Kamau focused much of his talk on his experience as Co-Chair of the General Assembly Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals and his overall understanding of creating meaningful, global development.
By Lucy Porter C’18
On November 2, as part of the Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series, Penn Law welcomed Macharia Kamau, Kenyan Ambassador to the United Nations and Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on El Niño and Climate, for a talk titled “Climate Change and Food Security: How Our Future Depends on the Sustainable Development Goals.”
The event was convened by Penn Law’s Office of International Programs, sponsored in partnership by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, the Penn Law Black Law Students Association, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, the School of Social Policy & Practice, the Penn Program on Race, Science and Society, and the Center for Africana Studies.
Kamau focused much of his talk on his experience as Co-Chair of the General Assembly Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals and his overall understanding of creating meaningful, global development.
The goal of Kamau’s work on the General Assembly, he explained, was to create a universal set of deliverables — a set of goals that all 193 countries could subscribe to.
The process took just shy of three years, and Kamau described the first year as simply an exchange of ideas. The end product of the process was 17 final goals: no poverty, no hunger, good health, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, clean energy, good jobs and economic growth, innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption, protecting the planet, life below water, life on land, peace and justice, and partnerships for the goals.
The process of reaching these common goals began with asking, “What causes can we all get behind?” Kamau said. Climate change, he noted, is not yet close to being universally accepted, and it was very difficult to get on the list of common goals. Eventually, it took a number of countries simply refusing to finalize the list until climate change was included for it to be included.
Along with President Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, Kamau served as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on El Niño and Climate. In his role, he put together targets and indicators for marking development goals.
“Something we can clearly notice is that dangerous weather events have become more frequent and violent,” said Kamau. He discussed the indisputable nature of these climate indicators and how they serve as a useful benchmark. He also noted, however, that even if all cars and factories stopped operating today, the goal of halting climate change would still be far from achieved.
Kamau was candid about how difficult attaining these common goals will be, but he also stressed that they will be impossible without working together.
“We live in an interconnected world,” he said.
He concluded by explaining that as the world grows smaller and resources grow more precious, it is in the interest of the whole world to unify and pull in the same direction.
Tweets from this event:
Kenyan ambassador to UN discusses development goals and climate change