Regional sharing workshop on
Assessment of challenges and opportunities in the Asia Pacific region for Rio +20
Re-visioning Sustainable Mountain Development through Rio+20 by bringing local, national and regional perspectives and experiences to inform and inspire Global Agenda
ICIMOD Headquarters, Kathmandu, 23-25 August 2011
Background
After 20 years of United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992 - also popular as Rio conference or the Earth Summit - the world development community is convening for another important global gathering of leaders - the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) from 4-6 June, 2012,for the popularly called Rio+20 meeting. The Rio +20 in Rio de Janeiro is expected to do a serious stock taking of the progress made, experiences gained, commitments that remain unfulfilled in implementing various programmes and initiatives since the Rio 1992 agreements focusing on lessons learned and opportunities that will help develop future roadmap to ensure that human civilization is preserved and human beings learn to live in harmony with nature and with each other recognizing the finiteness of earth’s resources and carrying capacity as well as adapting to the changes that are happening around us.
Despite the fact Rio meeting through inclusion of Chapter 13 in its Agenda 21, formally recognised significance of sustainable mountain development in environment and sustainability debate, there is increased realisation that much less is achieved in this area and the Rio+20 meeting offers another opportunity to think differently and effectively. To address these issues Mountain Partnership Consortium (MPC) members together with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Swiss Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE) are developing a ‘State-of-art Review report on: SMD Challenges and Opportunities in Mountains’ and Global Policy Briefs which will be shared with the participants of the Rio+20 conferences. For this purpose, selected MPC members working in different regions are tasked to develop regional assessment reports which will be presented at the ‘Global Conference on Sustainable Mountain Development: Challenges and Opportunities for Rio+20’ as the basis for development of above mentioned global reports and briefs.
Rio +20 preparation in HKH and Asia Pacific region
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development - ICIMOD, as a member of the global Mountain Partnership Consortium (MPC), has been assigned to prepare a Regional Assessment Report on sustainable mountain development (SMD) in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan and the Asia Pacific: (i) To take stock of what has, and what has not, been achieved in promoting sustainable mountain development since 1992 in different parts of the region, (ii) To learn what has worked and what has not -- and why?, (iii) To identify current and future challenges and to explore pathways and opportunities on how these can be addressed in the context of the HKH mountains, and (iv) To identify the role of different stakeholders and to propose a ’plan of work’ towards the preparation of a draft regional report by September 2011.
Process and progress
Work in the Asia Pacific region commenced and coordinated by ICIMOD together with partner organisations and individual experts. A MPC meeting in February 2011 defined the structure of global and regional assessment reports. Following to preparation of guiding documents and inputs received from MPC, ICIMOD together with the partners organised virtual debates (three email and web based discussions) on Rio +20 in HKH[1], South and Central Asia[2], and Southeast Asia[3] that were warmly welcomed by SMD communities across the region with exceptionally high number of participants and overwhelming valuable contributions. Similarly experts were identified from the Asia-Pacific region to prepare case studies on relevant themes[4], seeing the progress made in last couple of decades and developing way forward. The gathered inputs will be further synthesized and discussed, and refined during the ‘Regional sharing workshop on ‘Regional Sharing Workshop on Assessment of Challenges and Opportunities in the Asia Pacific region for Rio +20’, 23-25 August 2011. The workshop will be attended by over 40 experts the Asia Pacific region, including the experts assigned to draft case studies, active contributors of the virtual debates, representatives of major groups and government authorities.
Purpose of the workshop
The workshop is aimed:
- To discuss further on case studies, virtual debate syntheses and draft regional report prepared for the workshop;
- To identify good practices, missing links etc., prioritize environmental issues in the region, and collect and consolidate issue specific suggestions;
- To finalise issues to be included in the regional assessment report and its shape; and in general
- To facilitate SMD relevant information and knowledge sharing in the region and promote regional cooperation by strengthening networking among relevant stakeholders in the wider Asia Pacific region
Expected Outputs and outcomes of the Workshop
- Updated information and knowledge on SMD in the context of Rio +20 is widely shared, extensively discussed and validated, including the facts, figures and regional priorities to include in the regional report.
- Vertically integrated or people-centric views and perspectives gathered and discussed to improve the case studies and draft regional report outlines and policy recommendations to be included in the final regional assessment report.
- Discussion on various dimensions of the SMD or Mountain Agenda in the context of current changes and making the Rio +20 preparation process aware of the key messages from the Asia Pacific region.
For further information
· Dr. Madhav Karki, Deputy Director General, ICIMOD & Team leader, Regional Assessment for Rio+20 in HKH and Asia Pacific Mountain region (a Mountain Partnership Consortium (MPC) global initiative)
· Mr. Tek Jung Mahat, APMN Node Manager, ICIMOD
[1] E-discussion on Sustainable Mountain Development in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region: From Rio 1992 to Rio+20, 2012 and beyond’, 4-24 April 2011 (http://www.icimod.org/?q=3193) attracted over 200 contributions from 296 registered users representing over 20 countries in Asia, Europe, North and Latin America.
[2] South and Central Asia regional virtual consultation on youth perspectives on Rio +20’, 9-29 May 2011 (http://www.icimod.org/?q=3374), was attended by 550 participants from 38 countries, who made 400 contributions in total.
[3] e-conference on Sustainable Mountain Development in the Southeast Asia, June 1-30, 2011 (http://dgroups.org/groups/Rioplus20inSEA) is attended by more than 160 participants from 20 countries, largely from Southeast and South Asia
[4] Instituional/Governance model of SD or even NRM, Community/Van Panchayat Forestry, Organic Production, Biodiversity conservaiton/MAPs/NTFPs, Biogas, Waterhsed management as CDM, Microhydro as the CDM, CBNRM/NR Management Groups in the Northeast India ( as an answer to Shifting cultivation) etc.
