The emergence of technology-oriented agreements such as the 2005 AsiaPacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP) may have significant implications for the future of global climate governance, as these agreements could be perceived as an alternative for the existing international climate regime. It is, therefore, important to examine what has moved countries to be involved in these agreements alongside the UN climate regime. This article seeks to identify possible factors contributing to Japan's participation in both the UN climate regime and the APP, looking at the position of domestic interest groups, the distribution of climate policy-making at the government level and varying international pressures. It concludes that Japan's participation in both the APP and the UN climate regime flows from a policy-making process that tries to accommodate conflicting viewpoints at the domestic and international levels. To what extent Japan's participation in both fora can be regarded as constructive will depend on the partnership's ability to support the implementation of a future climate regime.
This chapter first evaluates the MDGs achievements. The MDGs are evaluated positively for their achievements in poverty reduction, gender disparity in school education, gender equality and some of the health related goals. They have not succeeded in, among others, maternal mortality, sanitation and environmental sustainability. The critical weakness lies in the lack of implementation mechanisms. Lessons from the MDGs tell us that in order for the SDGs to be more effective they need to take into account a multilayered approach also tailored at regional and national levels providing a menu of options for actors to select from. Regarding the health related goals focus is on child mortality and the role of GAVI and Norway in this context and both these actors have contributed to a fairly high score on this goal and individual leadership has been particularly important. The lessons also underline the significance of mobilizing money. A final lesson relates to the virtue of combining UN and non-UN efforts. While the UN is necessary to secure legitimacy, smaller and more flexible bodies are often necessary to reach ambitious goals.
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