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DCF Australia High-level Symposium. "Shaping a Sustainable Future - Partners in Development Cooperation"

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Brisbane, Australia

The United Nations Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) reviews trends and progress in international development cooperation and promotes greater coherence among the activities of different development actors.

The purpose of the Australia High-Level Symposium is to prepare for the next DCF, which will be held on 5-6 July 2012 at UN Headquarters in New York. Part of the DCF will be devoted to the question of the nexus between sustainable development and development cooperation.

The UN High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability recently reaffirmed that the current global development model is unsustainable. The report, Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing, shows that by 2030 the world will need at least 50 per cent more food, 45 per cent more energy and 30 per cent more water. “Business as usual” is no longer an option. Development cooperation can play a vital role in helping countries to build policies on the three pillars of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental.

The Australia High-Level Symposium will look at the implications for development cooperation of the transition towards sustainable development and how it can contribute to alleviating poverty.

The DCF is a multi-stakeholder forum, convened by the UN Economic and Social Council to look at the economic, social and environmental dimensions of development cooperation. The DCF is in a unique position to assist countries to bring the different strands together. The outcomes of the DCF will feed into Rio+20 and post-2015 UN development agenda discussions.

This third preparatory symposium for the 2012 DCF will explore opportunities, challenges and lessons learned for effective sustainable development; discuss opportunities for innovative finance and effective partnerships, with a particular focus on leveraging the private sector, the future for South-South and triangular cooperation; and examine the role of sustainable development in the post-2015 framework.

The Symposium will bring together high-level representatives and senior experts in development cooperation and sustainable development from governments, parliaments, multilateral and civil society organisations, philanthropic foundations and the private sector. The Symposium aims to facilitate an informal and interactive dialogue among participants.