June 29, 2012 : United Nations senior officials on Thursday highlighted the achievements
made during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) held
last week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, stressing that they represent a global movement
of change in which governments, the private sector and civil society all contribute
to achieve global prosperity while protecting the environment. “Let me be clear. Rio+20
was a success,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a General Assembly meeting on
the outcome of the Conference. “In Rio, we saw the further evolution of an undeniable
global movement for change.”
More than 40,000 people – including parliamentarians,
mayors, UN officials, chief executive officers and civil society leaders – attended
Rio+20 from 20-22 June. The event followed on from the Earth Summit in 1992, also
held in Rio de Janeiro, during which countries adopted Agenda 21 – a blueprint to
rethink economic growth, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection.
In
his remarks, Mr. Ban highlighted several parts of the Rio+20 outcome document, entitled
‘The Future We Want,’ which he hailed as “an important victory for multilateralism
after months of difficult negotiations.”
Through the document, the UN chief
said, countries renewed their political commitment to sustainable development, agreed
to establish a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs), and established a high-level
political forum on sustainable development.
The outcome document also calls
for a wide range of actions, such as detailing how the green economy can be used as
a tool to achieve sustainable development; strengthening the UN Environment Programme
(UNEP); promoting corporate sustainability reporting measures; taking steps to go
beyond gross domestic product to assess the well-being of a country; developing a
strategy for sustainable development financing; and, adopting a framework for tackling
sustainable consumption and production. It also focuses on improving gender equity;
recognizing the importance of voluntary commitments on sustainable development; and
stressing the need to engage civil society and incorporate science into policy; among
other points.
Mr. Ban emphasized the importance of the more than 700 commitments
registered during the Conference. “This is a remarkable testament to bottom-up, grassroots
commitment,” Mr. Ban said. “The world is watching and will hold us all accountable
to the commitments made in Rio.”
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr.
Ban said that the many commitments made in Rio will be a “concrete and lasting legacy”
of the Conference. “If the outcome document is the foundation for the next stage of
our journey to sustainable development, the commitments are the bricks and cement,”
he stated.
In his remarks to the gathering, the President of the General Assembly,
Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, called on Member States to respect their commitments made in
relation to Rio+20 “so that they can guide our future actions.”
“Implementation
is imperative if we are to attain the future we want,” he added. “Now that the summit
is over, the real work begins, and we all have our parts to play for ultimate success.”
Mr. Al-Nasser reiterated the Assembly’s commitment to play a central role
in helping define and establish the SDGs. He also announced a series of meetings in
the area of sustainable development and global prosperity, to help tackle the issue
related to the global financial crises, which are also linked to countries’ capabilities
to work towards sustainable development.
“No country has been completely immune
from the global economic and financial crisis that hit the world in 2008. To tackle
this issue successfully, the world needs to come together like never before and act
collectively with a sense of urgency,” he said.