The issue also highlights: an informal consultation on the themes of Rio+20 recently hosted by Brazil and attended by 40 countries; the Interregional Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Preparatory Meeting for the UNCSD; the 64th Annual Conference of NGOs on the theme, “Sustainable Societies; Responsive Citizens;” and a two-day seminar in Incheon, Korea in preparation for the official launch of the UN Office for Sustainable Development (UN-OSD).
31 August 2011: The latest issue of the newsletter from the Secretariat of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), “Rio+20: Making It Happen,” highlights the UN General Assembly’s declaration of 2013 as the “International Year of Water Cooperation,” and UN-Water’s support for the Stockholm Statement to Rio+20, the outcome document of the 2011 World Water Week.
The General Assembly noted water’s critical role for sustainable development, environmental integrity, and the eradication of poverty and hunger. The Stockholm Statement calls on leadership at all levels of government participating in the UNCSD to commit to achieving “universal provisioning of safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and modern energy services by the year 2030” and to adopt intervening targets to increase efficiency in the management of water, energy and food.
The issue also highlights: an informal consultation on the themes of Rio+20 recently hosted by Brazil and attended by 40 countries; the Interregional Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Preparatory Meeting for the UNCSD; the 64th Annual Conference of NGOs held recently in Bonn, Germany under the theme, “Sustainable Societies; Responsive Citizens;” and a two-day seminar in Incheon, Korea in preparation for the official launch of the UN Office for Sustainable Development (UN-OSD).
The UNOSD seminar included discussion on priorities for the Office’s operation as a global resource center for experience-based knowledge, training and information on sustainable development. The newsletter notes that particular attention was given to the central pillar of services to be provided through a web-based knowledge and training portal. Three themes were identified – national sustainable development strategies; indicators; and energy for sustainable development – on which guidance and training materials will be developed.
The newsletter also announces that the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Green Economy Task Force has developed a business definition of “green economy” and provided comments to the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Green Economy Report. As a next step, the ICC Green Economy Task Force is developing a set of high-level framework conditions on green economy. [Publication: Rio+20: Making it Happen, Vol. 2, Issue 16]