Climate Action 2011-2012

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Climate Change is already being felt in small island states as
their groundwater supplies are infiltrated by rising salt water.
192 climateactionprogramme.org
‘peculiar vulnerabilities’ and are still at the level of primary
production, will be marginalised without access to
technology or the opportunities to commercialise viable
indigenous technologies. This will have grave implications
for their future economic and social aspirations.
At the intergovernmental level
new national and international
conventions/initiatives addressing
energy, water, transport, and food
security might emerge.
Understandably, developing countries do not wish to be
placed in a disadvantageous position. On the other side,
countries and companies have very real concerns about
protecting intellectual property, retaining competitive
advantage, the provision of incentives to the private sector
to create the enabling environment for green technology
development and investment as well as safeguarding national
industry and interests. Both for fixing the climate change
challenges and the creation of the global green economy,
green technologies will be pivotal to success. In this regard,
countries have to determine what clutch of policies,
legislative and regulatory matrix and fiscal incentives could
stimulate private sector investment in the development and
use of green technologies.
The roaD from Durban anD rio
Looking ahead, what could we take away from Rio next
year? The answer is ‘multiple successes’. These would take
the shape of a number of tangible projects and programmes
such as the Secretary-General’s ‘Sustainable Energy for All’,
which should bring power to millions currently deprived of
it, as well as increase energy efficiency, address private sector
interest in enhancing shareholder value and brand identity
by creating profitability in a resource constrained world
and encouraging an academic initiative on sustainability. At
the intergovernmental level new national and international
initiatives/conventions addressing energy, water, transport, and
food security might emerge, with strong emphasis on the idea
of Sustainable Development Goals currently being advanced
by some countries. While the developed country lifestyle is
that to which the majority aspire, we have to face the issue of
consumption patterns, as Professor Munasinghe has attempted
to do with his Millennium Consumption Goals. Rio might
start the dialogue on sustainable consumption and production
and the development of a tool or measure of a sustainable
development index (SDI), which may initially be used in
conjunction with GDP measurements until fully elaborated
and universally accepted and applied. The International
financial institutions will have a key role in this.
Stockholm ’72 initiated the international environmental
agenda. Rio ’92 defined the international sustainable
development agenda and established ecology, economy
and society as three inextricably linked pillars. Rio+20 will
embed sustainable development in government policy and
practice, and sustainability practices as the ethic by which
businesses operate and the world’s citizens live.
Accomplishing all this lies in the faith of which Jimmy
Cliff sings. It is having faith in mankind to rise to the
challenge of finding solutions to the problems that
confront us. Paul Gilding captures this beautifully in
The Great Disruption, when he says, “Given our natural
survival instincts, our history as a species, our new global
connectedness, and the scale of the threat … we will draw
on what is great about being human and dig deep to
express our highest potential – the potential that can take
us through the coming crisis and out the other side to a
stronger, safer and more advanced society.”
The roads we take to and from Rio will put us safely
along this trajectory.
Elizabeth Thompson is writing in her personal capacity, and not as
an official representative. She is UN Assistant Secretary-General and
Executive Coordinator of Rio+20. She is a former Member of Parliament
and government Minster from Barbados, who at various times from 1994
to 2008 held portfolio responsibility for the Ministries of Environment,
Energy, Health, Physical Development and Planning, as well as Housing
and Lands. From 2008 to 2010 she was Leader of Opposition Business
in the Senate and led a consultancy group which developed energy
policy for two Caribbean countries. As a Minister, Liz Thompson led the
development of national sustainable development, energy and green
economy policies. She is a lawyer and qualified commercial arbitrator.
Her Masters degrees are in business administration and energy law and
policy. In 2008 she received the UNEP Champion of the Earth Award.
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