SEI at Rio+20

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Photo credit: Ricardo Scholz, Flickr

In June 2012, the United Nations hosted a global sustainable development summit in Rio de Janeiro, 20 years after the first Earth Summit. The official themes of Rio+20 were: “a green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication”; and the “institutional framework for sustainable development.”

Ban-Ki Moon called the summit “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make real progress towards the sustainable economy of the future” and called for world leaders to “achieve renewed political commitment for sustainable development” including sustainable development goals.

SEI was there, contributing to discussions on the critical issues, such as sustainable energy for all, food security and the inclusive green economy. Our experts focused on five main themes and participated in a total of 8 side events:

• Sustainable energy for all
• Green Economy
• Water-land-energy nexus
• Short-lived climate pollutants
• Food security

Short introductions on each of these topics can be found by clicking on the links, together with essential reading and more information about our side events.

Side events

• 15 June
  • Green economy and rethinking social and economic models
  • Addressing The Short Lived Climate Pollutant Challenge: The New Climate And Clean Air Coalition To Reduce Short Lived Climate Pollutants
• 16 June
  • Sustainable Development in the Face of Rapid Climate Change: High Alpine Regions
• 18 June
  • From Field to Fork to Field: Nutritious food and nutrient cycling to enhance health, wealth and resilience
  • The Economics of Low Carbon Cities
  • Sustainable Development Dialogues: Water
  • Reframing environmental negotiations to create opportunities
• 19 June
  • Energy for All and Global Sustainability: new scenarios and governance

SEI was also a co-convenor (together with Stockholm Resilience Centre and Fundação Brasileira para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável) of the Rio+20 High Level Dialogue on Global Sustainability, which took place on 17 June. Nobel Laureates, members of the UN Secretary General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability and The Elders developd a science-based Declaration on global sustainability that was launched on 18 June and presented to the Heads of State and Government on 21 June.