Global Compact International Yearbook 2012

Agenda Rio + 20
By Felix Dodds
Stakeholders have been working on Rio+20 since the Group
of 77 developing countries tabled the original resolution for
the summit on November 4, 2008. To help in that process, the
Stakeholder Forum launched the www.earthsummit2012.org
website on January 1, 2009.
Left: 64th Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference Bonn,
Germany, September 3–5, 2011
Right: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses World
Food Programme event in Davos, January 2011
Originally, Rio+20 suffered from being agreed to only 10 days
after the Copenhagen Climate Conference had finished. As
such, the mood of governments was less than positive. They
did not originally allocate the appropriate number of days
to address the two major themes: the green economy in the
context of sustainable development and poverty eradication;
and an institutional framework for sustainable development.
At this time, the summit process now equals the number of
days of negotiations that were available for the World Summit
on Sustainable Development in 2002 – 43 days, up from the
11 days originally agreed to.
Rio+20 has brought back together the sustainable development
family, which had dissipated in other processes since
the World Summit. It also represents a chance to address
the critical drivers that are creating an unsustainable world
through the present economic system. Rio+20 must ensure
we take a different economic path. And while the term “green
economy” has become controversial in some circles, it at last
puts economic affairs on the table. I believe we should see it
as a transition that puts sustainability and people – as well
as equity and fairness – at its core.
There are clear parallels between the ecological and financial
crises. Banks and financial institutions privatized gains and
socialized losses. We are doing the same with the planet’s
natural capital. Our present lifestyles are drawing it down at
irreplaceable rates from other parts of the world and from
future generations.
The summit has operated through a number of preparatory,
informal, and inter-sessional meetings as well as government-,
UN-, or stakeholder-sponsored meetings. These have brought
together the views of governments, intergovernmental bodies,
and stakeholders. Stakeholder engagement has been through
a number of mechanisms, predominately what is called the
Major Group Organizing Partners. These represent the nine
stakeholder groups that Agenda 21 identified as vital in working
toward a more sustainable society.
The major stakeholder event was the 64th United Nations
Department of Public Information Non-Governmental Organizations
Conference held in Bonn in September 2011 with
over 1,500 stakeholders attending the three-day event with
all major UN bodies and key governments. It came out with a
Chair’s declaration, which identified that key outcomes from
the summit should include:
• Sustainable development goals
• Reform of sustainable development and environmental
governance structures in the UN
• A convention on Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration – access
to information, public participation, and environmental
justice
• A convention on corporate social responsibility and accountability
• New economic indices to replace GDP
• Support for the means of implementation to achieve more
sustainable societies
• The identification of – or the role of – volunteer action to
deliver sustainability at the local level
Throughout the preparatory process, a joint project of the UN
Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Stakeholder
Forum has ensured the training of more than 2,500
stakeholders to help them engage in the summit process. This
summit process was the first to accept stakeholder inputs
in what became known as the zero draft. More than 493
stakeholder organizations sent their contributions, with 100
governments contributing to meet the deadline of November
1, 2011. The Top 10 terms (with the number of submissions
in parenthesis) are:
1| Health / Well-being (448)
2| Poverty Alleviation / Poverty Reduction
3| Natural Resources / Resource Management (318)
4| Adaptation (227)
5| Renewable Energy (204)
6| Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] (170)
7| Accountability (170)
8| Subsidies (167)
9| Transparency (166)
Key issues that stakeholders had promoted were picked up
in the zero draft negotiating text, such as Global Framework
on Corporate Sustainability Reporting, the Ombudsman for
Future Generations, Sustainable Development Goals, and
Principle 10. As the process has moved into negotiations, a
number of key coalitions have also played a significant role
in the green economy, including the Green Economy Coalition
and the Global Transition 2012. This is also true of the
Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development, to
which the Sustainable Development Governance 2012 Coalition
has contributed greatly. All of these, along with the UN
Global Sustainability Panel, brought new and relevant ideas
to the table for negotiators to think about.
In one of the Global Transition papers, Simon Zadek suggests
amending the sovereign wealth funds’ Santiago Principles
to include sustainable development criteria. Amounting to
$4.7 trillion, such funds could have a huge impact if targeted
toward sustainable development. Encouraging the credit rating
agencies to include sustainable development criteria in
their ratings systems could also have a big effect on changing
corporate and government activities.
More recently, the World Bank held the first-ever joint meeting
of finance ministers – the heads of the UN, World Bank, and
IMF – to discuss the green economy and how to ensure that
the economic solutions that come out of this recession are
greener. This is to become an annual meeting and the World
Bank has rolled out a pilot scheme for a new way of addressing
natural capital in a “50 country, 50 company” initiative.
Rio’s success has already been achieved, as it has raised the
issue of sustainable development in the minds of governments
and heads of state. The other major achievement of Rio will be
putting SDGs (in areas such as water, energy, food, consumption
and production, sustainable cities) onto the global agenda
to frame our move toward a more fair, just, and equitable
global society. We cannot afford to make the same mistakes
as in the last 20 years; we must choose the harder path for
the sake of future generations.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for “revolutionary
action” to achieve sustainable development in Davos in
2011, warning that the past century’s heedless consumption
of resources is “a global suicide pact,” with time running out
to ensure an economic model for survival. He was echoing
Senator Robert Kennedy’s words from 1968, words that were
about another issue in another time, but that are equally
relevant today about sustainable development. Senator Kennedy
said: “A revolution is coming – a revolution which will
be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care
enough; successful if we are fortunate enough. But a revolution
is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its
character; we cannot alter its inevitability.” Let’s work for a
world built on sustainable societies, responsive citizens, and
accountable governments.
Felix Dodds is Executive Director of the
Stakeholder Forum and Chair of the 64th
UN Department of Public Information
Non-Governmental Organizations
Conference. Felix Dodds’ latest book
(together with Michael Strauss and
Maurice Strong), Only One Earth: The
Long Road via Rio to Sustainable
Development, is now available.
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