Governance and the Sustainable Development Goals: The Increasing Relevance of Access Rights in Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration

• Published date: 01 April 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12153
• Date: 01 April 2016

Governance and the Sustainable Development

Goals: The Increasing Relevance of Access Rights

in Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration

Marcos Orellana*

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted 17

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the 2030

sustainable development agenda. Governance under-

lies all of the SDGs, because effective, accountable and

inclusive institutions and procedures are essential to

their realization. This article identifies and describes

the features and structures of governance necessary

for the attainment of the SDGs. Drawing on Principle

10 of the Rio Declaration and other legal sources, the

article deconstructs the procedural rights which are

integral to governance for sustainable development

and emphasizes the need for effective accountability

mechanisms at various levels. The article concludes

that procedural rights and effective accountability at

all levels is the key to governance that will transform

political commitments to the 2030 sustainable devel-

opment agenda into actual realities for people on the

ground.

INTRODUCTION

The Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development in

2012 renewed global commitments to ensuring ‘an eco-

nomically, socially, and environmentally sustainable

future’.

1

Those global commitments are reflected in the

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by

the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2015,

and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

included therein lie at the heart of said 2030 Agenda.

The SDGs define integrated, indivisible, global, univer-

sally applicable goals and targets that outline a plan of

action for people, planet and prosperity. Accordingly,

the goals and targets balance the three key dimensions

of sustainable development, including the environmen-

tal dimensions, while placing people at the centre of

sustainable development. The SDGs constitute a charter

for people and planet in the twenty-first century to

respect and safeguard Mother Earth, secure peace and

prosperity, and reinvigorate a global partnership for

sustainable development.

This article explores the critical importance of govern-

ance for the realization of the SDGs.

2

Governance refers

to the legitimate exercise of authority; accordingly, it is

a concept that operates at various levels, comprises

multiple facets and dimensions, and interlinks with

other important concepts that are relevant to the real-

ization of the SDGs. Governance for sustainable devel-

opment is particularly complex, given the integration of

social, economic and environmental dimensions.

As to its various levels, governance can operate at the

global, regional, national and sub-national levels. For

example, the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable

Development (HLPF) can play an important role with

regard to global accountability for the attainment of

SDGs. Similarly, regional instruments on access rights

can also contribute to enhancing a dialogue between the

State and civil society with regard to the implementa-

tion of SDGs. While international agreements and insti-

tutions are relevant to global and regional governance,

they do not substitute for the implementation of poli-

cies, laws and other measures at the national level that

enable and promote the realization of SDGs.

As to its dimensions, governance can be said to involve

institutional and decision-making dimensions. The

decision-making dimension of governance comprises

legislative, administrative and judicial decision-making

processes, and the institutional dimension of govern-

ance concerns the work of governmental institutions. In

this regard, for example, the Rio+20 outcome document

affirms that ‘to achieve our sustainable development

goals, we need institutions at all levels that are effective,

transparent, accountable, and democratic’.

3

Governance has clear connections with notions of

accountability, inter- and intra-generational equity,

human rights and democracy. Governance does not just

refer to power structures, the ways decisions are taken

or the design and structuring of institutions. There are

also material, value-based concepts that underlie the

exercise of authority and enable an evaluation of its

* Corresponding author.

Email: morellana@ciel.org

1

The Future We Want (UNGA Resolution A/RES/66/288, 11 Septem-

ber 2012), Annex, at paragraph 1.

2

Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Devel-

opment (UNGA Resolution A/RES/70/1, 21 October 2015) (‘2030

Agenda’), at paragraphs 8 and 9.

3

The Future We Want, n. 1 above, at paragraph 10.

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RECIEL 25 (1) 2016. ISSN 2050-0386 DOI: 10.1111/reel.12153

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