Eco-summit exposes widening gap between nations
It's attended by 100 world leaders and has nothing less than the future of the planet at stake. But the Rio+20 conference on global sustainability faces sizeable stumbling blocks and conflicts of interest.
- Jaime Tatay, SJ
- Brazil
- June 20, 2012
“We aspire to nothing less than a global movement for generational change. I expect the negotiators (…) to achieve renewed political commitment for sustainable development,” recently said Ban Ki Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations. But how easy will it be to reach political consensus and commitment for such a change?
It is not going to be easy. Three main problems need to be addressed to attain such a generational change these days at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development: the goals and meaning of sustainable development, the concept of the green economy, and the institutional frame required to articulate the needed change.
More than a hundred heads of state or governments are expected to attend Rio+20, making it the most important international conference this year. But in spite of the high institutional representation, these problems have truly become “stumbling blocks” on the way to a sustainable future.
The “zero draft,” released in January 2012, reaffirmed the Rio principles and past actions plans, trying to define the green economy and the institutional framework required in the context of sustainable development and poverty reduction. Big differences between negotiators, however, have emerged on these three issues.
Martin Khor, from the Third World Network, bluntly expressed the divide between nations at Rio in these terms: “Unfortunately, the summit comes at a time when developed and developing countries seem less and less able to reach a common understanding on key issues and principles.
The North-South divide has been visible in the negotiations at the World Trade Organisation, in the Climate Change Convention, and most recently at the UN Conference on Trade and Development. The same divide also exists in the Rio+20 negotiations.”
Full Story: The future we want
Source: ecojesuit.com
It is not going to be easy. Three main problems need to be addressed to attain such a generational change these days at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development: the goals and meaning of sustainable development, the concept of the green economy, and the institutional frame required to articulate the needed change.
More than a hundred heads of state or governments are expected to attend Rio+20, making it the most important international conference this year. But in spite of the high institutional representation, these problems have truly become “stumbling blocks” on the way to a sustainable future.
The “zero draft,” released in January 2012, reaffirmed the Rio principles and past actions plans, trying to define the green economy and the institutional framework required in the context of sustainable development and poverty reduction. Big differences between negotiators, however, have emerged on these three issues.
Martin Khor, from the Third World Network, bluntly expressed the divide between nations at Rio in these terms: “Unfortunately, the summit comes at a time when developed and developing countries seem less and less able to reach a common understanding on key issues and principles.
The North-South divide has been visible in the negotiations at the World Trade Organisation, in the Climate Change Convention, and most recently at the UN Conference on Trade and Development. The same divide also exists in the Rio+20 negotiations.”
Full Story: The future we want
Source: ecojesuit.com
