Road to Rio+20: Mobilizing Asia Pacific Youth for Promoting Sustainable Mountain Development

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1 Road to Rio+20: Mobilizing Asia Pacific Youth for Promoting Sustainable Mountain Development Madhav Karki, PhD Deputy Director General International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development Kathmandu, Nepal

2 Rio+20 Summit/UNCSD: Background The UN Conference Sustainable Development (UNCSD) takes place in June 4-6, 2012 in Rio, Brazil; We have the backdrop of new and emerging challenges - climate threats, the economic and food crisis; social and political unrest; shrinking development space; and slow progress on past commitments; Mountain countries face new vulnerabilities and threats to their natural resources and small island states are worried about their very survival;

3 Global challenges to 3 pillars of SD: Environment

4 Global challenges: Development

5 Global challenges: Social and Gender equity

6 The goal of the summit To take stock, 20 years after the historic United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, or the Rio Earth Summit), of the progress made and enhance political and financial commitments. To promote what works, adopt concrete goals and targets, and lay a foundation for a future of prosperity, peace, and sustainability in the world

7 Summit objectives The objectives of the Summit are: a) to secure renewed political commitment to sustainable development; b) to assess progress towards internationally agreed goals on sustainable development and to address new and emerging challenges.

8 The major themes of the Rio+20 A green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; and Institutional framework for sustainable development.

9 Context for Rio+20 debate Climate and socioeconomic changes are posing multiple threats to human well being; The poor suffer most from Climate Change - and will suffer more: If we do not reduce dangerous climate change impacts, the consequences will be more severe and widespread. The cost of inaction will be more and devastating; there are many no-regret action that should be taken now; Climate change is posing a serious threat to our ability to meet the MDGs; as an immense threat to Human Rights: Asia Pacific region s priority is adaptation but Mitigation with Adaptation co-benefits needs to be promoted as well.

10 Role of Asia Pacific Youth in Rio+20 Agenda 21 recognized out the impact that the effort and imagine categories of civil society organizations, called Major Groups to contribute to and participate in the UN meetings on sustainable development; Women, Children and Youth are one of them; Youth can provide inspirational stories of successful initiatives in your areas, say to combat climate change;. Powerful stories how imagination of young people is making a differenced on critical world issues; The defining challenges of our generation are: climate change, degradation of ecosystems, unsustainable production and consumption system and growing difference between rich and poor; urban and rural, upstream and downstream people; Your critical inputs can shape the debate.

11 Green Economy and Youth Many views on what Green Economy means; No unified view of what represents a green economy. We need to identify developing/mountain country contexts for sustainable development and identify specific approaches. Need for new global policies and finance to support the outcomes of poverty reduction and sustainable development both The key outcome you may want is a youthfriendly green and fair economy; poor young people are often being hit the hardest by the ecological, social and economic crises, They need green and decent jobs the most.

12 Green Economy: key questions How can the lives of the millions of poor and vulnerable people be made better through the skills of young people like you? What can you all learn from the old development paradigms and what aspects of Green Economy would be appealing to you?

13 Green Economy: challenges Many different approaches to facilitate green economy already ongoing; What lessons can be learnt from these experiences from different countries in the region? The concept is new and its promotion and transition towards need capacity development in education, research, advocacy and policy arena; Policy reforms are necessary to provide necessary incentives especially developing and LDCs, Regional approaches are needed in promoting Green markets as well as addressing the challenges of poverty, biodiversity loss, climate change and globalization.

14 Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD): Objectives To achieve " the overall integration of environment and development issues at national, sub-regional, regional and international levels, including in the UN systems To identify the actors at all levels and set out the functions of the institutions

15 Key issues in IFSD Lack of coherence, coordination and monitoring of progress at all levels Need to avoid overlap and duplication of activities of international organizations and enhance participation Strengthen capacities for sustainable development at all levels Strengthen international cooperation for Implementation of Agenda 21 Implement outcomes of other Summits/Conventions bringing in synergy.

16 IFSD: Role for Youth Identify ways to: a) strengthen existing institutions; b) improve coordination among the existing institutions; c) Improve their functions through consolidation, merging and change management; d) Improve capacity and leadership; e) Develop consensus on broader reforms; f) Collect stakeholders view and feed into the global process.

17 IFSD challenges Lack of implementation of SD policies Weak national setup & lack of mainstreaming Lack of capacity and capacity building Lack of coordination & integration Lack of accountability Are these the right functions to achieve Sustainable Development?

18 How you can participate You can respond to the call for inputs by 1 st November, or send your views directly to the Secretariat at uncsd2012@un.org. National delegations, major groups and UN system entities can contribute their views directly through the website. The UNCSD website provides the latest news, information and documentation related to the Conference.

19 Partnership is the key to make a difference A major innovation in sustainable development is the idea of voluntary multi-stakeholder partnerships. Partnerships can undertake implementation activities, and complement government action or intergovernmental commitments. Rio+20 is expected to promote many more such partnerships. So while you take stock, promote what works, adopt concrete goals and targets for your partnerships, Youth should form partnership with farmers, women s groups to build our future of prosperity, peace, and sustainability.

20 ICIMOD-led activities in the region ICIMOD has initiated two activities to prepare for Rio+20: Asia Pacific Regional Assessment of the Progress on and Opportunities for Rio+20; A sharing workshop in August Organization of the International Conference on Green Economy; September 5-7, 2011 Presentation of the outputs of both in the Global Mountain Conference, Lucerne; Oct , 2011;

21 ICIMOD s Small Green Initiative: Promotion of Herbal Gardens in Schools of Kathmandu Valley International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development Kathmandu, Nepal

22 Recipe competition at ICIMOD

23 Visit to ICIMOD s Demonstration and Training Centre at Godavari

24 Profile writing competition

25 The herbal gardens

26 Key messages Asia Pacific Youth have a significant role to play in making the Rio+20 a success; Youth should contribute to the global debate on combating the negative impacts of climate change, globalization, and high food and energy costs to our poor communities; The topic of green economy and good environmental governance are also good fields to explore your career prospects. However, partnership, learning, sharing and collective actions will be key for your success.

27 Thank you