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	Influencing the outcomes at Rio+20 by Camilla Toulmin International Institute for Environment & Development & agencies   May 2012   Influencing the outcomes at Rio+20, by Camilla Toulmin. (Director, IIED)   With one month to go until the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development, I have just returned from New York where I discussed how policy think tanks, like IIED, can help frame the outcomes.   IIED is playing an important role in getting government representatives and environmentalists together at our Fair Ideas conference in the run up to Rio+20 so that we can have maximum impact in influencing outcomes.   There are mixed views about the likely end result from Rio. The pessimists point to the summit’s low political profile and the lack of progress in agreeing the text from the official process. The “zero draft text” produced by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development so far suggests that leaders won’t be asked to sign up to any substantive commitments. And, as the Green Economy points out, many questions about how to “kick-start” a green economy remain unanswered.   Unquestionably G8 and EU leaders are utterly distracted due to the Euro crisis. Governments concerned with generating growth are stuck with credit rating agencies on one side able to kick countries down the stairs, and private companies on the other who are sitting on a substantial cash pile, but unsure where to invest it. Some European Union countries recently decided to press for new controls on credit ratings agencies, but it is also the ideal moment for leaders with foresight to recognise that the green economy could provide many of the answers to their troubles. Unfortunately, most are trapped in mental models which do not allow for looking outside the box.   Meanwhile, the environmental “credit agencies” have been downgrading our economic prospects from A to B minus. There are evident signs of stress in the global environmental and social system. A joint report by the World Wildlife Fund, the Zoological Society of London and the European Space Agency says: “We are using 50 per cent more resources than the Earth can provide, and unless we change course that number will grow very fast – by 2030, even two planets will not be enough.”   The International Energy Agency has shown us that global emissions of greenhouse gases in the last couple of years are higher even than the worst case scenario. Trends such as these mean that it will be almost impossible to stay below the 2 degree global temperature rise, according to the Club of Rome think tank. With 2-3 billion people likely to join the consuming classes over the next 20 years, the maths on resource availability and rising demand just doesn’t add up.   It is remarkable how much has changed over the last ten years – a massive waste of tax payers’ money has been spent fighting battles we did not want rather than building the low carbon economy we need. The enormous shift in geo-political weight associated with China’s rise has also brought to the fore a range of middle income countries wanting to push ahead with a strong multilateral agenda, regardless of the G8 or the G20. Some countries have spotted these patterns and acted. Denmark has carved out an effective alliance on green economy with Mexico and Korea, and the governments of Colombia, Guatemala and Peru have espoused the potential of global Sustainable Development Goals. It would seem that older established economies have a harder time in the 21st century, as they have too much in-built infrastructure and capital invested in yesterday’s economy.   It’s tempting to say we don’t need world leaders to jump on board the sustainability wagon. But if heads of state better understood sustainability and global interconnectedness, we would all be much more likely to see better choices being made nationally, and the pace of progress would be much faster with them driving change. Many world leaders will be attending the G20 summit in Mexico in June 18-19 2012, just two days before the Rio+20 summit. Taking a flight south to Rio+20 to take part would send out an important message to voters and other leaders that they’re committed to a more sustainable future.   Heads of state will recognise that their most important role is to set the policy scene in ways which can multiply many times over the numerous examples of good practice. Middle and low-income countries will justifiably seize the initiative and demand changes in consumption and production patterns in the high income countries, just as much as addressing sustainability in their own nations.   Think tanks need to show government leaders lots of practical examples of how to build sustainability in hundreds of different places – in cities and forests, factories and homesteads. And they should provide evidence of the many progressive businesses, governments, community activists and thinkers who want to take things forward.   The financial crisis in Europe and the financial disarray of the G8 demonstrates only too vividly the very great costs of not thinking about tomorrow. As a species, we tend to push things to the limit before surveying the damage, recognising the danger then pulling back. But this is not sensible either for global finance or earthly stability. It’s time to be more grown up and use our foresight. We need to imagine the future we want, and the one we need to work hard to avoid.   May 2012   Rio+20 leaders challenged with development action plan. (IIED)   The International Institute for Environment and Development has urged governments to invest in resilience, strengthen local control over natural resources, and apply realistic values to the environment and human wellbeing in order to steer societies onto a more secure path.   The call comes in a paper published by IIED’s director, ahead of the Rio+20 conference in Brazil next month, when world leaders will meet to agree ways to tackle the environment and development challenges facing humanity. IIED recommends action in three areas.   Local control: Evidence shows that local control of natural assets is the best way to ensure strong investment in and sustainable use of forests, water, soils and other resources, in ways that create jobs, profits and secure livelihoods in both rural and urban areas.   “When governments recognise the rights and organisations of local communities, they encourage long-term decision-making, and sustainable management of key assets. It’s also a better option for outside investors, since returns need to be balanced to generate long term stable outcomes,” says Toulmin.   Investing in Resilience: Environmental, economic and social shocks are becoming more common and include climatic extremes, volatile food and fuel prices, and financial instability. Governments can build resilience to such shocks with policies that prioritise long-term adaptive capacity, more diverse economic activities, and climate-resilient growth. “Decentralised energy supplies, new approaches to urban density, inclusive business models, and greater accountability in global institutions are among the building blocks of resilience to the shocks tend to hit the poorest and most vulnerable communities hardest,” says Toulmin.   Realistic valuation: Today, true environmental costs and benefits do not appear on balance sheets, and we use GDP to measure development despite knowing that it does not reflect human wellbeing and can mask the unsustainable aspects of growth.   “We need to change the way we measure progress and address the market failures that today’s false environmental accounting allows to endure. The first and most urgent steps are a significant and rising price on carbon, and an end to fossil fuel subsidies.” says Toulmin.   “The environmental, social and financial crises that face us are interconnected, and so are their solutions,” says Toulmin. IIED has identified clear policy shifts that it believes are realistic, achievable and effective ways to reshape our future and create a fair, greener and more secure world.”   Mar 2012 (Extract:UN-NGLS)   Civil Society Engagement in Rio+20 Sustainable Development Governance.   Rights at Risk - Open Letter to the Secretary General for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD).   We – the civil society organizations and social movements who have responded to the call of the United Nations General Assembly to participate in the Rio+20 process – feel that is our duty to call the attention of relevant authorities and citizens of the world to a situation that severely threatens the rights of all people and undermines the relevance of the United Nations.   Remarkably, we are witnessing an attempt by certain countries to weaken, or “bracket” or outright eliminate nearly all references to human rights obligations and equity principles in the text, “The Future We Want”, for the outcome of Rio+20.   This includes references to the right to food and proper nutrition, the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation, the right to development and others.   The right to a clean and healthy environment, which is essential to the realization of fundamental human rights, remains weak in the text.   Even principles previously agreed upon in Rio in 1992 are being bracketed – the Polluter Pays Principle, Precautionary Principle, Common But Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR).   Many member states are opposing prescriptive language that commits governments to actually do what they claim to support in principle and act as duty bearers of human rights, including the provision of finance, technology and other means of implementation to support sustainable development effort in developing countries.   On the other hand, there is a strong push for private sector investments and initiatives to fill in the gap left by the public sector.   This risks privatizing and commoditizing common goods – such as water – which in turn endangers access and affordability, which are fundamental to such rights.   Although economic tools are essential to implement the decisions aiming for sustainability, social justice and peace, a private economy rationale should not prevail over the fulfillment of human needs and the respect of planetary boundaries.   Therefore a strong institutional framework and regulation is needed. Weakly regulated markets have already proven to be a threat not only to people and nature, but to economies and nation states themselves. Markets must work for people, people should not work for markets.   From the ashes of World War II humanity gathered to build institutions aiming to build peace and prosperity for all, avoiding further suffering and destruction.   The Universal Declaration of Human Rights spells out this collective will, and the United Nations organization was created to make it a reality.   We urge the Secretary General and Member States to deliver the people’s legitimate agenda and the realization of rights, democracy and sustainability, as well as respect for transparency, accountability and non-regression on progress made.   We call on the UN Secretary General to stand up for the legacy of the United Nations by ensuring that Rio+20 builds on the multi-generational effort to strengthen rights as the foundation of peace and prosperity.   We urge our fellow citizens of the world to stand up for the future we want, and let their voices be heard.   Signatories include: The Council of Canadians, Consumers International, Sustainlabour, International Trade Union Confederation, CIVICUS, Women in Europe for a Common Future, Ecoropa, Ibon International, Vitae Civilis Institute, Stakeholder Forum.   Dec 2012   Intersessional Meeting undertaken by CIVICUS, Citizens Network for Sustainable Development, UN-NGLS, UNEP & others.   In 1992 at Rio the leaders of the world agreed that the major cause of the deterioration of the global environment is the unsustainable path of consumption and production, particularly in industrialized countries, that aggravates poverty, inequalities and imbalances not just between countries but also within countries.   Yet over the last twenty years, rights were created for corporations that far exceed the rights and commitments created for the people and the environment. What global civil society organizations are saying is that it is time to rebalance those rights.   To address this ever widening democracy deficit civil society groups are demanding that governments undertake their responsibilities to act and implement their commitments.   Member States are now conducting multilateral talks in new groupings like the G20 comprised of countries where the economic pillar clearly dominates.   For Rio 2012, ‘systemically significant’ should apply equally to the human system and the ecosystem – namely all three pillars of the sustainable development – if the adoption of a human rights and sustainability framework is to be ensured.   The three pillars are recognized as environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and socio-political sustainability.   Rio 2012 decisions must apply to all Member States through universal reporting, across all the three pillars, as well as across national and international commitments that addresses unsustainable consumption and production patterns and other sustainability challenges. 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	At least 21 million people worldwide are victims of forced labour by International Labour Organization (ILO)   At least 21 million people worldwide are trapped in jobs into which they were coerced or deceived and which they cannot leave, according to new estimates released today by the United Nations labour agency.   Released by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the 2012 Global Estimate of Forced Labour found that the Asia-Pacific region accounts for the largest number of the 20.9 million forced labourers in the world – 11.7 million, or 56 per cent, of the global total. This is followed by Africa at 3.7 million and Latin America with 1.8 million victims.   According to ILO, forced labour takes different forms, including debt bondage, trafficking and other forms of modern slavery, with the victims normally the most vulnerable – women and girls forced into prostitution, migrants trapped in debt bondage, and sweatshop or farm workers kept there by clearly illegal tactics and paid little or nothing.   In the new estimates, 18.7 million people – 90 per cent of the total – are exploited in the private economy, by individuals or enterprises. Of these, 4.5 million are victims of forced sexual exploitation and 14.2 million are victims of forced labour exploitation in economic activities, such as agriculture, construction, domestic work or manufacturing.   Another 2.2 million people are in state-imposed forms of forced labour, such as in prisons under conditions which violate ILO standards, or in work imposed by the state military or by rebel armed forces.   The ILO also found that 5.5 million forced labourers, or 26 per cent, are below 18 years of age.   “We have come a long way over the last seven years since we first put an estimate on how many people were forced into labour or services across the world,” the head of the ILO’s Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour, Beate Andrees, said in a news release. “We have made good progress in ensuring most countries now have legislation in place which criminalises forced labour, human trafficking and slavery-like practices.”   She noted that it is now necessary to focus on better identification and prosecution of forced labour and related offences such as human trafficking.   “The successful prosecution of those few individuals who bring such misery to so many remains inadequate – this needs to change,” Ms. Andrees said. “We must also ensure that the number of victims does not rise during the current economic crisis where people are increasingly vulnerable to these heinous practices.”   The ILO hopes that the availability of more accurate information on the problem will enable the international community to take more effective measures to end the crime of forced labour. Visit the related web page
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