Mountains
in the
‘Zero
Draft of the outcome document of Rio+20’
- Tek Jung
Mahat
I have been closely observing
preparations of one of the most awaited conference of this decade, the United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) also known as Rio 2012 or
Rio+20 or Earth Summit 2012, hosted by Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, as a 20-year
follow-up to the historic 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED) that was held in the same city. Organised by the United
Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), this conference is
talk of the town ever since decision to hold the conference was made by UN
General Assembly Resolution A/RES/64/236 on 24 December 2009. There are many
high hopes associated with Rio 2012 as it is expected to redefine sustainable
development options and strategies based on review of what has been achieved
over last two decades, critical analysis of the new challenges evolved since
then (including climate change, biodiversity crisis, social exclusion and
disparity etc.) and consider also alternatives for Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), that expire in 2015. In short, Rio 2012 is seen as a big thinking and a
re-shaping of current processes.
Looking back and connecting the dots (Rio 1992 to Rio 2012):
There are some obvious expectations
from Rio 2012 as Rio 1992 was a huge success with participation of 172 states,
with 108 sending their heads of state or government; some 2,400 representatives
of NGOs and other 17,000 people at the parallel NGO Global Forum, that
opened for signature three important legally binding agreements (UNFCCC and CBD
in 1992 and UNCCD in 1994); issued Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development and Forest Principles; and adopted Agenda 21 - a global plan
of action, to ensure sustainable development through integration of environment
and development issues and reflects a global consensus and political commitment
at the highest level on development and environment cooperation. This important
conference recognised for the first time significant place of mountains in
environmental discourses (at the highest level) and that was formally included
in the outcome document as a separate chapter ‘Managing fragile ecosystems:
sustainable mountain development - SMD’ (Chapter 13, Agenda 21). This had
cascading effects in mountain development communities over next decade that led
to birth of Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion (InfoAndina) in
1992, Asia Pacific Mountain Network (APMN) in 1995, Euromontana in 1995,
Mountain Forum in 1996, European Mountain Forum in 1998, Mountain Research
Initiative (MRI) in 2001 among others, through several regional and global
consultations. This also enhanced, increased values and made visible works of
other existing organisations like International Centre for Integrated Mountain
Development (ICIMOD), African Mountain Association (AMA), Andean Mountain
Association (AMA), International Commission for the Protection of the Alps
(CIPRA) and The Mountain Institute (TMI). Similarly UNCED follow-up discussions
provided fertile ground to celebrate International Year of Mountains (2002) and
Bishkek Global Mountain Summit (2002), and preparation of Bali Document (2002)
that opened way to establish International Partnership for Sustainable
Development in Mountain Regions, a.k.a. Mountain Partnership (MP) in 2002 as
the Type 2, non-negotiated outcome of the WSSD. These arrangements and
processes as well as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report
‘Ecosystems and Human Well-being’ and IPCC AR4 have taken mountains at next
level of global debate, which will have to form concrete frame at Rio 2012 to
maintain its legacy and tap new opportunities the year 2012 will start offering
soon.
Preparing Mountains for Rio 2012 (April-October 2011):
There are several institutions around
the globe who are found to be advocating Mountain Agenda in the context of Rio
2012 ranging from ‘States’ to ‘Intergovernmental Organisations’, ‘NGO/CBOs’ to
‘Major Groups’ like ‘Youth’, ‘Women’, ‘Farmers’, ‘Indigenous Peoples’ and
‘Scientific and Technical Community’. On the top of this list are the members
and supporters of the Mountain Partnership Consortium (MPC), that include
countries in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas, Andes and Alps, Carpathian, Caucasus,
Balkan etc. and development agencies like Austrian Development Cooperation
(ADA), Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), Consorcio para el
Desarrollo Sostenible de la Ecorregión Andina (CONDESAN), Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO), ICIMOD, International Mountain Society (IMS), Mountain
Partnership Secretariat (MPS), MRI, Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Swiss
Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), University of Central Asia (UCA) and Zoï Environment Network (ZOI). Following are few important
events/arrangements implemented prior to 1 November 2011 – official deadline to
provide input to Zero Draft of Rio 2012.
|
Dates
|
Events
|
Organised
by
|
Key
outputs
|
|
April’11
|
E-conference on SMD in HKH
|
ICIMOD
|
Synthesis report and draft HKH
Assessment Report
|
|
May’11
|
Virtual Consultation on SMD in
South and Central Asia (Youth Perspective)
|
ICIMOD/APMN
|
Synthesis report
|
|
June ‘11
|
E-conference on SMD in South East
Asia and Pacific (SEA-P)
|
ICIMOD
|
Synthesis report and draft SEA-P
Assessment Report
|
|
Aug ‘11
|
Asia Pacific Youth Meeting on
Rio+20 (AP Youth Forum) 2011
|
ICIMOD/APMN
|
- Asia Pacific Youth Declaration on
Climate Change and Sustainable Development
- Asia Pacific Youth Position paper
on Rio+20
|
|
Aug ‘11
|
Regional Sharing Workshop on
Assessment of Challenges and Opportunities in the Asia Pacific region for Rio
+20
|
ICIMOD
|
Finalization of structure and
contents of Regional Assessment Reports on Rio+20 in HKH and SEA-P.
|
|
Sept’11
|
International Conference on Green
Economy and SMD
|
ICIMOD & UNEP
|
Green Economy and Sustainable
Mountain Development: Kathmandu Declaration
|
|
Oct’11
|
Lucerne World Mountain Conference
|
MPC & SDC
|
- Mountains for the World: Call for
Action
- Presentation and discussion on
SMD Assessment Reports in Andes, Central Asia, Africa, Eastern and
South-Eastern Europe, HKH, Middle East and North Africa, Mesoamerica, SEAP
and Alps
- Presentation and discussion on
global SMD reports on Green Economy and Institutional Framework
|
As a result of above activities and
number of others, mountains received enormous response when it comes to
submissions made to the UNCSD Secretariat. Of total 677 submissions uploaded on
UNCSD website 49 submissions were made in favour of Mountain Agenda. Submitters
included countries like Bhutan, Nepal, Serbia, Spain-Terual and Switzerland;
intergovernmental organisations like ICIMOD and FAO/MPS, youth groups, green
coalitions, academia, and research institutions.
Establishing linkages between climate
change (UNFCCC process) and Rio 2012 (November-December
2011):
Last two months of 2011 were
particularly important in linking global climate change debate with Rio+20
process in every sector, and mountains were not an exception.
Bhutan Climate Summit for a Living
Himalaya was successfully convened in Thimphu in November 2011 with the aim of
promoting technical cooperation among four participating countries –
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indian and Nepal. Apart from developing and agreeing a road
map for adapting climate change in the Himalayas, the event was also useful in
furthering debate on Green Economy in the region.
Organised by ICIMOD, World Bank,
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and other MPC
members, first ever Mountain Day at UNFCCC COP17 on 4 December 2011 didn’t only
broke scientific understanding about climate change in the Himalayas but it
also convened higher level policy debate on SMD in the context of climate
change and Rio 2012 in presence of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) Chair, Environment Ministers from Bhutan, Costa Rica and Nepal, and
several other senior bureaucrats/policy makers, development agency
representatives, scientists interested on mountain climate change. The event
formally concluded adopting a ‘Call for Action to Protect Mountain Ecosystems
and People’, that establishes strong connections between Climate change and Rio
2012 and urges global community to work together to ensure mountain
sustainability and make best use of Rio 2012 process to benefit mountains and
people.
Organised by FAO/MPS, UNEP and the
Missions of Italy and Switzerland to the UN, the Mountain Focus Group convened
in New York on 14 December 2011 sought to forge a common understanding on including
mountain development in Rio 2012. The meeting focused on the outcomes from the
Lucerne World Mountain Conference and its potential input to the UNCSD, the
latest developments in the UNCSD preparatory process and ensuring the proper
inclusion of mountain issues, and the role of the MPS leading up to the UNCSD
in June 2012. Topics addressed included the need to communicate both the
challenges and benefits of mountains, approaches for outreach on mountain
issues, potential partnerships, and the sustainable development of mountains as
a cross-cutting issue.
Rio+20 Zero Draft Agenda presented -
MOUNTAINS find a separate paragraph in the main text (January 2012):
The much anticipated Rio+20 Zero
Draft Agenda was made available to the public on 10 January 2012. Entitled as
‘The Future We Want’, the 19-pages long draft is broadly organised under five
sections - Preamble/Stage setting; Renewing Political Commitment; Green Economy
in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication;
Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development; and Framework for action
and follow-up. The report is further organised with respect to different
themes, issues, groups and approaches which are presented in total 128
paragraphs. Interestingly, MOUNTAINS find a separate paragraph (94), which
appears as below:
“We recognize that mountains are
highly vulnerable to global changes such as climate change, and are often home
to communities including of indigenous peoples, who have developed sustainable
uses of their resources yet are often marginalized, sometimes with high poverty
rates, exposure to natural risks and food insecurity. We recognize the benefits
derived from mountains and their associated ecosystems. We also recognize the
need to explore global, regional, national, and local mechanisms to compensate
and reward mountain communities for the services they provide through ecosystem
protection.”
However the most important thing to
ponder at this point is - Is the statement above realistically presents beauty,
richness, challenges and opportunities Mountains truly deserve? Is it enough to
renew political interest and commitment of mountainous (and non-mountainous)
countries and other development communities? If not, what are the next steps?
Next steps...
It is quite clear that mountains will
need much more attention going far beyond climate change and ecosystem services
and that is possible only through making significant contributions in the
upcoming meetings in the Rio 2012 process (Initial discussions on the zero
draft of outcome document – finalisation of the ‘Zero draft of the outcome
document’, 25-27 January; 3rd Intersessional Meeting of UNCSD, 26-27 Mar; First
round of 'informal-informal' negotiations on the zero draft of outcome
document, 19-23 March; 3rd Preparatory Committee Meeting UNCSD, 13-15 June and
the main UNCSD Conference, 20-22 June 2012), which again needs to be sought
through partnerships among mountainous countries, think-tank institutions,
relevant major groups and other stakeholders. For the success of securing
better position of mountains it would be critical to influence countries and
other stakeholders through various means, including development and
dissemination of ‘Policy Briefs’, ‘Call for Actions’, ‘Appeals for Mountains’;
meetings of knowledge providers and mountain advocacy groups with the
countries; and sensitizing the Rio 2012 delegates and give agreed talking
points to country, IGO and Major Group representatives through organisation
Side events on ‘Highlighting the Critical Role of Mountain Ecosystems’ in the
context of Rio 2012 at 3rd Intersessional Meeting in March in NY, 3rd PreCom
meeting in June in Rio and at the main Rio 2012 Conference. In between these
processes it might equally be useful to have a dedicated session to development
on Rio+20 priorities at the Ministerial Meeting of Mountainous Countries
planned by the Government of Nepal in April 2012.
-----------------------
Disclaimer
-----------------------
Information provided in this article is
taken from various websites and publications and wherever possible the source
is quoted. These are personal views of the author and do not represent
views of institutions he is affiliated to.
About the Author: Tek Jung Mahat is an Environmental Science graduate from the Tribhuvan
University, Nepal. He is working on issues related to environment,
sustainability and climate change in Asia for many years. He was one of
facilitators of Nepal’s Mountain Initiative, Bhutan Summit preparation,
Mountain Day at COP17 and Rio+20 preparations in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas and
South East Asia Region. In the capacity of APMN Manager, he managed MF
activities and facilitated MP initiatives in the Asia Pacific region from
2007-2011. Currently he leads Asia Pacific Youth on Rio +20 (Earth Summit
2012); Youth for Sustainable Mountain Development (Y4SMD) and Media engagement
in SMD (M4SMD) initiatives. He pioneered e-dialogues and e-networking among
environment professionals in Nepal by establishing the Environment Professionals Group in 2005 and
established Climate Himalaya Initiative - an independent, informal,
and informative network of climate change professionals in the Himalayas in
2007. Furthermore he runs a blog Realising CHANGE aiming
to inform and empower early and midcareer professionals working on
sustainability issues.)
Citation: Mahat, T. J. (2012) Mountains in ‘Zero Draft of the outcome document
of Rio+20’. Blog entry on Realising CHANGE. Available at
http://realisingchange.blogspot.com/2012/01/mountains-in-zero-draft-of-outcome.html
