Transcript Lysbilde 1 - Consumers International

With Rio plus 20
Do we have a plan, do we
understand?
The relationship
between ideas,
knowledge and
action is a complex
one
First a quote from the UN
“In Larger Freedom”
 “We
fundamentally depend on
natural systems and resources for
our existence and development.
Our efforts to defeat poverty and
pursue sustainable development
will be in vain if environmental
degradation and natural resource
depletion continue unabated.
(§57”)
Then a quote from a great African
 “Good
governance at the local,
national and international
levels is perhaps the single
most important factor in
promoting development and
advancing the cause of peace”,
Kofi Annan, former Secretary
General of the UN
We are discussing nothing
new -
Nothing new
Rachel Carson said it in 1960
 Barry Commoner said it in 1970
 UNEP, Stockholm, said it in 1972
 UNCED, Agenda 21, Rio, said it in
1992
 The UN millennium ecosystems
report said it in 2000
 WSSD, Johannesburg, said it in 2002

Our time is now
What
is different now,
is that we have a
global audience
willing to listen to
environmental issues
DECISIONS are MADE
What is missing in decisions?
 We
have facts and we need
action!
 We have the resources and
money
 We are willing to act; but what is
it we are willing to do?
 And what are the consequences
of our actions?
This has been missing….
It
is a question of
political will, and
doing the right thing
for all people.
And
the choices we are
about to make, may
take us forward in a
right or wrong
direction.
And what is our attitude and
approach? Are we
Solution
oriented?
Well-fare oriented?
Altruistic and sharing?
Optimistic?
The UN decided that

On 24th December 2009 the UN
General Assembly adopted a Resolution
(A/RES/64/236) agreeing to hold the
United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development (UNCSD) in
2012 - also referred to as 'Rio+20' or
'Rio 20'.
THE THEMES now and in
Rio -
The UN Conference on
Sustainable Development (2012)
Has
two foci
and
Three
objectives
The three objectives are
1.
2.
secure renewed political
commitment for sustainable
development,
assessing the progress to date
and the remaining gaps in the
implementation of the outcomes
of the major SD
3 - addressing new and
emerging challenges;
The focus of the Conference,
2012 will include
a
green economy in the
context of sustainable
development and poverty
eradication;
 the institutional framework
for sustainable
development;
And for the record
 The
major groups and civil society
have been given a role in the
process by being referred to in 8 of
the 29 paragraphs of the GA
resolution calling for the UN CSD in
Rio in 2012
 At all levels of the process,
nationally regionally and globally
including at the conference
The 9 major groups are
 Women
 Children
 Trade
and
youth
 Indigenous
Peoples
 Farmers
 NGOs, non
governmental
organisations
unions
 Local
authorities
 Science and
technology
 Business and
industry
Now what?
What about the UN?
What
has the UN done
for us, and how does the
work it is carrying out
relate to what we are
doing?
Does the UN offer us
An
obvious
connection?
A necessary
connection?
A useful connection?
How do we understand the
UN?
Tasks of the UN - a major
function
One
of the major functions of
the UN is global standard
setting and developing norms,
rules, procedures and
conventions that govern the
global community
Tasks of the UN – a major
dilemma
One
of the major dilemmas of
the UN is the obvious need to
implement the standards and
to create the political will
globally to support and abide
by these standards
Understanding the UN
However,
the impression is
often that the ‘market’
considers UN agreements as
obstacles, tools that hinder the
free will and spirit of creative
market forces.
Understanding the UN
Yet
most people outside the
market, consider these
treaties as tools that help
protect and safeguard
something that needs to be
protected.
And what about
sustainable development?
Sustainable development
Concepts
often
remain concepts in
search of
applications….
Does Sustainable Development
have an application?
 According
to
the UN,
sustainable
development
rests on three
pillars:
 Social
 Economic
 Environmental
What is in the resolution about
the un summit in 2012, an
application for sustainability?
What is in the UN resolution?
 Themes
are defined, not content
 The conference at the highest
political level, not yet a summit,
but perhaps…?
 Operationalize the three elements
in sustainable development,
central to the UN-track
What is in the UN resolution?
 Emphasise
the importance of
CSD(Commission on Sustainable Development)
 Emphasise the importance of
CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
 Emphasise the importance of
SCP(Sustainable Consumption and Production)
What is in the UN resolution?
 That
civil society, the Major
Groups shall participate in all
meetings and at all levels of the
preparatory process including the
conference itself, and at all
geographical levels, nationally,
regionally and globally
Any visible problems?
 Process
lacks dynamics
 Developed countries using brakes
instead of accelerators and are not
prioritising sustainable development
 Developed countries upgrading other
processes, than the UN, (Davos, G-8
etc)
Any visible problems?
 The
process working in the
shadow of a number of UN
fiasco conferences and processes
 The process seem to lack visions
of how the world might look like
in a sustainable way in 2030
Process challenges
 Few
countries have developed basic
positions, EU only this summer
 Compared to Rio in 1992, there is little
time for the preparatory work
 Unclear roles between various units of
the UN,
 Lack of resources from donors and from
financial institutions
What’s missing in the resolution?
 There
is no definition of or
direction for the discussion
concerning the Green Economy
concept
 Does not indicate in any way
how to strengthen the
institutional architecture
What’s missing in the resolution?
Does
not deal with or reflect
the changing political realities
in the world today
Does not deal with UNEP at
all
What’s positively new?
G-77
is to a large extent
driving the process
Civil society/ major groups
have been given an active role
What’s positively new?
 The
US has a government from
the Democratic party
 The themes are looking for
content, and proposals are
actively sought and are positively
welcome
Do we really understand our
world today?
Has
anything really
happened over the
last 20 to 30 years?
How do we understand our
world?
 Our
world is changing, from a bipolar world in the 1970s to a multipolar world today, from a North
South divide to where many nations
from earlier developing regions are
active
 and what will the world in 2030 look
like?
Population perspectives
– population
increase, 2.3 %/ annum
2010 –population increase
1.1% annum
1970
Fertility
rates are
falling everywhere
 1970:
estimates at stabilising
level, end of 21st century at 20
billion
 2010: estimates at stabilising
level, end of 21st century at
>9 billion
Food availability and people (2009-10)
 Total
8
food production:
616 000 000 million metric tonnes -
 8,6
billion metric tonnes of food
 Global
population (ca) 6 700 000 000
million individuals – or
 6,7
billion people on earth
Food
per capita/annum:
1 286 kilo
 Food per cap/day:
3.5 kilo
Food availability
 At
10 billion people at the
end of the century
(estimated stability), and at
no increase in food
production:
 816 kilo food per year and
person
...or
2,5 kilo of food per
person and day or
.. 800 grams per meal
per person.
How do we understand our
world?
Are
the developing nations
the same today as they were in
the 1970s?
Political blocks are changing,
old ones are fragmenting
How do we understand our
world?
 Is
the UN is given less priority?
 Is Davos is more important than
Geneva, New York and Nairobi
 Is the financial crisis used as an
excuse for not giving priority to
sustainable development
Double talk among nations
 The
same governments
criticising the UN, undermines it
by withdrawing or reducing
their support, politically and
economically
 Not so when the bank crisis
emerged
A changed world
 The
bi-polar (North South) world is
on the wane, and a multi-polar world
has emerged: north is no longer
dominating the global scene and
several former developing countries
are global players. The classic period
of aid is coming to an end.
 Still,
large inequalities remain, poverty
is a dominating feature in many
countries and has become global, large
segments of population are
marginalised; environmental issues have
become problematic and environmental
stability is threatened in many places
often aggravating poverty.
Are we outdated?
 Is
our understanding of the world
today, its problems and solutions
in reality based on how we saw
the world as it was back in the
1970s and we thought all what
we did then, actually worked?
Are we still using the same
mechanisms?
The themes of the resolution
The
borders within
which any economy
must exist and
function are defined
The Rio decisions
Can
reform the world
and how we think
Reform means
strengthen, not reduce
UNEP identifies
a world in need of restoration
 Biodiversity
is the basis of
ecosystem health and of the
provision of ecosystem services
 Restoring a damaged ecosystem is a
difficult and complex task, and one
about which we still have much to
learn
Boundaries for the economy
Efforts
to designate
‘planetary boundaries’,
which are intended to define a
‘safe operating space’ for
humanity with respect to
Earth systems, have begun.
The nine planetary boundaries
 climate
change rate (passed)
 biodiversity loss (terrestrial and
marine) (passed)
 interference with the nitrogen
and phosphorous cycles (passed)
 stratospheric ozone depletion
The nine planetary boundaries
 ocean
acidification
 global freshwater use
 change in land use
 chemical pollution
 atmospheric aerosol loading
Green Economy- four ways?
 Reduce,
reuse and recycle, including
making all production green, may be
the panacea – a market liberalistic
view. Worst case: green-washing and
greening greed
 De-growth or a critical approach to
the system of economy, based on
what is know as strong sustainability
Green Economy- four ways?
 Distributive
growth, tries to look
at SCP in a ’frugal’ way
 Global transition – incremental
change with strengthening key
institutions
Green economy
If we do not think
differently this time,
we would just be
greening the greed.
Green economy challenges
The Earth Integrity Principle
 The Planetary Boundaries Principle
 The Dignity Principle
 The Justice Principle
 The Precautionary Principle
 The Resilience Principle
 The Governance Principle
 The Beyond-GDP Principle

Institutional sustainable
development governance
GOVERNANCE BEYOND
GOVERNMENT
 Governance is
overwhelmingly
associated with the work of governments.
Yet during the last two decades, the
governmental mode of governance has
been complimented by modes of
governance in which non-governmental
organizations and the private sector are
key partners.
GOVERNANCE BEYOND
GOVERNMENT
 This
trend is illustrated by the
sustained growth of private
sector standards such as
certification, and of publicprivate partnerships, at the local
to the global level.
Governance
The
term governance refers to
the process or method by
which society is governed, or
the ‘condition of ordered
rule’.
Good governance at a minimum
Participation
Accountability
Transparency
Implementation
Institutional architecture
Need
to further develop
and strengthen functions
and systems within the UN
and at national level on
sustainable development
 Make
sure that environmental issues
are handled by knowledgeable
elements of the UN, and allow the
environmental institutions a stronger
political authority, decision power
over financial institutions, power of
implementation etc.
The themes of the resolution
Identify and deal with emerging
issues
 Food
security
 Climate
security
 Energy security
 Water security
 Ecosystems
security
 Other issues
 Design
and
develop a system
which can handle
emerging issues
and which can
actually
strengthen the
merging issues
And what about security?
 ‘Moreover,
what we may be
witnessing, as security
increasingly dominates the
agenda, is the end of politics as a
forum for open debate, which is
the crucible in which democracy
flourishes.”
Professor Frederick Powell of the Irish University in Cork, Ireland
Identify and deal with emerging
issues
 Proposal
to develop a basis for
three new frameworks
conventions at Rio plus 20
1 - Principle 10 and access to
information, participation and
justice;
Identify and deal with emerging
issues
2 - Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR,
based on the ISO 26 000 outcome
(Consumer International?)
3 - Develop the precautionary principle to a
framework convention to include issues
on emerging technologies, bioengineering and nano-technology
Renewed political commitment
 Develop
a new and visionary
document on how the world should
look like in 2030 complete with
concepts visions, values, all elements
that should be brought into the
expressed political commitments for
sustainable development
And finally
We are in a quandary:
 We
need quick actions but will see
no quick results.
 We need quick capital and massive
finance to pay for these actions, with
no promise of quick and massive
returns.
 We need simple understanding to
complex problems.
We
need commitments to last
for 30 years and more, but our
fear and impatience, do not
speak of maintaining a high
level of commitments for as
long as it takes.
Decisions may go wrong, we need
informed people
 To make the right choices, and
have these choices supported by
people, and have the choices
improve the lives of everybody,
we need to base our choices on a
number of well established
values that are intrinsically found
in democracy.
Democratic values
 Among
these values are two pillars:
 one is about the individual person
being able to make an informed
choice.
 The other is that the individual
person will be able to understand the
consequences of the informed
choice.
How to make complex choices?
 In
a small society
 In a big, complex society
 In a technological society
 In a complex and technologically based
and technologically oriented society
 In a global society
 In a fast moving society?
Choices made in a complex and
interdependent society:
Are they so difficult to understand that
we will inevitably come to rely on:
 elites?
 experts?
 control systems?
 In short will we be subject to a
dictatorship of circumstances?
Our opportunities, unused
 The
intergovernmental system in
general and the UN in particular
offer unprecedented
opportunities for people to
participate actively in these
processes and influence their
own fate at home.
Road-map to Rio
 And
from now until first of
November, input to the negotiating
document from civil society
 Has to be relevant to the agenda
points
 Can be developed nationally and
globally
A philosopher....
 The
great enlightenment
philosopher Immanuel Kant gave
us all almost 250 years ago gave
all a clarion call to follow:
“Sapere aude –
Have courage to use
your own
understanding”
Shakespeare simply said
Action is eloquence
A word from a confused optimist,
who said
…I
love
humanity,
it’s people
I cannot
stand
…and we will simply say
Yes,
we can, too
.. build a better century than the
one we just left behind
… and finally
 Thank
you for your attention
 Jan-Gustav
Strandenaes
 [email protected]
 +47
470 18 337