Tradition, trends and innovation – sustainability

Sustainability aspirations and achievements of IFLA in each presidential term

Abstract

An agreement was reached at the Rio+20 Sustainable Development Conference in 2012 on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which built on and continued the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to address global challenges. The United Nations, in partnership with governments, academics and civil society, conceived the sustainable development framework for the post-2015 period. As a result of this work, on 25 September 2015, the 193 member states of the United Nations accepted a set of 17 goals and the set of proposals for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) has always had a strong strategic focus on international cultural policy, the formulation of sectoral policies and their adaptation to the library sector. An obvious area of library advocacy is cooperation with world organisations that have a global impact on our societies, with a comprehensive agenda on issues affecting our planet. So, naturally, even as the new UN global program was taking shape, responsible leaders of the IFLA were already involved in the process, raising awareness of the importance of library support. The aim of IFLA is to ensure that, through advocacy, library associations and organisations, as well as public libraries, should be included in these sustainability development plans at both global and local levels, as institutions to be utilised to achieve the goals and as working partners, and should also appear in the UN voluntary national review materials.