Paula Caballero

Change Agent

I am is widely recognized as the lead proponent of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which she conceptualized, positioned and negotiated. I also led the agreement to create a technical, science-based group to develop the SDGs which broke completely with UN tradition and make it possible to negotiate framework with concrete, implementable targets. The SDGs have changed how we understand and view development, proposing for the first time a truly universal agenda without the artifice of the distinction between “developed and developing” countries. The SDGs are a revolution in responsibility, enabling not just governments but other stakeholders to engage meaningfully. For this work I was awarded the German Sustainability Award in 2019 and the Zayed International Prize for the Environment in 2014 for her contribution to “environmental action leading to positive change”. Currently I am Managing Director of the Lands for Life Program at Rare, an NGO that has been a leader in the field of behavior change and sustainable development for over four decades. As I often say, there should be one more SDG – an SDG 18 on behavior change. I’ve been around the block a few times with a long history in the field of development, including service as Senior Director at the World Bank where I launched the Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice, overseeing a portfolio of over USD 7 billion that covered an array of development issues in productive landscapes and forests, fisheries and aquaculture, pollution and environmental health, environmental economics, and environmental safeguards. Earlier I served as Global Director for Climate at the World Resources Institute where I led the establishment of the NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions) Partnership, efforts to ratchet up climate ambition, and work on long-term climate strategies. While serving as Director for Economic, Social and Environmental Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2010-2014, I contributed to policy development and led negotiations on a range of sustainable development issues including climate change, Post-2015 agenda and biodiversity, working closely with a wide array of national and international counterparts. It was in this capacity that I spearheaded Colombia’s proposal to establish a comprehensive, integrated metric for sustainable development, the Sustainable Development Goals. Earlier in my career, I served with the Energy and Environment Unit for Latin America & Caribbean at UNDP. I have also worked with NGOs, academia, media, and the private sector.

- implementing the SDGs in radical ways - changing agriculture - groundwater - sustainable fisheries - overcoming the zero-sum narrative around environment and growth

Implementation of the SDGs demands a revolution in what is being measured by governments and how it’s approached. It's not a question of hitting sectoral targets or even small, discrete "intersectoral" targets - that's business-as-usual (BAU). Moreover, the SDGs are the climate agenda and vice-versa. Climate action suffers from the same small mindsets that make it difficult for governments to ramp up their climate ambition and to put in place economy-wide shifts. So here’s the idea: To spearhead deep structural change and understand both what is needed in terms of structural shifts as well as to push the boundaries of what is understood as "possible", each government should identify 3-4 core targets that the whole of government will be held accountable for, such as on "childhood nutrition" or "water use efficiency" or "reduced informality in mining" or "reduced deforestation". At least one of the targets would have a climate focus, whether relevant for mitigation or adaptation. Each line ministry or government agency across all of government would need to propose how they could contribute to achieving the target and set their own internal targets which would be measured on a dashboard. Local governments would be invited to explicitly participate, with their engagement structured in such a way that it becomes a race to the top. This dashboard would be visible to all citizens and private sector actors - whether large corporations or farmers' associations, could upload and showcase their contributions. The key is that there be few core targets and that the process is driven by the Head of State so there is maximum political will achieving whole-of-government engagement. Each target would have one coordinating agent – e.g. a ministry department. Ministers from each ministry would be tasked with providing quarterly updates at Cabinet meetings. Of even greater concern is that a BAU approach privileges the short-term: electoral, budgetary, administrative cycles. 4 years on average, 6 in some cases. And yet right now, through investments and incentives and policies we are locking in the development trajectories of the next 4 decades - and beyond. 2050 is now. Thus these core targets would need to frame what-good-looks-like in 2050. And government agencies would need to assess whether what they are proposing to do will set the required trajectory in place. Academia and science would need to support this effort. In addition to short-termism, another Achille’s heel of sustainability is the fact that we don’t properly value natural and human capital. We are beholden to GDP and the mirage of relentless growth. Academia needs to become far more intentional in helping to bridge science, economics and policy. Around each of these targets, national and regional universities would come together to undertake the research, valuation, and assessments needed to better understand synergies, trade-offs and relevant metrics. To identify gaps and opportunities. To make the targets relevant to stakeholders. Finally, media would sign on. Tracking. Reporting. Telling the stories. Shining a light on early wins. And such a process, such outcomes, is what the UN would focus on. To support at national level. To compare and report on at global level. Under both the development and the climate tracks which are, still, strangely, separate. We would seek to inspire. Show that deep shifts are possible. Get government – and other key actors – to view their responsibilities with a different lens. The SDGs are still only an invitation to a revolution if implementation proceeds piecemeal with sectoral biases.

Climate change, Climate-smart agriculture, Integrated watershed management, International negotiations, Policy design, Sustainable development metrics