Alliance INDIA for Rio+20

Dear Rukhsar Greetings from the Alliance Secretariat It is a pleasure to reach out to you through this letter and invite you to a national consultation on the Road to Rio+20 to be held in Delhi on 3rdNovember 2011. As you know, it has been nearly 20 years since the first Earth Summit held in Rio in 1992 under the aegis of the United Nations. It was the first conference of its kind setting the stage for many more world conferences on different issues. Since 1992, our generation has seen some massive changes sweeping across the world. Apart from the changes in global governance, it included emerging of new economies, World trade, 9/11, MDGs, climate crisis, and of course the most recent economic slowdown with wide implications on the socio-economic fabric of our societies. We have also seen a number of world conferences during the past 20 years. A lot of promises were made in these meetings; some have been honoured while a lot of these remain unfulfilled which requires consistent reminding and action on our part. In the run up to the Rio+20, major stakeholders all over the world are gearing up to meet and dwell upon global issues in a very comprehensive manner. A group of civil society organisations from different parts of India met on 29th October to brainstorm the possibilities and opportunities pertaining to Rio+20. In this meeting, a decision was taken to form a national alliance of key stakeholders which can not only take up the relevant issues with Government of India, but also engage with the whole preparatory process in other parts of the planet. The meeting also suggested a broad plan of action and decided to meet in a bigger consultation with more stakeholders. It is in this context that the national consultation on 3rd November is being organized. We understand that you have a keen interest and wide experience in the keys issues of sustainable development and poverty reduction; therefore, it would be great if you join the discussion, contribute your ideas and participate in future actions of the Alliance. The Venue of the meeting: Dy Chairmans Hall, Constitution Club, Vitthal Bhai House Rafi Marg New Delhi We plan to start the consultation at 02.00 pm and conclude by 06.00 followed by High Tea. It would be very helpful if you send us an early confirmation. For those friends coming from out of Delhi, suitable arrangement would be made for boarding and lodging. Hoping to meet you on 3rd November 2011

With regards

Narender Kumar IPAC

Jayesh Joshi VAAGDHARA

-----------------------------------------------Indraprastha public Affairs Centre - SDS 256 Nagina Lake Apartments Peeragarhi, New Delhi 110087 INDIA Ph: 91.11.25280065, 91.9810976416

UN Panel confirms Social Protection is key for sustainable development

Trade unions welcome the UN Social Protection Report presented this week to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon by former President of Chile and UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet, and ILO Director General Juan Somavia On sustainable development, the report "shows how social protection has helped to stabilize aggregate demand in times of crisis and to increase resilience against economic shocks, contributing to accelerate recovery and more inclusive and sustainable development paths". On the Social Protection Floor Initiative, the report highlights how it "represents an effective tool to accelerate the achievement of MDGs (Millennium Development Goals), helping to chart a more sustainable development path". As part of the ITUC demands for Rio+20, trade unions demand the recognition in Rio of social protection systems as key tools to build resilience and call for the maintaining and strengthening of existing social protection systems. Trade unions also demand heads of state to implement the Universal Social Protection Floor initiative by 2020.

Delhi Ministerial Dialogue, Green Economy and Inclusive Growth

3-4 October 2011, New Delhi, India - Over 150 participants, including 24 ministers (14 from developing countries) and 12 eminent experts attended the Delhi Ministerial Dialogue on Green Economy and Inclusive Growth, the previous week. The meeting, organized by the Rio+20 Secretariat and India's Ministry of Environment and Forests, focused on creating green economies in the context of poverty eradication, sustainable development and inclusive growth in developing countries. [Read more]

The SDGs: What Are They?

If Rio+20 aims to secure renewed political commitment to sustainable development, then we need concrete ways of grounding that commitment on the agenda of Member States, say the Governments of Colombia and Guatemala

in a proposalthat aims broadly to commit stakeholders to achieving a sequence of targets for sustainable developmentsimilar to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)known as the Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs) that would be tied to accelerating the implementation of Agenda 21. The proposal insists that SDGs and MDGs be fully complimentary. However, while the MDGs applied only to developing countries, SDGs would have universal application. A global movement of NGOs also believes that sustainable development must be achieved in an ambitious, time-bound and accountable manner. A team of experts from 25 civil society organizations presented a set of 17 draft SDGs as part of the Chair's Text to the 64th DPI/NGO Conference on Sustainable Societies, Responsive Citizens in Bonn, which aims to inform the Rio+20 process. Those NGOs in Bonn highlight the necessity of achieving the full implementation of Agenda 21, and see SDGs as a plan for all governments to do that within their respective capacities. Will major groups come to more broadly embrace the SDGs as a way forward? Some of the SDGs suggested are based on commitments already made by governments and other stakeholders, others are newly proposed by civil society, and much remains to be articulated. All nine major groups sectors have affirmed their desire to renew multi-stakeholder dialogues with Member States and UN system partners to explore initiatives such as the SDGs throughout the Rio+20 process.

Youth Harmonize Strategies for Rio+20

Sometimes called the moral stakeholders of sustainable development, youth undoubtedly stand to lose the most as a consequence of global inaction. But influencing negotiations from a position of inexperience requires strategy and willingness to compete for the attention of young people in order to captivate and mobilize their inputs for Rio+20. Such is the challenge of the major group for Children and Youth, which produced its first unified strategy for Rio+20 under the auspices of the European Youth Forum, held from 21 to 25 September at the University on Youth and Development in Mollina, Spain. Featured prominently in Mollina was the theme of youth volunteerism, similarly reflected at the DPI/NGO Conference in Bonn just several weeks prior where the 10th anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers was recognized as a main theme alongside sustainable development. Most partners and advocates from the major group for Children and Youth are themselves volunteers, and balance the work of coordinating the major group with demanding professional lives. More information on the official steering committee for Rio+20 can be found online here.

Major Groups Scale-up Their Initiatives

Often the most compelling strengths of major groups are shared through their experiences of implementing sustainable development around the world. That is why many are working to scale-up their initiatives to present to Member States in Rio de Janeiro next year. The major group for Local Authorities has proposed a global town hall at Rio+20 in order to convene a central dialogue on green urban economies and the urban future of our planet. The major group for Farmers is exploring the opportunity for Rio+20 to build a knowledge base for agriculture, improve education for the rural poor and enhance the dialogue between food production, income, stewardship and quality of life. Major groups have traditionally been important innovators, partners and implementers alongside governments and UN agencies. All global stakeholders should bring their initiatives forward now in order to explore effective partnerships and build linkages so that their messages will resonate at the highest political level next year. More information on major groups initiatives and activities can be found online here.

CIVICUS Gets Behind Rio+20

Effective and sustainable civic participation requires citizens who enjoy rights of free association and engage all sectors of society, says CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, which recently became a global co-organizing partner on behalf of the major group for Nongovernmental Organizations. The arrival of CIVICUS onto the diverse scene of major groups organizing partners promises to deliver more engagement with stakeholders from the global South and contribute toward articulating the social pillar of sustainable development. The Brussels-based Northern Alliance for Sustainability (ANPED) has performed crucial coordination functions for major groups within sustainable development processes for years, and is pleased to welcome CIVICUS as a co-organizing partner for the NGOs sector in the run-up to Rio+20. The 10th CIVICUS World Assembly, attended by more than 800 delegates of various social movements, converged around the theme of sustainable, inclusive development based on human rights, and was held in Montreal from 10-12 September. The themes of Rio+20 featured prominently on the agenda and within the break-out sessions that took place between key facilitators from within the global NGO community. Non-governmental Organizations is recognized as one of the nine sectors of social, economic and scientific stakeholders empowered by Agenda 21, which

has enabled unprecedented standards of non-state participation within major intergovernmental processes related to sustainable development.

We Want You...
...To share your views on the nexus between water, energy and food security! The major group for Women will be conducting an online survey until 15 October as part of a global consultation process feeding into Rio+20 discussions.Participate today!

Don't Miss Training!

The Rio+20 Secretariat, in partnership with the UN Regional Economic Commissions and Stakeholder Forum, are offering the following opportunities for regional major groups and other stakeholder partners to receive one day of training to enhance awareness of the themes of sustainable development and build capacity to engage with the Rio+20 process.

15 October in Cairo, Egypt 16 October in Seoul, Republic of Korea 19 October in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 30 November in Geneva, Switzerland

Contact us for more information