As the world marks five years of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Accord, and as it prepares for the Conference of the Parties next November in Glasgow, experts consider how the SDG’s promote issues around Climate Justice and Peace and lay the basis for a sustainable future. This 90-minute panel event will be on Wednesday, February 17th, 2021 at 12pm EST (-5UTC) / 5pm Dublin Time (UTC). Please use the Time Zone Converter to determine when this engaging conversation will be in your time zone.

You will hear from a speaker involved in drafting the SDG, the voice of youth seeking a sustainable future, the director of Ireland’s Friends of the Earth and a Senator from Ireland on the topic of Climate and Peace in the SDG.

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Panelists:

Beth Doherty:

Beth is a 17-year-old climate activist from Dublin, Ireland. She first got involved in the climate movement in February 2019, addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action, and organising the first major global strike on March 15th. Since then, Beth has worked as an organiser with Fridays For Future and represented Ireland at the FFF European Summit in Lausanne last August. In November 2019, she was a delegate to the RTE Youth Assembly on Climate in the Irish parliament, where she wrote one of the final 10 proposals, which were presented to the Irish government and the President of the UN General Assembly. She has also been active in policy and education surrounding climate action, working on the Advisory Group for a Climate Action course in the Irish curriculum, and with various organisations such as the NYCI. This year, she was elected as the national sustainability representative for young people in Ireland, where she is working on furthering youth voice around all areas of sustainability, and engaging students with decision-makers and the issues that matter most to them.

Oisín Coghlan:

Oisín Coghlan is Director of Friends of the Earth Ireland. He is Coordinator of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition which campaigns for Ireland to do its fair share to tackle climate change. In October, Oisín was elected Chairperson of Coalition 2030, the civil society alliance working to ensure Ireland keeps its promise to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Before joining Friends of the Earth, Oisín worked in global solidarity and human rights, including 2 years as a community organizer among banana workers in Belize, and 3 years for Christian Aid on aid, trade and Palestine.

Senator Alice-Mary Higgins:

Alice-Mary Higgins is a progressive, independent Senator with a strong commitment to equality, the environment and human rights. Senator Higgins was re-elected to Seanad Éireann (the Irish Senate) in March 2020 where she is leader of the Civil Engagement Group, a group of Senators who each have backgrounds in civil society.
Senator Higgins is a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action, of the Oireachtas Finance Committee and a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters. Senator Higgins is the founder and chair of the Oireachtas All-Party Group on the Sustainable Development Goals and a founding member of Parliamentarians for the Global Goals. She is also a member of the Irish delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. In 2018 Alice-Mary established the Oireachtas Group on Peace, Neutrality and Disarmament.
An activist on sustainable development and climate change for over a decade, Senator Higgins has been a leading voice in the Irish Senate calling for protection of hedgerows, peatlands and biodiversity, for investment in cycling and sustainable transport, for marine
protections, for accountability for corporations, for fossil fuel divestment and a just transition.
Alice-Mary is committed to the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 and is a strong voice for equality in social and economic policy in her Committee and Seanad work.
Prior to her election, Alice-Mary was Policy Coordinator at the National Women’s Council of Ireland where she focused on a range of economic and social issues, including the gender pay and pension gap, care and greater representation of women in all areas of life. In 2014
she was elected to the Executive of the European Women’s Lobby.
Alice-Mary held a number of other policy and advocacy roles in the Irish non-profit sector and has been active in many public campaigns and referenda.
Alice-Mary graduated from UCD in 1996 with a degree in English and Philosophy. She holds an MPhil in Theatre and Cultural Studies (TCD) and an MA from the New School for Social Research in New York.  Alice-Mary is a Fulbright Scholar in the Humanities. 
www.alicemaryhiggins.ie
@aliceeire

David Donoghue:

Born in Dublin in 1952, David Donoghue had a long and varied career in Ireland’s diplomatic service.
He was involved for many years in the Northern Ireland peace process. He was one of the Irish Government’s negotiating team for the Good Friday Agreement (1998), which has provided a political framework for lasting peace and stability in Northern Ireland.   He served from 1995-99 as the Irish Joint Secretary at the Anglo-Irish Secretary in Belfast.
At different times he held the posts of Irish Ambassador to Russia (1999-2001), to Austria (2004-6), and to Germany (2006-9). At the Dublin headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs, he was from 2001-4 the Director-General of Irish Aid, Ireland’s development cooperation programme, and oversaw in this role a significant expansion in the programme’s budgetary resources as well as in its thematic and geographic range. He also served from 2009-13 as the Department’s Political Director, a post which gave him responsibility for Ireland’s overall foreign policy and for many associated thematic aspects.
From 2013-17 he was the Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations n New York.
At the request of the President of the General Assembly, he served with his Kenyan colleague as one of two co-facilitators, or co-chairs, for the UN negotiations which in 2015 led to the adoption of the ground-breaking Sustainable Development Goals and the wider 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. He also served as co-facilitator, with Jordan, for the UN negotiations which in 2016 agreed the New York Declaration on Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants.
David Donoghue retired from the Irish diplomatic service in September 2017.   Since then he has been actively involved in national and international efforts to promote the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.   He has also had a similar involvement regarding follow-up to the New York Declaration, notably as a civil society participant in the processes which in late 2018 led to the adoption of Global Compacts on migration and refugees respectively.  He also remains engaged in issues around the Northern Ireland peace process and international conflict resolution and peacebuilding. He contributes to the work of several think-tanks and academic institutions on these various issues (including the Overseas Development Institute in London and the Robert Bosch Foundation in Germany).   He is also the Chairman of Conciliation Resources, a peacebuilding organisation based in London.