Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

The high level dialogue on the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development was organized by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia and the Rio+20 Secretariat and held in Solo, Indonesia, during 19-21 July, 2011. It was attended by most governments, UN Agencies and Programmes and some stakeholders. The purpose of the dialogue was to have a frank and open high-level discussions on the options for strengthening the institutional framework for sustainable development, with a view to progress towards formulating concrete proposals which could be taken up for consideration and possible adoption at Rio+20. I was able to make a presention in the session on   Strengthening, Transforming & Reforming the Intergovernmental Institutions’ .  This addressed the changes through  incremental change, overhaul or new institutions of  UNEP, the CSD, ECOSOC and suggested: A Sustainable Development Council of the General Assembly An Inter...

Only know less than 11 months until the Rio Earth Summit and so much still to do. Some good developments new Brazlian head of FAO Graziano da Silva. Preparations for the Indonsian high level meeting on sustainable development governance. The first real chance to discuss reform of the UN CSD and national sustainable development governance. The UN DPI NGO  Bonn 3-5th September Sustainable Socieities - Responsive Citizens Confernce will will be the big civil society conference on rio+20 which is looking at sustainable societies at all levels  and will be the main stakeholder meeting prior to the november 1st deadline for contributions to the zero draft. If you are interested in havign an impact this is the event to attend!!!

This time a year from now leaders from around the world will convene for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil. Rio+20 in June 2012 will take place 20 years after the groundbreaking 1992 Rio Earth summit – an event that marked a watershed in international collaboration on social and environmental issues. The British government has an international reputation for championing development aid and playing a critical role on climate change . With just a year to go before Rio+20, there is a real opportunity and need for the UK to show similar leadership for sustainable development, and for the prime minister to publicly demonstrate his commitment to ensuring a successful summit. We ask the government to demonstrate leadership towards Rio+20 by, first, pledging that the prime minister will attend. Second, it should appoint an ambassador or envoy on Rio+20 to promote Rio+20 across the government, involve the public and engage in dialogue with other countries. And, finally, ...

June 5th is World Environment Day . In an article by Juan Somavia and Achim Steiner Heads of the ILO and UNEP respectively on the BBC web site explores the role of the G8, Rio+20 and the role of the green economy. Greenpeace have brought out a challenge for Rio+20 as have Christian Aid and Stakeholder Forum on Monday the 6th. We are one year from Rio+20 and my prediction is that Rio will result in: On Green Economy: 1. A set of principles for the Green Economy; 2. A set of Sustainable Development Goals with particular focus on sustainable development goals under the green sectors - Potentially 5-9 green economy sectors will be addressed. This would include energy, agriculture, urbanization, water, biodiversity. These could then be fed into the MDG Summit in 2015. On Governance 1. In International Environmental Governance: a. WEO: Probably not a WEO – maybe a process of clustering towards a point where governments feel comfortable with a WEO – this could be a ...

 This years UN NGO DPI Conference will have the dual conference themes: sustainable societies and responsive citizens, allows the host country, Germany, and NGOs world-wide to showcase the impact volunteers make on sustainable livelihoods. It will also give NGOs the opportunity to contribute to the two-day special session of the General Assembly on the 10th Anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers in December 2011 and begin preparations for input into the 2012 conference on sustainable development known as Rio +20. Go to register now to attend the main pre Rio+20 stakeholder conference . There will be major speakers such as Achim Steiner, roundtables on the major themes of Rio+20 and also what can be done to engage individually in creating a sustainable society. Soon over 24 workshops will be announced and other major speakers. The output will be a declaration for Rio+20 and input to the GA debate on volunteers .

I think all the evidence we have from the IPCC Reports, the UNEP Global Environmental Outlook, the Planetary Boundaries work, etc should be enough to tell us that we are not living on this planet sustainably. What that means is we need to do things differently. Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation were roadmaps to how we might start to do that. What is clear twenty years from the first Earth Summit is that our politicians did not take those warnings seriously enough. Since 2002 a series of new terms have come into use such a climate security, energy security, food security and water security. The beginning of a new nexus of environment and security. What this should do is redouble our efforts to find a way to live in balance with each other on this planet. What worries me is not just that the politicians do not understand the urgency but that those associated with the Tea Party are attacking Agenda 21. From the mother jones blog on what the TEa Party is saying: http...