The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development known as “Rio+20,” concluded on Friday, almost 20 years to the day when the first such conference was held at this very same venue. The conference which sought to shape new policies to promote global prosperity, reduce poverty and advance social equity and environmental protection drew more than 100 Heads of State and government leaders to Rio de Janeiro. More than 40,000 people – including parliamentarians, mayors, UN officials, chief executive officers and civil society leaders attended Rio+20, which ran from 20-22 June.
Dr. Sam Hancock, host of the Emerald Planet television program and the PaPa’s NGO Representative, was in Rio to broadcast the results of the conference and to bring to world attention sustainable technology best practices discussed at Rio + 20. Dr. Hancock conducted a live webcast from Rio, entitled “Creating New Sustainable Development Programs in Latin America: A Brazilian Model.” Dr. Hancock featured several sites around Rio which promote many great sustainable economic, civil society, and environmental development projects and programs. Dr. Hancock commented that Brazil enjoys a very “dynamic culture with an ever expanding commitment to volunteerism, self-help activities for those less fortunate, while attempting to create a more equitable society. It is possible to quite literally see the changes occurring on a day-by-day basis.”
Antigua Ambassador Ashe, who served as Chairman of the Main Committee stated, “Rio+20 provided us with an opportunity to assess the changes, including the gaps in the implementation of outcome from the Earth Summit of twenty years ago, and to devise ways and means to address the challenges and opportunities within the two themes of the conference, namely, (a) a green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication; and (b) the institutional framework for sustainable development.”
At the conclusion of the conference on Friday, participants adopted an outcome document, entitled “The Future We Want”, which calls for a wide range of actions, including: beginning the process to establish sustainable development goals; detailing how the green economy can be used as a tool to achieve sustainable development; strengthening the UN Environment Programme (UNEP); promoting corporate sustainability reporting measures; taking steps to go beyond gross domestic product to assess the well-being of a country; developing a strategy for sustainable development financing; and, adopting a framework for tackling sustainable consumption and production.
The document also focuses on improving gender equity; recognizing the importance of voluntary commitments on sustainable development; and stressing the need to engage civil society and incorporate science into policy; among other points.
In addition to the outcome document, there have been nearly 500 voluntary commitments on sustainable development activities by civil society groups, businesses, governments and universities. In addition, the UN’s Global Compact initiative, which concluded its Corporate Sustainability Forum, announced more than 200 commitments to sustainable development by businesses.
The PaPa has a particular commitment to the expansion of the concept of the “Forth Pillar of Sustainable Development.” As embraced by UNESCO and the UN, sustainable development includes the promotion of “Social equity, economic health, environmental responsibility and CULTURAL VITALITY”. It is the latter goal that provides the context in which sustainable development should take place, since quality of life can also be measured by a society’s ability to preserve its culture. In this regard the PaPa has since its inception fostered the celebration of culture because without it, a society cannot survive.
While the UN had billed the summit as a “once in a generation chance” to turn the global economy onto a sustainable track, the conclusion of the conference brought a great of concern that the conference did not go far enough. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former Norwegian prime minister and chair of the U.N. commission that helped bring the concept of sustainable development to global attention 25 years ago, said in a statement that the “Rio+20 declaration does not do enough to set humanity on a sustainable path, decades after it was agreed that this is essential for both people and the planet.”
The president of the most impoverished country in the western hemisphere, Haiti’s President Michel Martelly, had these poignant comments to make, “So on this summit I will say that much more effort needs to be done so we can correctly and precisely come out with resolutions that will have an impact on the lives of people being affected.”
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