United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
The whole world is in a crisis- political instability in the middle east, rising poverty and hunger in Africa, corruption in South East Asia and economic crisis in Europe, but the young people all over the world are worried about the climatic change which will affect their lives. They, more than anyone else, understand the urgency of finding solutions to our global environmental problems. Presently, the health and well-being of millions and millions of youth are at environmental risk. The links between the health of our environment and the socio-economic challenges inspire the youth to riot are getting clearer each day.
To address these issues bunch of Sri Lankan youth launched the 'National Road to Rio+20' campaign in October 2011. The national campaign is an initiative of Sikander Sabeer, who is serving as a director of National Road to Rio+20 campaign, Rehan Fernando and Sahan Hattotuwa which is an initiative of British Council Global Changemakers, International Climate Champions, National Youth Services Council-Sri Lanka, Colombo Model United Nations and International Road to Rio+20 campaign of Peace Child International and in collaboration with Academy of Design and several other organizations. This Project has been endorsed by UNEP TUNZA, Ministry of Youth Affairs-Sri Lanka
“We are working closely with leading youth organizations in Sri Lanka on a global call to the United Nations, requesting governments to do much more to protect the planet and its youth (which is half of the world's population). If we don’t raise our collective voice now and if we don’t act now, nations will spend months arguing about abstracts without working toward ambitious, measurable goals. Rio+20 Earth Summit—our summit— wants our national and sub national governments, as well as businesses and non-government groups, to take science-based, measurable and transformative actions to correct our course on Earth. We have some concrete ideas, and many more” said Sikander.
“The Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development is one of the most important meetings in UN history,” declared the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, recently. “It will help to determine our collective future. Young people can and must play a central role in bringing dynamic new ideas, fresh thinking and energy to the Rio+20 process”. So let all of us together respond to his call in the best way.
Overview
In 1992, 172 Governments gathered in Rio to
sign more environmental treaties and accords than ever before in History. At
the end of 2009, the UN General Assembly decided (A/RES/64/236) to organize a High-Level
Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 in Brazil. The conference would
come 20 years after the Rio, which initially put sustainable development on the
global agenda. Agenda 21, established at the 1992 conference, created an
impetus for sustainable development as well as giving a substantial commitment
to the participation of all stakeholders, including youth and children, in its
governance. Next to this, it established the UN Commission on Sustainable
Development and brought political momentum to three conventions; the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change, Biodiversity (CBD) and Drought and
Desertification (CCDD).
The
international community met ten years later in the follow up Johannesburg
Conference, which produced a less political and more technical follow-up in the
Johannesburg Programme on Implementation.
The 2012 conference, dubbed Rio+20, aims to
renew the political commitment to sustainable development at a global level.
The conference will discuss the process up to date, address remaining
implementation gaps as well as politically new and emerging challenges. The
focus of Rio+20 will be “a green economy in the context of sustainable development
and poverty eradication” next to revitalizing the institutional framework for sustainable
development. There seems to be an overall commitment to make Rio+20 a much more
political event than Johannesburg, and to move issues forward politically upstream
rather than on a technical level.
Please note that this
information is subject to change
The
Conference will focus on two themes:
(a) a
green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty
eradication;
(b) the institutional framework for
sustainable development
What
is sustainable development?
“Environmental, economic and social
well-being for today and tomorrow”
"Sustainable development is development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts:
·
The
concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to
which overriding priority should be given;
·
The idea
of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on
the environment's ability to meet present and future needs."
All definitions of sustainable development
require that we see the world as a system—a system that connects space; and a
system that connects time.
When you think of the world as a system over
space, you grow to understand that air pollution from North America affects air
quality in Asia, and that pesticides sprayed in Argentina could harm fish
stocks off the coast of Australia.
And when you think of the world as a system
over time, you start to realize that the decisions our grandparents made about
how to farm the land continue to affect agricultural practice today; and the
economic policies we endorse today will have an impact on urban poverty when
our children are adults.
We also understand that quality of life is a
system, too. It's good to be physically healthy, but what if you are poor and
don't have access to education? It's good to have a secure income, but what if
the air in your part of the world is unclean?
Why Youth?
The
world is looking at bold and concrete decisions that will enable policies,
funding and political will for sustainable development. None of this , however,
will be possible without the crucial contribution of civil society and, in
particular, youth.
Road
to Rio+20 is the global youth mobilization towards the UN Conference on Sustainable
Development (Rio+20).The inclusion
of a youth delegates will indicate the commitment of a Member State with the values of the Rio declaration, particularly principles
10 and 21, and intergenerational equity and equal participation.
Moreover, official youth delegates serve as a liaison with the youth of
their country, inspiring and encouraging young people to participate more
deeply at home, in the political life of their own societies, thereby counteracting the immense social costs of
excluding young people. The Major
Group for Children and Youth (MGCY) is the main entry-point for all children,
youth and their organization into the
process. The Major Group will do it’s best to provide a meaningful frame for youth participation.
For more information on Youth Participation, you
could log on to
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