The Rio+20 Earth Summit has now been and gone. The Conference was held from June 20 to 22 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). A total of approximately 30,000 people including 97 leaders and a number of ministerial level figures (including 78 ministers as representatives of their governments) from 188 United Nations member countries and 3 observers (the EU, Palestine, and Vatican), as well as government officials, lawmakers, local administrations, international organizations, enterprises, and citizens participated in the Conference. After the preparatory negotiations at the working level, the Outcome Document "The Future We Want" (including 283 paragraphs and 49 pages of affirmations and entreaties) was substantially agreed in the afternoon of June 19 and adopted on the night of June 22 after 3-day discussions by the heads of states and governments and ministers. At the Conference, initiatives such as A) promotion of initiatives towards a green economy, B) systematic framework for promotion of sustainable development, and C) disaster risk reduction and future city construction, all of which Ghana is highly interested in, were discussed, and important results for development of international initiatives in the future were obtained. Particularly, it was important outcomes that developing countries including Ghana deepened their understanding of a transit to a green economy and the entire international community sent a proactive message to take initiatives for a green economy. In terms of the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development, the participants agreed on the establishment of a high level political forum and the strengthening of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), while sharing a view that the SDGs must be integrated into the post Millennium Development Goals. In this way, the Conference paved the way for future development. On the other hand, in terms of the green economy and institutional framework, there are still many gaps among participating countries and further discussion will be required. The outcome document can be accessed on this link: http://www.uncsd2012.org/thefuturewewant.html

INTRODUCTION:

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 otherwise known as the Rio summit was a landmark event marking the beginning of International commitment to provide public and political support to address environment and development issues. The main outcome of that conference also referred to as Agenda 21 called on countries to adopt National strategies for sustainable Development (NSSD) that will integrate economic, social and environmental policies and plans at the National level. A five year review of the Rio summit in 1997 revealed that little progress has been made in achieving agenda 21. In view of this, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002 to review the state of implementation of the UNCED particularly Agenda 21 and also to reinvigorate global commitment for Sustainable Development. The WSSD also urged the states to take immediate steps to formulate NSSDs and to begin their implementation by 2005.

On December, 11^th 2009, the second committee of the General Assembly adopted a resolution to organise the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) also known as Rio+20 conference at the highest level, including heads of states and governments in Brazil, in 2012. The Objectives of the conference were to:

1.      Secure renewed political commitment for Sustainable Development

2.      Assess progress to date and gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits on Sustainable Development.

3.      Address new and emerging challenges.

The two themes of the conference were Green Economy in the context of Sustatainable Development and Poverty alleviation and the Institutional framework for sustainable development.

To ensure the quality inputs to the conference, the second committee of the General Assembly called for the efficient and effective preparation at the local, national, regional and international levels by governments, United Nation?s systems and encouraged the active participation of all major groups at all stages of the preparatory process. In view of this many preparations were made globally prior to the conference. In Ghana a series of meetings and consultations led by the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology with the active participation of the civil societies and NGO?s saw the release of a report on the progress made by Ghana in achieving sustainable development. The youth and children were not left out in these preparatory processes. At the International level, the World Youth and Children Conference on Sustainable development organised by UNEP-TUNZA came out with the Bandung declaration. At the sub-regional levels The Peace child International in collaboration with local NGOs organised similar conferences to engage youth participation in the preparatory processes. This saw the West African Youth Summit on sustainable development held in Ghana also coming out with the Kumasi declaration.

CONFERENCE OVERVIEW

Many are those who have raised questions why Rio de Janeiro has become a shrine for sustainable development conferences. I shared the same sentiments until my first day in Brazil. Whiles enjoying the comfort of the Rio+20 buses to the conference venue, the beautiful landscape of the Coppa Cabana beach, the judicious use of land for settlements, the intermittent forest reserves and the protection of biodiversity convinced me of the enshrinement of Rio de Janeiro for sustainable development conferences.

The conference officially started on the 20^th of June at Rio Centro in Rio de Janeiro but this was preceded by the third session of the preparatory committee, held between 13^th of June to the 15^th of June 2012 also at Rio Centro. In addition to the plenary meetings, the conference featured four consecutive high level round tables, parallel meetings, including a partnership forum and learning centres as well as special events. The four high level round tables had a common theme which is ?Looking at the way forward in implementing the outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development?. There were also a number of side events hosted by states, Non-governmental organisations and also by the major groups for Children and youth which attracted great participation.  Many of these side events were presentations of researches and reports from individuals and organisations. Our own Minister of Environment, Science and Technology (Ghana) was present at one of the side event as a guest speaker. Among other things, she touched on the issue environmental pollution, green economy and on opportunities available for the youth. One admirable thing about the side events is that, it gave a platform for questioning from participants, interactions and discussions. Strategically, I joined many of the youth events especially those that have something to do with the work of my organisation. To name a few of the youth oriented side events I attended includes: ?Enabling Youth participation in bringing Rio+20 Outcome Beyond 2015? by the Sri Lanka group, ?Youth fixing the broken systems? by the Oxfam International Youth Partnerships (OIYP) and ?Green Jobs: a chance for the Youth? by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). At many of these events I had the chance to briefly introduce myself and also talked about how Greener Impact International is engaging the youth to promote green jobs, reduce emission of carbon emissions to ensure sustainable development. I also had the chance to talk about my organisations intentions to distribute safe solar lamps to communities without access to grid electricity and also to take advantage of the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project to create carbon credit.

As a youth delegate from Ghana, I took keen interest in the activities of the Major Group Children and Youth. I had the opportunity to meet youths from other parts of the world who were in similar interest. With my Tunza Ecogeneration Call cards, I was able to exchange mails with all the people I came across. As they received the beautiful Tunza Ecogeneration Call cards, i took the opportunity to explain to them all that Tunza Ecogeneration is about. There I really appreciated the call cards given to me by cogeneration as an ambassador.

 

Many are those who referred to the conference as highly successful because of the little political and regional influence. Unlike other conferences where there has been instances of high political influence to ?weave?  the outcome document to suite the interest of the so called  ?super powers?, this conference ended with an outcome document that was accepted by all countries. Again, unlike the other conferences which has characterised with pledges from developed countries which are still not honoured worked on empowering institutions like The United Nations Environmental Program to effectively carry out its mandate in environmental protection.

From another perspective, the major group for Children and youth and other individuals were not really satisfied with the outcome document and therefore did not qualify the conference as successful. The major group complained about the silence of the document on the concerns they raised prior to the conference in their preparatory processes. Barbara Stocking, chief executive of OXFAM GB told the BBC that although the UN hope for the conference had been to turn the global economy onto a sustainable track, the leaders of the world "really did not take decisions that will take us forward".

The executive director of Greenpeace Kumi Naidoo went even further. Quoted in Time Magazine, he described the conference as "a failure of epic proportions" and the final statement as being "the longest suicide note in history".

CONCLUSION

Despite the view by a section that the conference was not a success, for me, I believed from beginning that one summit like the Rio+20 could never solve all problems of the world and matters like this were bound to surface. Personally, I will ascribe success to the conference especially looking at it from the logistics and security perspective. There was a high presence of security personnel who were positioned at vantage points around the hotels that housed the delegates and also around the conference venues. There were also a high presence of volunteers who worked tirelessly to guide the delegates around except that, most of them understood only Portuguese and therefore if can?t speak Portuguese, one has to resort to sign language before he or she could be understood. The accreditation staffs were just wonderful with their work and from my observation; there was no point in time when people had to wait long minutes in queues for services

Another aspect of the conference I enjoyed was the side events especially those that brought the youth together to discuss about the role they can play to promote the sustainable development in their communities and countries as a whole. One typical example of such events is the UNEP?s side event about green jobs. My special interest in this is because it falls within my organisations objectives of promoting renewable energy in Ghana by distributing solar lamps to communities without access to the national grid electricity. Through this project my organisation hopes to create employment for the youth, reduce emission of carbon dioxide from burning of kerosene and also reduce poverty among rural communities. In most cases it is the women who suffer from energy poverty since they have to use their little earnings to buy kerosene for lamps. I therefore had the chance to learn from the experiences of other youth around the globe.

With the knowledge and experience gained from Rio+20:

 

1. A press conference will be organised in partnership with other youth delegates to educate the youth of Ghana on issues of sustainable development and the role they can play to achieve the sustainable development goals in Ghana.
2. I will take part in a Unique FM?s radio program together with other youth delegates to discuss about the youth content of the outcome document ?The future we want?
3. I intend to incorporate some of the ideas into the ?1st Ghana Youth and Children Conference on sustainable development? which is an initiative of Greener Impact International in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment Science and Technology.
4. I also intend to promote the use of renewable energy in Ghana and create green jobs through my organisation?s project to distribute solar lamps in Ghana.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The outcome document should not be seen just as a document but should be acted upon immediately. States must develop National strategies for sustainable Development (NSSDs) and this should harmonise and integrate economic, social and environmental policies and plans at the national levels
2. Governments should come up with long term plans without any political prejudice. Like the case in Ghana, a long term plan like the guggisburg plan should be developed and should not have political barriers.
3. Developed countries that have made pledges in the past to help the developing countries deal with their local climate change challenges should honour them to enable developing countries implement their National strategies. 
4. In the wake of global unemployment challenges, special attention and support should be given to youth with entrepreneurship ideas especially those that promote environmental sustainability.
5. Sustainable Development/ Climate change education should be promoted at the national level and if possible incorporated into the school curricula.