North-East Asian Multistakeholder Forum on Sustainable Development Goals
North-East Asian perspectives on the 2018 HLPF Theme: Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies
Session objectives
10th October, 14:00-17:30
DRAFT Session plan
This session will develop subregional perspectives on “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies”, the theme of the 2018 High-level Political Forum for Sustainable Development (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf). All forum participants are invited to have interactive dialogues to:
• Identify the notable trends and risks faced by North-East Asia and discuss the impacts on sustainable development.
• Identify who are the most vulnerable, in this context and discuss social protection as critical intervention to promote resilience
• Identify specific responses and capacities that need to be strengthened including through subregional and regional cooperation
    Time
    Programme
    14:00- 14:10
  Session introduction:
Theme presentation by ESCAP
  14:10- 14:45
    Panel discussion
Moderator: Lan Xue, Institute for SDGs, Tsinghua University
1.Tungalag ULAMBAYAR, Ministry of Environment and Tourism 2. Seonghoon LEE, Asia Development Alliance
3. TBC
Panel questions
 1)
2) 3)
What are some of the significant megatrends (such as rural-urban transition, climate change, increasing demand for natural resources, demographic changes and technological changes) that will impact sustainable development in North-East Asia? Howdoesthesemegatrendsaffectthemostimportantandemergingrisks (such as risks related to health, weather, financial and economic shocks, commodity price fluctuations and conflicts) that North-East Asia faces?
Who is most in danger of being “left behind” because of the combined effect of these emerging megatrends and risks – which are the vulnerable groups/sectors?
 
  14:45- 15:15
    Introduction to group activity
Part 1 – Exploring risk and the development context
- 6 groups
- 3 questions, each group discusses all questions
Questions
1) What are some of the most important subregional megatrends (such as rural- urban transition, climate change, increasing demand for natural resources, demographic changes and technological changes) that are impacting development in this region, and how will these trends potentially impact on the achievement of the SDGs in North-East Asia?
2) What are the most important and emerging risks (such as risks related to health, weather, financial and economic shocks, commodity price fluctuations and conflicts) that the subregion faces?
3) Where are the links between environmental, social, economic/financial and other risks, and wider trends in the region/subregion especially significant?
  15:15- 15:45
    Group reflection in plenary
  15:45 – 16:00
      Coffee Break
    16:00- 16:30
 Part 2 – Identifying responses to promote resilience
Part a. Social protection and resilience
-6 groups
-3 questions, each group discusses all questions
1) Who is most in danger of being “left behind” because of the combined effect of these emerging risks & megatrends – which are the vulnerable groups/sectors?
2) What are the priorities for social protection frameworks in North-East Asia?
3) In addition to social protection, what are the effective measures by /individuals/communities/governments responding to strengthen resilience to economic/financial, environmental and other kinds of shocks?
  16:30- 16:50
    Part b. Subregional cooperation for resilience
- Discussion on tables
- Each group chooses one of the priority risks identified during the earlier discussion.
• How can subregional cooperation (between & among governments and other stakeholders) strengthen resilience to the combined effects of mega-trends and risks at all levels/sectors of society?
    16:50- 17:30
      Discussants to comment on the content of the charts and discussion Group reflects in plenary