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IAAS USA @ UN Development Commission

As you may know, four IAAS-ISU member will be representing IAAS World at the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development next week at the UN headquarters in New York. They will share their experiences with the IAAS-World community through this Blog.

High-Level Segment at CSD-19

Wednesday, 11 May 2011 19:43

Wednesday morning marked the start of the High Level Segment of CSD-19, with high level government ministers taking over the CSD negotiations. The morning session began with keynote speakers, including Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and Dr. Ashok Khosla, President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). You can watch the speeches online, with Dr. Sachs's presentation beginning around 26 minutes.

Dr. Sachs said we have passed beyond the ecological tipping point we have anticipated for decades. He said we are in a “global ethics crisis,” with governments unable or unwilling to address environmental crises or to address the “juggernaut” that is the global pace of resource consumption. While he criticized the United States for inaction and “going backwards, scrambling for resources,” he commended Europe as the only region that has made progress toward a sustainable economy. For more on Dr. Sachs’ speech, visit The Grow Blog.

Dr. Khosla focused on sustainable consumption and production as a means to reduce the “multi-pronged squeeze on humanity.” This “squeeze” includes inequities in human well-being, degradation of ecosystems, effects of climate change and susceptibility to “unknown unknowns,” the crises we cannot foresee. Looking toward Rio+20, Dr. Khosla recommended adopting indicators of well-being other than Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which he called “a way of not knowing what is happening to us.” Part of his solution rested with recognizing the value of ecosystem services. Pollination of food crops, biological pest control and environmentally-derived pharmacological products are a few examples that provide hundreds of billions of dollars in services. Dr. Khosla believes we “need to invest in nature” and recognize it as central to the global economy. This will require a shift away from the current prevailing view that “we must lose something to get a green economy.”

Green Economy & the Agri-Food Task Force on Sustainable Consumption and Production

Wednesday, 11 May 2011 18:04

Hello IAASers!

Our activities on Monday included “Kicking off a Green Economy (GE) and Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP),” a side event organized by governments from southeast Europe. It was a useful session to compare and contrast two overlapping concepts in sustainable development: SCP (a focus of this year’s CSD) and Green Economy (one of two themes of next year’s CSD). A representative from the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) described SCP as focusing on regulation of consumption and production, whereas Green Economy focuses on the reformulation of our economic system to account for environmental services and costs of pollution. The 10-Year Framework of Programmes on SCP, which is being negotiated this week, provides tools and policy frameworks that are of critical importance for the transition to Green Economy, making it relevant beyond this year’s CSD.

On Tuesday we attended a side event called “Delivering a Programme on Sustainable Food Systems,” an update from the Agri-Food Task Force on SCP. The goal of the Agri-Food Task Force is to set the agenda in CSD for sustainable agriculture as well as focus efforts on promoting concrete programs for agriculture within the 10-year Framework on SCP. Although today we have enough food to “feed everyone easily, we still have a problem with it,” according to Ms. Aida Tunovic of the Netherlands Ministry of Environment and Infrastructure. Ms. Tunovic suggested we need to focus on cross-ministerial cooperation on projects (including ministries of health), make sustainable agriculture a top priority of governments (as have some European countries), and reflect the true cost of food in the price. Mr. Luis Flores, a representative from Consumers International, also pointed out that many parts of the food system are currently not part of regulatory framework, notably street markets, although they play an important role in employment and consumption.

More updates soon to come!

Sam and Sagar

"Green Economy and Poverty Reduction"

Tuesday, 10 May 2011 19:29

Friday’s side event, “Vision for Rio+20: Global Consensus for System Change towards Green Economy and Poverty Reduction,” discussed Green Economy, one of two themes for next year’s CSD. The speaker was Rae Kwon Chung, Division Chief of the Environment and Development Division United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

Mr. Chung contrasted the current “Brown Economy,” in which we do not pay for ecosystem services, with the vision for a “Green Economy.” He argues the Brown Economy cannot continue because it leads to global climate change and higher oil and food prices. These outcomes have a disproportionate effect on the poor; resolving these problems creates a win-win synergy between poverty reduction and the Green Economy. In spite of this, many less developed countries resist sustainable development as conditions on their development rather than embrace it as a method to reduce vulnerabilities for the poor.

“Roadmap for Green Growth” is an upcoming UNESCAP report outlining how to transition toward a Green Economy. Mr. Chung shared the five main points of the report: shifting emphasis from quantity to quality of economic growth; internalizing ecosystem services in market prices; investing in sustainable infrastructure; greening the economy through tax reform; and creating incentives for low carbon economies. Such initiatives could close the Green Economy “price gap” by internalizing the costs of environmental externalities and the “time gap” for achieving “green growth” by investing in the Green Economy today, but perhaps the most pertinent question for Rio+20 is how to close the political gap preventing governments from adopting these policies in the first place. Mr. Chung said the UNESCAP report contains case studies of countries shifting to a Green Economy; such concrete examples of success may be a first step in closing the political gap.

Delegates Promote Education and Sustainable Consumption and Production

Friday, 06 May 2011 01:48 | Written by Claire Wandro

Hi IAAS Friends! IAAS-ISU representatives are having a great time at the CSD-19 learning a lot and making new partnerships with groups from around the world. Interesting meetings attended by members in the past few days included a side event called “Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP): Educating, Engaging, and Empowering Stakeholders for Low Carbon, Inclusive Growth” sponsored by the UNU-IAS and IACDESD. Speakers Fabienne-Pierre of UNEP, Stephanie Hodge from UNICEF and Marc Richmond from UNESCO advocated for increased emphasis in SCP education among the world’s youth. According to Mr. Richmond, education systems are inherently conservative – resisting change. It is necessary to make major reforms in global thinking towards education in order to change the way young people think.

The European Union delegates sponsored another side session entitled “Presentation of the Global Outlook on Sustainable Consumption and Production Policies”. This session shared specifically on successful Thai, Mexican, and South African SCP programs and the recent trend in more ‘sustainable decisions’ in each country. Delegates specifically discussed project implementation by sharing current success stories as well as their future expectations of SCP programs in their respective countries. Some examples of SCP implementation provided by specific delegations were as simple as programs promoting recyclable batteries and longer lasting light bulbs. However, delegations rightly viewed these accomplishments like building blocks for creating a smooth transition towards a greener economy and to support of cleaner production centers, better education, increased market access, more tourism, and increased public participation in the solutions to these goals. Cheers to those countries supporting each other and themselves by making bold steps towards a sustainable future!

Last Updated (Friday, 06 May 2011 15:40)

“More Food, Safe Food, Save Food" and Sustainable Transport

Wednesday, 04 May 2011 20:51

Greetings from New York! The past few days have been filled with meeting sessions where IAAS representatives observed the editing of the Secretary’s working text. This working draft document encompasses all the thematic issues discussed at CSD-19. It is edited daily from the original, drafted from the workings of last year’s CSD-18. This means that the delegates from each country sit down together and propose deletions, additions, and changes to the working text that will ultimately published at the end of two weeks. The process is slow and tedious, but negotiations are always clear and respectful. It is interesting to see diplomacy at its best!

By unanimous decision, one of the many highlights of the meeting this far was a side event, “More Food, Safe Food, Save Food,” sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization. The panel discussion included four high-profile speakers including: Dr. Hans Herren of the Millennium Institute and IAASTD, Mr. Werner Matthias Dornscheidt of the Safe Food Initiative, Dr. Agnes Soares da Silva of the PanAmerican Health Organization, and Mr. Mark Davis of the the FAO Plant Production and Production Division. Speakers spoke on the importance of decreasing the use of pesticides and food waste in the global agriculture system and of increasing the use of Agro-ecological approaches to pest management, soil fertility, and human health

Another side event “Sustainable Transport Policies, Eco-Efficient Infrastructure and Green Economy in the Americas and Asia” was sponsored by the UN-ECLAC, Columbia University and UN-ESCAP. Speakers focused on the importance to recognize the different sizes of cities, to cater better infrastructures to different land demographics, and to build on work in this area that is already established. Creativity and innovation was also emphasized as well as the importance of research and involvement from both private and public sectors to develop cities that focus less on cars and focus more on cities that are people, bike, and public transportation friendly. Finally, speakers reminded us all to use the 3 R’s of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle rather than building more landfills. In other words, let’s create livable cities!

For more information about our CSD-19 experience and sustainable agricultural development, follow IAAS-ISU partner organization The Grow Blog.

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