4 February 2012: The Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2012 (DSDS 2012) concluded with global leaders and policy makers pledging to protect the global commons and adopt sustainable methods. The Summit included a session on global commons and challenges in Africa.

DSDS 2012, which took place from 2-4 February 2012 in New Delhi, India, was organized by the The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and focused on the theme, “Protecting the commons: 20 years post Rio.” It included a variety of special events, such as the ninth World CEO Sustainability Summit, the Sustainable Development Leadership Award, the fourth Green Globe Foundation Award Ceremony, and the Asian launch of the Report of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability. The first day of the three-day summit featured two leadership panels titled “leading to preserve the global commons,” during which world leaders, including presidents and former presidents, identified the key needs for preserving the global commons.

The Summit also included sessions on: biodiversity; a corporate dialogue on the global commons; water; sustainable development and consumption; sustainable management of global commons in South Asia; global commons and challenges in Africa; new frontiers in combating climate change; the information revolution and sustainable development; clean energy; and overcoming the global North-global South divide.

The session on “Global commons and challenges in Africa” highlighted that the African region must take adaptation measures to address climate change impacts, which will require a change in lifestyles for the common middle-income section of Africans. The session also underlined the need for balance between present and future natural resource use and outlined challenges that need to be overcome by Africa on its path to development, such as desertification, land degradation, food security, biodiversity and availability of water and energy. The session highlighted the empowerment of women, education, and community-based resource management as key for achieving Africa’s developmental goals. It also underlined that the potential of Africa’s renewable energy resources needs to be enhanced through basic infrastructure creation and partnerships between the government, the private sector and civil society.

In closing the Summit, TERI Director General, Rajendra K Pachauri, summarized the discussions, highlighting the issues of poverty eradication and sustainable development. [Summit Bulletin, 3 February 2012] [Summit Bulletin, 4 February 2012] [Summit Bulletin 5 February 2012] [Summit Website]