July 2012: The July 2012 issue of the UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) eBulletin features Deputy Director Peter Utting’s reflections on the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) and news from the latest UNRISD seminar.

Utting, writing in his personal capacity, says “The Future We Want” outcome document “sidesteps” many of the values, institutions, processes and structures identified in other fora as drivers of unsustainable development. He notes that the outcome authorizes a number of processes to strengthen the global institutional architecture for sustainable development, including the design of a set of development targets as a successor to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He highlights, however, that because of ongoing crises, the scope and depth of action might be limited, and thus bold leadership is needed.

The Bulletin also features the seminar on “Multiple Global Crises and Gender: Rethinking Alternative Paths for Development,” held on 25 June 2012, in Geneva, Switzerland. Panelists argued for political, economic and social changes to promote more inclusive alternative development paths. They discussed a number of public policy alternatives, including rethinking mainstream economics to include unpaid work, just and democratic public finance, socially responsible markets and embedding economic and social rights within macroeconomic policies. [Publication: UNRISD News, July 2012]