{"id":707,"date":"2011-09-15T13:46:39","date_gmt":"2011-09-15T13:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/2011\/09\/15\/preparing-for-rio20-including-agriculture-and-local-partners-for-successful-solutions-to-complex-problems\/"},"modified":"2011-09-15T13:46:39","modified_gmt":"2011-09-15T13:46:39","slug":"preparing-for-rio20-including-agriculture-and-local-partners-for-successful-solutions-to-complex-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/preparing-for-rio20-including-agriculture-and-local-partners-for-successful-solutions-to-complex-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing for Rio+20: Including Agriculture and Local Partners for Successful Solutions to Complex Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a briefing in September in Washington D.C. by the U.S. Department of State<\/a>, three top government officials met with representatives of non-governmental organizations to share perspectives on the United Nations\u2019 upcoming  Conference on Sustainable Development<\/a>. The first Conference on Sustainable Development, or Earth Summit<\/a>, was held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Rio+20 Conference in June 2012 will focus on the key themes of building a green economy and a framework for sustainable development.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The briefing brought together Celeste Connors, National Security Council <\/a>(NSC) Director for Environment Affairs, Michelle DePass<\/a>, the Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>\u2019s Assistant Administrator for the Office of International and Tribal Affairs, and Lawrence Gumbiner<\/a>, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Oceans, International Environment and Scientific Affairs<\/a>, who is in charge of coordinating the Department of State\u2019s preparation for the conference.<\/p>\n

The briefing highlighted three initiatives recently released in the Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development<\/a> \u2013 global climate change, global good security, and global health. Connors highlighted the role of weather-resistant seeds and other agricultural innovations in helping to alleviate the challenges of global hunger, and the importance of supporting research, training, and data sharing was a central issue throughout the discussion.<\/p>\n

The Department of State\u2019s Larry Gumbiner forcefully rejected the idea that approaches should be one size fits all, and stated, \u201cSome of the most creative and innovative solutions are coming from our state and local partners.\u201d  Answering the world\u2019s challenges involves complex and interrelated issues, and Gumbiner discussed how effective solutions must take consideration of a number of issues: \u201cThis is more than just about the environment. The economic and social factors are just as integral.\u201d<\/p>\n

As policymakers gear up for the Rio+20 meeting next year, it is important that they realize that true sustainability can only be achieved when economic development and the environmental challenges that come with it are addressed in tandem. As Michelle DePass stated, \u201cGrowth at the expense of healthy people and land is not sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more on building upon the knowledge and strengths of local actors, see <\/em>African Biodiversity Network: Sowing Seeds for Grassroots Resilience<\/a><\/em> and <\/em>Working with local farmers to build local solutions<\/a><\/em>. <\/em><\/p>\n

Original article published at worldwatch.org<\/a>
<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a briefing in September in Washington D.C. by the U.S. Department of State, three top government officials met with representatives of non-governmental organizations to share perspectives on the United Nations\u2019 upcoming  Conference on...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}