Environmental Sustainability in the 2030 Agenda: Is Mexico up to the Task?

Abstract

For Mexico, the negotiation process on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the subsequent adoption of the 2030 Agenda have provided the ideal scenario for strengthening its position as an emerging power, both within the Latin America and Caribbean region (LAC) and throughout the world. As other authors in this volume have mentioned, during the entire transition process from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in preparation for the Open Working Group (OWG) sessions, Mexico was very active in promoting and hosting several international and regional consultations on strategic topics such as climate change, energy, cities, violence and peace, and civil society participation, among others. Mexico was also one of the co-chairs of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, the first high-level meeting of which took place in Mexico City on April 15–16, 2014 with a focus on the global financial development agenda. During the OWG process itself, Mexico organized a range of complementary events involving actors and countries from the developing and developed world. Mexico’s hosting of high profile events and its continuous presence in drafting of the SDGs, as well as the presence of Patricia Espinosa, former Secretary of Foreign Affairs, on the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (henceforth High Level Panel), marked a clear path for Mexico to project itself as an emerging leader at the global level, but also to embrace the spirit of universality embedded within the process of creating the SDGs.

An earlier version of this chapter was published as an article in Spanish by Simone Lucatello. México y la agenda mundial de medioambiente en el escenario posterior a Revista Mexicana de Política Exterior (2015) 103: 189–207. Instituto Matías Romero, Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, México.