Download Rio+20 - Stakeholder Forum

Rio+20?
Informal Workshop
San Sebastian, Spain
13th – 14th November 2008
Since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and the World Summit on
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, there has been a
dramatic increase in threats to peace and security caused by social,
environmental and economic crises.
In light of the new and immense challenges faced by the sustainable
development agenda, Stakeholder Forum is hosting an informal workshop
to discuss possible ways forward, kick-starting discussions on the
possibility of a ‘Rio+20’ World Summit in 2012, twenty years on from the
Rio Earth Summit in 1992.
The Challenge
At the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, world leaders met in
Johannesburg to agree on a new and ambitious agenda for achieving
sustainable development in the 21st century. The summit represented a
recognition that, whilst a lot had been achieved since the first Earth Summit in
Rio ten years earlier, significant challenges lay ahead and demanded new and
inspired responses. Just eight years on, whilst many of these challenges remain,
the global context has changed dramatically and priorities have shifted. 2008 has
witnessed the most serious global food crisis in decades as prices rocketed and
left millions of people facing severe shortages. Oil prices rose at one point to
above $140/barrel. To compound this further, the global financial system has
plunged into meltdown and we teeter perilously close to a world-wide economic
recession. Hovering like a spectre over all these crises is the threat of humaninduced climate change, which has in the last 2 years risen to become a major
priority on all political agendas.
The convergence of all these problems points to one underlying challenge: how
can we create a sustainable and secure world? It is clear there are serious
economic, social and environmental implications of the current development
paradigm, which has proven deficient in delivering equitable global living
standards, a protected and healthy environment and a stable global economy..
As governments around the world wake up to the realities of climate change,
they must also wake up to the realities of the over-exploitation of our planet. The
lack of recognition of the finite nature of the world’s resources means that if the
lifestyles of the global North are adopted by the global South, we will need far
more than one planet to sustain us. The prospect of an expanding global
population fighting over ever-diminishing resources is bleak; yet there is an
alternative future that leaders around the world must seize. A future of low
carbon economies, of true understanding of the social and economic value of
ecosystems, of improved livelihoods and prosperity that don’t cost the earth. We
have the imagination, the technology and the will to map out a better future, but
we need the space and the political will to deliver it: a World Summit in 2012
offers this opportunity, and will provide the catalyst for global action that this
current juncture in history requires. Twenty years on from the Rio Earth Summit,
it’s time for change. the prospect of the human race living within and the rest
upon over-exploitation of If we continue to exploit the earth’s resources at the
current rate, not only will subsequent climate change devastate the environment
and ecosystems upon which human survival depends, but o be deficient in
delivering and now even economic repercussions for the current g over has ,
saw the prices of oil skyrocket, As we now near the close of the first decade of
the 21st century, it is overwhelming to remained in 1992 in Rio, Brazil.
The consequences of the current global financial crisis are yet to be fully
comprehended; meanwhile, we have not found a sustainable way out of our
other immediate crises’, regarding food security, energy security, water security,
and the consequences of the adoption of northern consumption patterns by a
number of key developing countries.
In addition, it is clear from September’s High Level Event on the MDGs that a
number of these goals will not be reached. September also witnessed the total
failure of the IEG process in the UN General Assembly.
What are the implications of all these developments on the sustainable
development agenda?
Why a workshop?
Stakeholder Forum is supporting the call for a ‘Rio+20’ World Summit in 2002
and is organizing a workshop for government officials and other relevant
stakeholders to address the following pressing questions:
a) How could a Rio+20 Summit help accelerate international progress towards
sustainable development? Do we need a Rio+20?
b) How can we ensure that any Summit sets out an an integrated approach to
the sustainable development agenda?
b) What should the key priorities be for such a Summit?
This informal workshop is following a similar pattern to those organised by
Stakeholder Forum from February 1998 to April 2000, leading up to the World
Summit in 2002.
In 1998 governments recovering from a less than successful Rio+5 were
apprehensive about the need for a Rio+10. As governments attending the
workshops discussed the possibilities of a Summit, that apprehension turned into
enthusiasm. It became clear that the sustainable development agenda needed
an influx of energy to focus governments, intergovernmental organisations and
stakeholders into addressing why much of the Rio Agenda 21 was not being
implemented, and, importantly, it was recognized that a Summit was needed to
address new and emerging issues.
The workshops created a necessary space for discussion and drafted the first
‘non-papers’ identifying topics for the agenda, and also drafted decisions on the
operational nature of the World Summit in 2002.
Rio+20?
In 2008 we face a number of pressing global challenges:
These include:
• The failure to adequately implement the Rio and Johannesburg Agreements
• The dysfunctional nature of the present intergovernmental body monitoring
sustainable development, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development
• The lack of progress on International Environmental Governance
• A development agenda centered on the Millennium Development Goals, which
do not adequately address the challenges of sustainable development,
environment and climate change
• The emerging paradigm of human, environmental and economic security .
illustrated by the climate security, energy security, food security and economic
security debates of the last two to three years.
• The current and ongoing global financial crisis
In 2010 the Heads of State will meet to review the MDG progress and start
discussions on post 2015 goals. A summit in 2012 will ensure that the input from
the sustainable development agenda will be substantial, unlike 2000.
Objective of Workshop:
To discuss the possibility of Rio+20 and what such a Summit might address.
Draft Agenda
13th November: The State of the Sustainable Development Agenda and the
Challenges we Face
• Are we on track to deliver Agenda 21 and the Johannesbury Plan of
Implementation?
• What are the challenges and problems being faced in implementing
the Rio and Johannesburg Agreements?
• How effectively is the Sustainable Development agenda being
advanced within the Millennium Development Goals?
• What are the challenges that need to be confronted with regard to:
- International Environmental Governance
- Sustainable Development Governance
- Financial governance
- Climate governance
14th November: The Way Forward
• Implications of the status quo
• Post 2010 Climate Change agenda impacts for sustainable development
discussions
• Framing and linking the SD Agenda to the post 2015 MDGs
?
• Discussion on operational issues:
- What to do about the CSD agenda
- Timelines for a possible Summit
Guggenheim Museum
Stay on in The Basque Country and visit the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. It si
a modern contemporary museum designed by Frank Gehry. The museum.s
design is an object lesson in Gehry.s style and method. The exhibitions change
often but there are some permanent ones that are worth the trip in themselves.
These include a series of weathering steel sculptures designed by Richard Serra
and housed in the 430 foot Arcelor Gallery. There is also a Jenny Holtzer and a
large Puppy by Jeff Koons infront of the museum.
The Basque Biodiversity Centre
A new Basque Biodiversity Centre opened in 2008 which aims to preserve and
protect the Basque Regions biodiversity.
Tours of the reserve will be planned for the Saturday the 15th of September.
Travel to San Sebastian:
Airports
Biarritz (France)
Serviced by Air France and Easyjet
Taxi to train station train to Hendaye then Eusko Tren to Donostia Amara (San
Sebastian)
Bilbao (Spain)
Flights from all Spanish key cities, Berlin, Bonn, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin,
Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Lisbon, London, Milan, Munich, Oslo, Paris , Stuttgart , Vienna
and Zurich.
From Bilbao airport to san Sebastian direct bus (1 hour)
Train
From Paris (5 Hours)
To Hendaye then Eusko Tren to Donostia Amara (San Sebastian)
We will help you with advising with your travel details when registered.