Leave no one behind in pursuit of global sustainable development

TREES, and the seeds from which they emerge, have often been a strong symbol of sustainability.

In fact, trees which bore witness to the presence of the great sages of history still stand strong and proud today, now sacred destinations: Krishna and the tamarind tree in Imli Tala, India; Patriarch Abraham and the Kermes Oak Trees in the Golan Heights; Prophet Moses and the Burning Bush in the Sinai, Egypt; Confucius in the Forest, Qufu, China; Buddha and the Bodhi Tree; Jesus Christ amid the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane; and Prophet Muhammad with the Blessed Tree, Jordan.

Confucius claimed: "The best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago. The second best time is now."

The United Nations (UN) will be planting its own trees in 2015 when the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), launched in September 2000, expire. They will be replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be launched at the UN Summit for Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda on Sept 25-27 in New York. The SDGs represent a second chance for the UN and its government members to lead in solving the world's most critical problems in the pursuit of global justice: eradicating poverty, dignifying people and saving the planet.

There is a genuine need to transform the narrative of what the SDGs mean to the public, private and social sectors. Governments can be encouraged to transform their perception of the agenda from an international obligation to a leadership opportunity. Businesses can perceive the agenda as not an enhanced and updated edition of corporate social responsibility, but one affecting every part of their value proposition, including their bottom line. Non-government organisations (NGOs) should not be daunted by the scale of the global challenge ahead, but rather focus on achieving impact with the beneficiaries of the SDGs at local, grassroots levels.

But to have a genuine chance of achieving success with the SDGs by 2030, there will be a need to move beyond the tri-sectorial perspective of stakeholders to the following three mega-demographics.

The first demographic is the individual, where the narrative has to be transformed from one of altruism or apathy to ownership, enfranchisement and empowerment. The SDGs belong to each person, as this, after all, is their planet. Key to this process will be enfranchising millennials, who largely have a deep desire to make the world a better place. The success in enfranchising this group, and others, can be based on the use of technologyto measure the impact of success of the SDGs at a global and granular level.

The second demographic are political blocs, mega-city based BRIC countries and inter-governmental organisations, which can bring scale to achieving the SDG agenda.

The likes of the European Union, the African Union, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council can enter into greater economic cooperation and trade with one another at a more elevated basis than nation-states did historically by focusing on the agenda and by institutionalising a specific fund for it.

Greater regional integration will become increasingly important over the next 15 years, particularly if one subscribes to economist Joseph Stiglitz's perspective of the "leaderless" contemporary multi-polar G-0 world we live in.

The third demographic are global faith traditions, all of whom have eradicating poverty at their core, and for whom institutionalisation at scale can be very valuable for the SDG agenda.

Pope Francis said in January 2015 that the Catholic Church has been caring for and protecting the poor since its beginning. By bringing to bear a global institutionalisation of this care - in the form of a Vatican Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) - would be very beneficial for the SDG agenda.

The Islamic world can also contribute immensely to eradicating poverty through the greater global institutionalisation of zakat, obligatory alms giving at 2.5 per cent of every Muslim's income or wealth, which represents the third pillar of the religion. With significant stakes in the current US$5 trillion global energy sector, the US$5 trillion SWF sector, the US$2 trillion global Islamic economy and the 2.2 billion rise in the global middle class by 2030, zakat funds which can be sourced and collected by governments to contribute to the agenda globally are staggering in terms of potential.

Those at the UN would do well to remember a paraphrased metaphor when finalising the SDG agenda this year: "Our world will grow great when old (and young) men (and women) plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in."

Engaging governments, businesses and NGOs for the SDG agenda is critical, but only by moving beyond them will there be genuine, sustainable and measurable impact at scale. The agenda has to be owned by individuals by blocs and large inter-governmental organisations and global faith traditions, who should be encouraged to institutionalise at scale their philanthropic missions.

Success can be envisaged in 2030, when many of us are no longer here, that no single person of the 1.6 billion people living in extreme multi-dimensional poverty today will remain in that same state then. Nemo Resideo - no one would have been left behind.