Sustainable and just development

Agenda 2030 was approved by a UN General Assembly resolution in 2015. It sets the framework for sustainable development - 17 Sustainable Development Goals and five overarching principles - people, the planet, prosperity, peace and partnership.

The essence of sustainable development is to create an ambitious and transformative vision of a world free of poverty, hunger, disease, fear and violence. A world with access to education, health care and social protection, safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, where food is sufficient and accessible. Human settlements must be safe and sustainable, sustainable energy must be available. There must be equality, justice and legitimacy in the world, and equal opportunities must ensure the development of every person’s potential. It is necessary to invest in every child, to ensure equal access to the economic, political and legal framework of girls and women. A tolerant, inclusive society will ensure that no one is left behind in development processes. Respectful work, responsible consumption and sustainable use of natural resources, mitigating climate change are important in economic development. Democracy and good governance, international and cross-sectoral cooperation to implement this development framework.

LAPAS specifically advocates that democracy and good governance, international and cross-sectoral cooperation are the basis for the implementation of this development framework.

Sustainable development is important both in Latvia, at the European level and globally, therefore since 2014 LAPAS has been implementing various activities that contribute to the implementation of this vision from the individual to the global level.

In cooperation with the Cross-sectoral Coordination Center and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, extensive activities have been implemented for the development of Latvia’s National Reports in 2018 and 2022, several discussions have been held in the preparation of supplementary reports of NGOs (2018, 2022), and in 2019 an Latvian Multistakeholder SDG Coalition was established. Representatives of various sectors - private, academic, civil society organizations, state administration and local governments - participate in it. Almost 100 good practice stories of how the SDGs are implemented at the local level have been collected.

Specific thematic projects on resources for development have also been implemented, for example in the field of fair international tax policy, cooperation projects at the Baltic and European level.

In the field of sustainable development, LAPAS is active in international networks at the level of the European Union and the United Nations, is involved in the development of national positions and the representation of Latvia’s interests.