These are goals, plans and initiatives for Caribbean social and economic development that have been developed within the wider UN framework, and include the Millennium Development Goals and the Internationally Agreed Goals (IADGs) on sustainable development.

Initiatives and Cooperation

Some of the specific activities being implemented in the Caribbean by ECLAC in collaboration with other development partners include:

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Ten years after the adoption of the Millennium Declaration, approximately 140 Heads of State and Government, joined by leaders from civil society organizations, foundations and the private sector, gathered to spur action against poverty, hunger and disease at the session of the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which was held from 20-22 September 2010, in New York.

Adopting a sweeping outcome document at the end of the high-level meeting, "Keeping the Promise: United to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals", the leaders set out an action agenda to reach the Goals by 2015. The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) build on agreements made at United Nations conferences in the 1990s and represent commitments by all countries to reduce poverty and hunger, and to tackle ill-health, gender inequality, lack of education, lack of access to clean water and environmental degradation.

Within the Millennium Summit framework, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) participates in the collaborative efforts of the United Nations Entities to work in partnership to deliver on an integrated and coherent agenda in particular in terms of the monitoring and evaluation of the region's progress towards the achievement of MDGs.

Related Links:

• MDGs Country Profiles: Latin America and the Caribbean
• Statements by ECLAC Member States presented at the MDGs Summit, 2010
• MDGs in Latin America and the Caribbean
• ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean MDGs webpage
• Organizations of the UN System working to advance the MDGs

Sustainable Development

United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD)

In 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), or "Rio+20", will take place in Rio de Janeiro. The objectives of the conference are to secure renewed political commitment to sustainable development; to assess progress towards internationally agreed goals on sustainable development; and to address new and emerging challenges.

Related Links:

• Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
• Statement of Principles for the Sustainable Management of Forests
• Review of the Economics of Climate Change in the Caribbean

Five-year review of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States - Mauritius Strategy +5 Review (MSI+5), 2010

Member States undertook a five-year review of the MSI on 24-25 September 2010, during the 65th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The document, "Institutional Report of the ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean on the Support Provided to Caribbean Small Island Developing States for the Implementation of the Mauritius Strategy", presents a preliminary review of the support provided by ECLAC to Caribbean SIDS in the further implementation of MSI.

Previously, in January 2005, the international community convened to discuss the further implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action (BPOA). The outcome of this international conference was the Mauritius Declaration and Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (MSI).

In paragraph 129, the BPOA calls upon Regional Commissions of the United Nations to contribute to the implementation process by:

1. Promoting regional and subregional capacity-building;
2. Promoting the integration of environmental concerns in regional and subregional development policies;
3. Promoting regional and subregional cooperation, where appropriate, regarding transboundary issues related to sustainable development

While paragraph 104 of the Mauritius Strategy declares that:

"Small island developing States regional institutions should play a key role in monitoring the implementation of the Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action."

Consequently, ECLAC plays a central role in the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action and Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (MSI) by promoting capacity-building, integration and cooperation on issues related to sustainable development as well as by monitoring the implementation of conference outcomes in the Caribbean.

Related Links:

• Outcome document of the High-level Review Meeting on the implementation of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (2010)
• Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)
• Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
• Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)