Theme: Trade and Sustainable Development

The IPU and the European Parliament organized a session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO (PCWTO) during the 2017 World Trade Organization (WTO) Public Forum on 26 September focussing on “Making trade fair: The contribution of parliaments”.  Participants discussed what concrete actions parliaments could take to make global trade more sustainable, in line with the SDGs, reversing mistrust of global trade and making sure that trade can help respond to major challenges such as poverty and climate change.

The IPU provides technical support to parliaments, including on information and communication technology (ICT) projects. Over the last few months, the IPU has worked with the Parliaments of Sri Lanka, Zambia and Vanuatu to set up digital repositories for their respective parliamentary libraries. The IPU hopes to replicate this experience-sharing in future projects. The cooperation between parliaments is not only building partnerships but changing the way effective parliamentary support is conceived.

A record number of MPs from 36 parliaments participated in the 2017 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development, from 10 to 19 July, in New York. The HLPF is the platform where governments and other stakeholders, including parliaments can monitor progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This year, 44 countries presented national progress reports.

On 17 July 2017, on behalf of the BGIPU, Lord McConnell attended the IPU Parliamentary event at the UN High Level Political Forum on the SDGs. This coincided with a visit by members of the APPG on the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development. In addition to the obvious scrutiny role of MPs to hold governments to account for delivery, the Global Goals provide real momentum for parliamentarians everywhere to insist upon accountability and pressurise governments for specific legislation and budgetary commitments.

Vital to our survival and providing livelihoods for millions of people, the Ocean is severely threatened by climate change, pollution and unsustainable practices. The UN held a Conference on the Ocean from 5-9 June to address these issues with Member States adopting a Call for Action to protect the ocean.  In February, the IPU and the UN held an Annual Parliamentary Hearing that focused on the ocean and provide a parliamentary component to the preparatory process for the conference; several of its recommendations were included in the Call to Action.

A study entitled “Global trends in climate change legislation and litigation” launched on 9 May during the Conference on Climate Change in Bonn finds countries across the globe have adopted more than 1,200 laws to limit climate change—an impressive rise from only 60 laws two decades ago. Courts are complementing the actions of legislators through rulings on the implementation of existing climate laws, and two-thirds of their rulings have either strengthened or maintained climate change regulation.