During an official visit to Brazil, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized the interlinkages among food security, energy security, water scarcity issues and health issues, and expressed the hope that the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) would "link these dots."
17 June 2011: During an official visit to Brazil, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he is counting on Brazil’s leadership on sustainable development and at the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20).
The Secretary-General explained that the Conference will be “the most important, top priority issue for the UN.” He noted that despite good progress on climate change, no global comprehensive agreement had been reached, and stressed that “we are now facing food security, energy security, water scarcity issues and health issues.” Ban emphasized the interlinkages among these issues and expressed the hope that UNCSD would “link these dots.”
He concluded by stating that “We will exert all the efforts to make this Rio+20 a great success for humanity, to make this world and planet Earth environmentally sustainable and hospitable.” [Ban’s Statement] [UN Press Release]