The Lima Declaration, adopted by UNIDO’s Member States in December 2013, set the foundation for a new vision of inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) and highlighted the role of industrialization as a driver for development.
"Inclusive" in this context means that industrial development must include all countries and all peoples, as well as the private sector, civil society organizations, multinational development institutions, and all parts of the UN system, and offer equal opportunities and an equitable distribution of the benefits of industrialization to all stakeholders. The term “sustainable” addresses the need to decouple the prosperity generated from industrial activities from excessive natural resource use and negative environmental impacts.
ISID therefore implies that no one is left behind and all parts of society benefit from industrial progress, which also provides the means for tackling critical social and humanitarian needs.
ISID and the Post-2015 Development Agenda
Over the past few years, the international community has made a quantum leap in advancing new approaches to accelerate progress and pave the way for a more ambitious, inclusive and universal development framework beyond 2015. While industrialization was not factored into the Millennium Development Goals framework, inclusive and sustainable industrialization now features strongly in the post-2015 development discourse.
The UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has proposed as goal 9 “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”. This confirms the provisions of the Lima Declaration and the relevance of ISID for the new global development architecture.
Successfully implementing ISID in our current era of globalization requires approaches that harness globally available knowledge, technology and innovation, and capital.