10 themes , 100 recommendations for Rio+20

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20, will be held from 20 to 22 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At this Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will convene to formulate a comprehensive approach to achieve sustainable economic growth, fight poverty, advance social equity, and ensure environmental protection on an ever more complex planet in order to get to the future we want. There are two main Focus for the Conference:
| The shift to a Green Economy as part of sustainable development and the fight against poverty
| Good Governance, the institutional conditions for sustainable development
DELEGATES and other participants will examine the continued relevance of AGENDA 21, the blueprint for the 21st century, adopted and signed by all nations of the world in RIO in 1992, 20 years ago. How far have we reached in implementing this world agenda, what corrections are needed now, how to plan the future, along what major lines?
As in all such SUMMITS, there are numerous civil society/NGO open events, prior to the main Heads of State and Government official Rio+20 Conference.
An example is the Sustainable Development Dialogues, also known as the Rio+20 Dialogues, an undertaking of the Brazilian Government with the support of the UN, as a direct channel for civil society to increase and improve global participation in Rio+20. During these Dialogues, experts and stakeholders from civil society gather to determine which recommendations should be submitted directly to the Heads of State and Government at the Rio+20 Conference.
Based on the official documents as defined by UN, but free in their thinking, these Rio+20 Dialogues identified 10 THEMES and 100 RECOMMENDATIONS (a small selection of which appears below) on which hundred of thousands of correspondents voted as to their appropriateness. YOU, reader of Le Mauricien, CAN ALSO DO IT TOO (go to the public website http://vote.riodialogues.org to vote)
1.THE ECONOMICS of Sustainable Development
Hold an international conference on global governance in 2013.
Promote principles for a green and FAIR economy.
Convene a United Nations commission to define Key Performance Indicators on natural capital that could be integrated into Gross Domestic Product accounting.
Promote Sustainable Public Procurement worldwide as a catalyst for sustainable patterns.
Put a price-tag on natural resources, so that they are not economically invisible.
Promote a holistic approach to sustainable development, taking into account environmental, economic, political, social and ethical aspects.
Include environmental damages in the Gross National Product (GNP) and complement it with measures of social development.
 2.FOOD and NUTRITION SECURITY
To Nourish Our People we must Nurture Our Planet
Plan in advance for demographic changes.
Promote collaboration between Government and the private sector to encourage more equitable and sustainable consumer choices.
Government programs to protect the environment should integrate food and nutrition security policies.
Promote integrated planning and closer coordination between the food, energy, water and environmental policy sectors.
Eliminate misery and poverty-rooted malnutrition.
Promote alternative crops IN PLACE OF tobacco and such other non-food monocultures.
Develop policies to link directly producers and consumers over sustainable production
3.FORESTS
Governments should support agroforestry as a promising alternative to balance the need for food and fuelwood whilst reducing pressure on natural forests.
Promote science, technology, innovation and traditional knowledge in order to face forests main challenge: how to turn them productive without destroying them.
Restore 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded lands by 2020 (Mauritius to restore 2000 hectares)
Restore Forestland and Mangrove Zones.
Value forest carbon from forest plantations in the context of the green economy.
4.SUSTAINABLE CITIES
Look at how the Green Economy concept can contribute to Sustainable Development at the local level.
Promote the active engagement of local communities to improve the physical and social environment in cities
Promote culture, diversity and creativity as a core element to build sustainable cities
The design of urban spaces should take into account the empowerment of local communities.
Promote the 3 Rs (Reduce, Reuse Recycle) and the use of waste as a renewable energy source in urban environments
Local governments should ensure energy-efficient delivery of services and promote sustainable consumption.
Promote opportunities for direct dialogues among government, citizens, enterprises, NGOs and schools.
Cities and schools should work together to develop  sustainable development education
Plan in advance for sustainability and quality of life in cities.
5.ENERGY FOR ALL  
Take concrete steps to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies.
Establish ambitious, large-scale targets for THE TRANSITION towards renewable energy.
Create incentives to encourage work from home.
Require « ecolabels » on products with clear information about the product’s energy efficiency.
Encourage the use of bicycles, cycle-lanes, and efficient, non-polluting mass transit systems
Educate people about energy efficiency.
Give ambitious tax incentives for the acquisition of energy-efficient products, such as solar, wind power generators, electric vehicles, green constructions etc
Enforce regulations requiring energy-saving features on all new automobiles.
Incentivize the construction of energy efficient buildings and revamp existing ones.
 6.SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FOR FIGHTING POVERTY
Advance gender rights as an instrument to promote sustainable development.
Promote global education to eradicate poverty and to achieve sustainable development.
Integrate equity in the design and delivery of public health, education and other social services and systems.
Ensure universal health coverage to achieve sustainable development.
Promote the use and transfer of latest technology as a means to advance sustainable development.
Enhance south-south (for developing countries) cooperation in clean technology proliferation and development, through for example high-level university teaching and research and exchanges through academies of science and technology.
7.WATER RESOURCES
Implement the right to CLEAN FRESHWATER for all.
Expand and strengthen global mechanisms for the monitoring of water, sanitation and hygiene.
Put water at the heart of future development goals.
Improve water and sanitation facilities in schools and at home to ensure the education of children.
Secure water supply by protecting forests and biodiversity, ecosystems and water sources.
8.SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AS AN ANSWER TO FINANCIAL INSTABILITY AND CRISES
Transparent governance: development of national legislation on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice on Environmental and development Matters
New institutions should be created to steward and manage the global commons and adopt commons-based economic models.
Create a tax on international financial transactions with a view to contributing to a Green Fund in charge of promoting decent jobs and clean technologies.
Educate future leaders about sustainable development
Encourage businesses to adopt sustainability standards, such as the United Nations Global Compact principles.
Ban the use of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure for social progress.
Promote tax reforms that encourage environmental protection and benefits the poorer members of society
9.UNEMPLOYMENT, DECENT WORK AND MIGRATION
Set national goals for green jobs based on assessments in terms of current and potential value, gender dimension, working conditions and other aspects of the decent work agenda.
Advance women’s empowerment principles as a way to advance the sustainable development agenda.
Put education at the core of the Sustainable Development Goals agenda.
Ensure all jobs and workplaces meet minimum safety and health standards.
Improve human capital by promoting access to health, including reproductive health, investment in education and empowerment of women.
Governments to commit to a ‘Social Protection and Decent Work for All’ goal by 2030, including access to health, employment, maternity, child protection and  full rights for disabled people, minorities and any other disadvantaged groups.
Include care and meaningful retirement for the aged, in the international framework for sustainable development.
10.OCEANS
Protect the Oceans by adopting an Ocean ‘Charter of Responsibilities’
Assist countries, especially islands states, to protect and rationally manage their exclusive marine economic zones
Develop a global network of international marine protected areas.
Launch a global agreement to save high seas as well as lagoon marine biodiversity, particularly through education
Fishery management should be ecosystem-based, making allowance for the needs of all components of the ecosystem, including predators.
Avoid ocean pollution by plastics, oil, toxic wastes, agricultural run-offs through rigidly enforced legislation but also through education and community collaboration.
Rio de Janiero, Brazil, will host the RIO+20 CONFERENCE