Rio+20 needs another shot at sustainable development

"In 1992," Pressend says, "Rio produced a number of documents to chart a course for sustainable development, notably the Rio Declaration, aiming to commit governments to environmental protection and responsible development, and Agenda 21, [...] the "blueprint" for sustainable development and multilateral agreements on biodiversity, desertification and climate change."

Overall, she observes, the noble agendas of the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 came up against major global challenges. The most notable of these is globalisation, as a consequence of which, ever-expanding production and consumption have resulted in devastating destruction of the environment, which include air, water and soil pollution, while leading to "the commodification of the natural commons and public environmental goods and services. In other words," Pressend notes, "these resources and services have been made a tradable 'product' for profit."

"Thus, twenty years after the milestone Rio Earth Summit, the situation for our planet and her people, particularly the poor and the vulnerable, is worse," she says. "In fact, the official discussion paper for Rio+20, entitled the 'Future We Want' (aka the 'Zero Draft'), acknowledges the multi-dimensional nature of the global crisis, particularly as it relates to finance, the economy, energy and food security." What is needed and what is still lacking, Pressend concludes in her Allafrica.com piece, is an understanding of sustainable development as a fundamental basis in policy formulation in terms of fairness, equitable use of natural resources and ethical values that will lead to much-needed transformation in society.

Read the full article on http://allafrica.com.