sustainable

The Point of It All

mcalderon June 25, 2012 0 Comments

Point of No Return By Mariana Calderon Sitting back in a bed in a hostel in Rio de Janeiro, trying to regain some sense of normalcy through regular sleep and regular meals, I hardly dare to think back on the last two weeks - or the last 20 years - just yet. Some time to recover, please. Unfortunately, time is something we don’t have much of anymore. In the halls of the Rio Centro convention...

The Future We Really Want: The Why, and What

COA Admin March 23, 2012 0 Comments

By: The Informal-informals Team Earth in Brackets has critically examined the history of sustainable development negotiations, outcome documents, and implementation, and has found it to be, with the exception of small gains made in the implementation of Agenda 21, uninspiring. Current institutions under the UN lack the coherence, jurisdiction and consistency to fully address issues of...

What They Forgot to Mention

COA Admin March 22, 2012 0 Comments

By Clara de Iturbe The preceding day felt way too long and the tension in the air you felt when entering the ECOSOC room the morning after said a lot about what was coming next. Lengthy discussions of the Food Security thematic area—whose title has not yet been agreed upon—demonstrated that the North and the South have very specific agendas and that they are not ready to cooperate in certain...

Education for Sustainable Development and Shifting the Paradigms

aodell March 22, 2012 0 Comments

by Anna Odell One of the issues when dealing with “sustainable development” is the lack of clarity around the term itself. We have spent an entire term working, studying, and understanding text such as the “The Future We Really Want” in depth and grasping the general issues that are relevant for Rio+20. But at times, I feel as though we need to take a step back and look at what we expect...

The Complexities of a Human Rights-Based Approach

Lara Shirley March 22, 2012 0 Comments

by Lara Shirley 1. The demand for a human rights-based approach In various side-events and negotiations, the concept of a human rights-based approach has come up several times, especially with regard to indigenous peoples, food security, and water. This is essentially to ensure justice and effectiveness in the agreements that come out of these negotiations, and is particularly relevant within the...