Brazilian government responds to call by UN Division for Sustainable Development to submit views for Secretary General’s report on a possible Earth Summit in 2012

26th May 2009: The Brazilian government has submitted a paper on the possibility of a high level event on sustainable development in 2012, as a contribution to the report of the Secretary General of the United Nations, as invited by the Division for Sustainable Development.

The paper outlines a number of ‘areas for action’ for a high level event, drawing attention to the following themes as a priority focus:

  • Review of Implementation: the event should seek to review progress towards Agenda 21, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the three Rio Conventions: the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
  • International Governance for Sustainable Development: a conference in 2012 could offer the opportunity to debate the reform of the international institutional architecture dealing with environment and sustainable development, with a particular focus on the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
  • Green Economy: an event in 2012 could provide the platform to consolidate thinking and debate on the ‘evolving paradigm of the “green economy”, allowing for broad stakeholder engagement, including governments, civil society, and business. Further global discussion is required on how to stimulate the world economy to promote sustainable consumptiom and production and create new investment opportunities including those in ‘energy, transport, agriculture and infrastructure’.
  • Water – the fourth recommended focus area is water, calling specifically for the conference to stimulate action by nation states to take national measures aiming at universalizing access to water and sanitation, in accordance with Chapter 18 of Agenda 21. It also calls on the international community to ‘support those national efforts through cooperation, provision of financial resources – including new and additional financial resources – technology transfer and capacity-building.

The paper concludes that ‘The overall objective of the Conference will be to strengthen commitment to sustainable development. A crucial requirement for that goal to be achieved is the strengthening international institutions and organizations with activities related to sustainable development.

To read the full paper click here.

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