Caribbean Action 2030

In late 2016, Coordinator of the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD) at The UWI, Dr. David Smith, was selected to be part of a group of 15 international experts to work on the United Nations (UN) Global Sustainable Development Report. The appointment was made by former Secretary- General, Ban Ki-Moon.

The Global Sustainable Development Report is intended to provide guidance from a scientific perspective to support implementation of the recently agreed UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Dr. David Smith, Coordinator of the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD) at The UWI

It is a key component of the mechanism to follow up and review progress of the 2030 Agenda and aims to strengthen the science-policy interface and provide a strong evidence-based instrument to support policymakers in promoting poverty eradication and sustainable development.

A regional conference designed to advance and accelerate regional action on the most comprehensive blueprint for eliminating extreme poverty, reducing inequality, and protecting the planet the world has ever seen —the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), took place at The University of the West Indies in Kingston Jamaica—from June 28 to 30, 2017.

The UWI's Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD) and Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) with the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute for Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), the UNDP and the Government of Jamaica sponsored the Caribbean Action 2030 Forum which focussed on ways to help the Caribbean achieve the SDGs. ISD and SDSN arranged the attendance of several delegates including youth representatives and speakers from PEMANDU Associates in Malaysia.

This included Dr. Idris Jala, former Minister in the Government of Malaysia and head of PEMANDU, the government entity responsible for Malaysia's economic and governance transformations. ISD also arranged for Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and Director of the SDSN to attend the forum and deliver the keynote address. Professor Sachs also attended a round table meeting with heads of delegations including several Caribbean Ministers of Government, members of the UN and NGOs from the region.

SDSN, the ISD and the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) worked together on a project to improve the data on SIDS included within the SDG Index and Dashboard, an international instrument for measuring progress towards the SDGs. The work was presented at the Caribbean Action 2030 meeting. As a result of this research, more Caribbean SIDS have been included in the SDSN SDG assessment and Dashboard; and are able to use the Dashboard to monitor their achievement of the SDGs.