
climate change, and reaffirms
the importance of maintaining
ecosystems of all forms and of using
resources sustainably. Moreover,
in pursuing each specific goal, the
agenda pays particular attention to
minority groups and overall enabling
environments, stressing tolerance for
differences in gender, age, religion,
occupation and disability, and the
integration of multiple disciplines
and resource channels, as well
as the strengthening of support
to underdeveloped countries,
landlocked nations and small island
developing states, and fragile or war-
torn countries, through financing,
appropriate technologies, knowledge
and information. It strives to end
inconsistencies in the development
and progress of different global
regions and countries, in turn
facilitating the prosperity and growth
of all of humanity: “leave no-one
behind.”
In other words, the post-2015
SDGs have redefined poverty
as a multifaceted development
issue, which, besides emphasizing
impoverishment in terms of personal
economics, health and capabilities,
should also incorporate a holistic,
institutional- and governance-
oriented approach to social security,
and should stress new global goals,
so that responsibility is not limited to
developing countries, but rather to all
countries.
Deploying Integrated and
Multidisciplinary Projects for
Post-2015 Agenda
In terms of the TaiwanICDF’s
current development work and
compliance with the post-2015
development agenda, with respect to
global public goods we will continue
During the 42nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, convened in 1987, the World Commission on
Environment and Development noted that humanity was facing a series of major economic, social and environmental
problems, recognizing for the first time the threat that economic development poses for the environment, and
appealing to all countries to re-examine their development strategies and direction. At that time, the term “sustainable
development” was defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs.” This also set in motion the organization of the UN Conference on
Environment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992.
Projects: From the Millennium Development Goals to the Post-2015
Sustainable Development Agenda