Rio+20

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil hosted the Earth Summit in 1992. As a result, it is also known as Rio Summit.
Its more recent RIO Summit was known as "RIO +20" since there were two summits twenty years
apart, in 1992 and 2012.
It was meant to be a high-level meeting attended by heads of state and government as well as
other delegates, with the goal of producing a targeted political statement that would help define
international environmental policy.
Rio+20 is regarded as a crucial opportunity for the international community to reaffirm its
commitment to sustainable development and explore creative models to inspire global action on
sustainability.
The official discussions centered on two major topics: how to build a green economy for long-term
development and lifting people out of poverty; and how to improve international cooperation for
long-term development
Objectives
The UNCSD 2012 has the following objectives:
• Renewing political support for sustainable development;
• Evaluating the results of the execution of the decisions reached at the Rio Conference and the
gaps that remain to be filled; and
• Tackling fresh and developing problems.
Themes
Themes for UNCSD 2012 include:
• Green Economy in relation to eradicating poverty and promoting sustainability; and
• Institutional framework for sustainable development.
Rio +20 and Green Economy
• The theme of "Green Economy" has received a lot of attention in the run-up to RIO+20.
• Developing countries believe that the Rio principles, along with its three pillars of economic,
social, and environmental development, must continue to define the global development path.
• According to their understanding, the green economy is subsumed within this broader
framework, and action on green growth can only be achieved if developing countries are provided
with an enabling mechanism that includes finance, technology, and capacity building assistance.
• They also believe that the "Green Economy" template will be successful only if it improves their
ability to address poverty eradication, provides adequate policy space for national circumstances
and priorities, and ensures that structural changes as a result of it do not lead to green
protectionism and conditionality.
• India believes that any understanding of the "Green Economy" must include the principles of
equity and shared but differentiated responsibility (CBDR).
• It also sees RIO+20 as an opportunity to refocus the global development agenda on Sustainable
Development.
Rio +20 and Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development
• The need to strengthen the global Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD)
is widely acknowledged.
• Countries agree that the current fragmented sustainable development architecture within the UN
system, as well as the existence of a plethora of multilateral environmental agreements, require
improved coordination and coherence.
• Several ideas are being discussed on the subject, including converting the existing Commission
on Sustainable Development into a Sustainable Development Council (SDC), upgrading UNEP
into an umbrella international organization, and/or creating a high-level political forum under
ECOSOC and/or the UN General Assembly to give sustainable development high-level political
visibility.
• Most developing countries believe that the issue of IFSD must be viewed in the broader context
of balancing its economic, social, and environmental dimensions, while taking into account
developing countries' needs and constraints, particularly the transfer of enabling and affordable
financial and technological resources and capacity building assistance.
Rio +20 - Seven Priority Areas
• Jobs: Jobs have suffered as a result of the economic downturn. Over the next ten years,
there will be more than 500 million job searchers.
o More "green employment," or jobs in agriculture, industry, services, and administration that can
protect the environment, are needed.
• Energy: Energy is crucial for reducing climate change, producing more food, stabilizing
employment, and raising earnings.
• Cities: Cities serve as centers for business, culture, research, productivity, social progress, and
many other things. People can now grow socially and economically thanks to cities.
o However, common municipal issues include traffic, a lack of essential amenities, inadequate
sanitation and hygiene, and dangerous drinking water.
• Food: Food security is under increasing threat due to climate change. By 2050, there will be 2
billion more people living on the planet.
o Our soils, waters, oceans, forests, and biodiversity are currently deteriorating quickly in order to
improve food production.
o Rio 20 was the ideal time to reconsider how the production and distribution of food happens.
• Water: The world has enough fresh water. But each year, millions of people—mostly children—
die from diseases linked to inadequate water supply, sanitation, and hygiene due to poor
economics or poor infrastructure.
o Water scarcity, poor water quality, and inadequate sanitation have a detrimental effect on
impoverished families' access to education, livelihood options, and food security worldwide.
o Some of the world's poorest nations experience drought, which makes hunger and malnutrition
worse. At least one in four people will likely reside in a nation by 2050 that experiences ongoing
or persistent freshwater shortages.
• Oceans: The sea is ultimately responsible for providing and regulating all of the human
needs, including rainwater, drinking water, weather, climate, coastlines, much of our food,
and even the oxygen in the air we breathe.
o Seas and oceans have played a crucial role in trade and transportation. A sustainable future must
include careful management of this vital global resource.
• Disasters: Disasters are brought on by natural events including earthquakes, floods, droughts,
hurricanes, and tsunamis. They have terrible effects on the economy, the environment, and the
people.
o Disaster recovery is aided by wise decisions, whereas vulnerability is increased by poor
decisions.
At United Nations Millennium Summit (Sep 2000), world leaders agreed to eight specific and
measurable development goals—later came to be known as the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). There were 8 MDGs, 18 targets and 48 indicators to measure the results. The target
year was 2015.

Full list of Goals, Targets and Indicators are provided below.

• Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – Important Features

1. It synthesizes, in a single package, many of the most important commitments made separately
at the international conferences and summits of the 1990s;
2. recognize explicitly the interdependence between growth, poverty reduction and sustainable
development;
3. acknowledge that development rests on the foundations of democratic governance, the rule of
law, respect for human rights and peace and security;
4. It is based on time-bound and measurable targets accompanied by indicators for monitoring
progress; and
5. It brings together, in the eighth Goal, the responsibilities of developing countries with those
of developed countries, founded on a global partnership endorsed at the International
Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico in 2002, and again at the
Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in August 2003.