Source: AlertNet
October 17, 2011
By Thin Lei Win
SEOUL (AlertNet) – Will the next Earth Summit in 2012 kick start a fundamental change by pushing countries to embark on a path of development that is sustainable? Or will it be just another date in a long list of international calendar events?
This was the question posed by Rae Kwon Chung, director of the environment and development division of the United Nations’ Asia Pacific commission, on Monday to a group of activists and civil society groups who have gathered in Seoul for a two-day preparatory meeting for the Summit.
"While global GDP more than doubled between 1981 and 2005, 60 percent of the world's ecosystems have degraded,” he said at the opening session of the meeting, organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
“What is clear is that the current patterns of growth will eventually undermine the sources of livelihood and the poor and the vulnerable will be worse off,” he said.
"Rio+20 is an opportunity to re-think, re-order and restructure governance” of environmental systems as part of a broader push toward sustainable development, he said.
Better known as Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) will take place next June in Rio de Janeiro, 20 years after the first Earth Summit there was hailed as a landmark meeting.
The 1992 gathering, attended by more than 100 heads of state or governments, created a wide-ranging blueprint for action to achieve sustainable development worldwide, as well as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Rio+20 is aiming to secure renewed political commitment to sustainable development. The plan is to focus on two specific themes: how to make the world’s economy greener while improving sustainable development and poverty eradication, and how to create a better institutional framework for sustainable development.
As the world’s population grows, competition for scarce resources increases and climate change brings more extreme weather and threatens food production, “we are on the threshold of an unprecedented turning point," Chung told the audience.
"We know what we're doing to the world and we know what needs to be done to fix it. Rio+20 is an opportunity to put that knowledge into action,” Chung said.
GREEN OR GREED ECONOMY?
Asia Pacific accounts for 60 percent of the world’s population and 37 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, yet millions continue to live in squalor with little access to water and essential public services.
Read more here
October 17, 2011
By Thin Lei Win
SEOUL (AlertNet) – Will the next Earth Summit in 2012 kick start a fundamental change by pushing countries to embark on a path of development that is sustainable? Or will it be just another date in a long list of international calendar events?
This was the question posed by Rae Kwon Chung, director of the environment and development division of the United Nations’ Asia Pacific commission, on Monday to a group of activists and civil society groups who have gathered in Seoul for a two-day preparatory meeting for the Summit.
"While global GDP more than doubled between 1981 and 2005, 60 percent of the world's ecosystems have degraded,” he said at the opening session of the meeting, organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
“What is clear is that the current patterns of growth will eventually undermine the sources of livelihood and the poor and the vulnerable will be worse off,” he said.
"Rio+20 is an opportunity to re-think, re-order and restructure governance” of environmental systems as part of a broader push toward sustainable development, he said.
Better known as Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) will take place next June in Rio de Janeiro, 20 years after the first Earth Summit there was hailed as a landmark meeting.
The 1992 gathering, attended by more than 100 heads of state or governments, created a wide-ranging blueprint for action to achieve sustainable development worldwide, as well as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Rio+20 is aiming to secure renewed political commitment to sustainable development. The plan is to focus on two specific themes: how to make the world’s economy greener while improving sustainable development and poverty eradication, and how to create a better institutional framework for sustainable development.
As the world’s population grows, competition for scarce resources increases and climate change brings more extreme weather and threatens food production, “we are on the threshold of an unprecedented turning point," Chung told the audience.
"We know what we're doing to the world and we know what needs to be done to fix it. Rio+20 is an opportunity to put that knowledge into action,” Chung said.
GREEN OR GREED ECONOMY?
Asia Pacific accounts for 60 percent of the world’s population and 37 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, yet millions continue to live in squalor with little access to water and essential public services.
Read more here
