By Felix Dodds
25 years ago, Mostafa Tolba, the then Executive Director of UNEP, approached UK stakeholders and the UK government to set up what would become the first UNEP National Committee. Originally known as UNEP-UK and housed at IIED, Stakeholder Forum was born in June 1987.
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The Government of Brazil is organising, with the support of the United Nations, the Sustainable Development Dialogues, a forum for civil society, to be held in Riocentro, between 16-19 June, in the context of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development - Rio+20.
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IBON International
As many of you know, during the previous round of informal informals, civil society was alarmed at the proposals of certain states to delete, weaken or bracket references to rights, equity and important Rio principles, which are also grounded on human rights. We initiated an open letter to the UN Secretary General and member states, signed by over a thousand organisations from over 100 countries and territories, expressing our alarm and calling on them to reaffirm and strengthen rights and Rio principles and be accountable for their implementation.
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In the run up to the Earth Summit in June, the Major Groups have been invited to fill out a questionnaire on the Rio+20 process, the responses from four of the groups can be seen below, with more to follow here.
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Answers by Joji Carino, Representative of Indigenous Peoples:
A1: There is huge inequality in resources and power at the global level, as well as within countries. How do you think this influences country efforts to attain sustainable development?
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Scheduled themes for June's Conference
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NY+20 Launches a Global Campaign on Sustainable Development
As part of the global “MyCity+20” movement, NY+20 brought together more than 100 young men and women to engage with policy experts and UN representatives and to discuss key youth-based issues playing out in the Rio+20 negotiation process. The all-day event included talks from H.E. Dr. Josephine Ojiambo, Kenyan Ambassador to the UN, Mr. John Matuszak from the U.S. State Department, and Mr. Brice Lalonde, Executive Coordinator for Rio+20.
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Kirsty Schneeberger, Senior Project Officer, Stakeholder Forum
Riding on the wave of momentum generated from Conferences and Summits is something that we all aim for – to go home and set in motion all the plans that will support the outcomes and achieve the commitments made, and to set to task to create the future that they want. History shows us, however, that despite all best intentions, when one thousand flowers bloom, they do not always all survive. There are myriad reasons for why this is so, and we know many of them: related to funding and financing; capacity over time; shifting conditions (political, social, geological, etc); developments of technologies – just to name a few.
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Catherine Skopic
If one calls where we are now Point A – ‘living outside planetary boundaries’ – we have to get to
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Name: Rachel Kyte
Nationality: British
Country of Residence: USA (Washington D.C.)
Current Position: Vice President of Sustainable Development, World Bank
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André Abreu, International Policy Advisor, France Libertés Foundation
A few weeks ago, civil society groups involved in Rio+20, shared their deep concern about the threat against human and social rights in the draft text for Rio, as well as the risk to important collective principles established in 1992 at the first Earth Summit. During the negotiations in March, we watched with surprise and disappointment, a group of a few member states on an offensive to bracket and delete any reference to human rights, including the right to water, in the draft text. Since then, several NGOs, human rights experts, unions and social movements, have mobilised to denounce the attack on rights and principles.
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Answers by Leida Rijnhout, Executive Director, ANPED, Representative of NGO's
A1: There is huge inequality in resources and power at the global level, as well as within countries. How do you think this influences country efforts to attain sustainable development?
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Nathalie Rey, Greenpeace
The ingredients to a meaningful Rio outcome:
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Sébastien Duyck and Alice Vincent
By choosing the title "the future we want", the UN has challenged us to avoid making the mistakes of the past and to rather think outside of the box to bring real solutions to the negotiating table. So far, it seems that too few have registered this challenge. With 47 days to go until Rio+20, we call on young people to drop the façade of pragmatism and ignore calls to be more ‘realistic’, for it is having the guts to keep calling for more ambitious change that will move us towards a brighter future. Being pragmatic means making the best of the status quo, even if we don’t like it. But, as we know, the status quo is precisely what we need to change!
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Sue Riddlestone, Chief Executive & co-founder, BioRegional
The likely tangible outcomes and post Rio+20 activities are starting to emerge from the jumble of square brackets and haze of wordsmithing here in New York. As we reach the final days of the negotiations, you can see delegates’ minds starting to turn to implementation of the anticipated agreements, with the obvious main outcome expected to be the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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Co-organised by the State of Rio de Janeiro, nrg4SD, The Climate Group and Regions-United/FOGAR
Tuesday 19 June | Athletes’ Park | State of Rio de Janeiro
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