Rio+20 conference concludes

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) concluded on Friday by issuing a document entitled "The Future We Want", agreed on by Member States. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said the text of the Document is "ambitious," though no fund to finance sustainable projects in emerging countries was created, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was not made into an agency nor were the sustainable development targets set. The outcome document sets forth that the main goal of the participating delegations in Rio+20 must be a commitment to end poverty, for they believe a poverty-free society must be the starting point from which to achieve sustainable development. The key elements of the text are the empowerment of women and the establishing of a high-level United Nations forum to monitor the implementation of the three dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental. However, the targets to be pursued by the countries in this respect have not been defined. The outcome document is generic in its addressing of how to go about implementing sustainable development. This was one of the reasons that brought negotiations for the document to a standstill, because crisis-ridden wealthy countries were not willing to commit to financing methods and targets. The conferring delegations failed to establish the US$ 30 billion fund for sustainable projects in emerging countries, which the G77 developing country group was pushing for, as well as the attempt to remove the principle that developed nations must make greater concessions for sustainable development than emerging ones. Prior to the closing ceremony, the Brazilian president said that the outcome document results from a "feasible" consensus and that it is not an end, but rather the beginning of the whole process and that the nations must progress from now on adding that the next conference needs to take a step forward. In her closing address, she said Rio+20 was not a step backwards from the Rio Earth Summit 1992, held in the city 20 years ago, or from the United Nations’ other sustainable development conferences. Brazil committed to donate USD 6 million for sustainable development projects in emerging countries, and another USD 10 million to address climate change in poor African countries. According to Brazilian News Agency (Agencia Brasil), another voluntary commitment taken on by the country, is to include sustainability into the basic curricula of universities starting in 2013. Similar to Rousseff, Ki-Moon claimed that now that the document is ready, the actual work for sustainable development will start. "This is only the beginning," he declared. Bolivia, Ecuador, Canada, the Vatican State, the United States, and Iceland all expressed reservations concerning the outcome document, and the European Union stated that the document did not move forward in all aspects and at the desired speed, although it agrees with the consensus reached in it. From its start on June 13, Rio+20 was marked by demonstrations from civil society representatives, especially environmentalist non-government organizations. The outcome document was assessed as "weak" and considered disappointing by the delegations as well, especially those from poor and emerging countries.