Rio+20: 3rd Preparatory Meeting

Impressive G77 representative - Mr. Bangladesh spoke in 3rd Preparatory Meeting - SDGs.

The United Nations General Assembly launched a preparatory process for the Conference on sustainable development (UNCSD) in Rio, Brazil for June 2012 through resolution 64/236 on 29th December 2009. The three objectives of the Conference that took place in a particularly tense economic and social context are to:

- Secure renewed political commitment for sustainable development,

- Assess the progress to date and the remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits on sustainable development, and 

- Address new and emerging challenges

Two main themes were identified to achieve them:

- The green economy in a context of sustainable development and poverty eradication

- The institutional framework for sustainable development

The General Secretary of the United Nations, Bn Ki-Moon, nominated Mr. Sha Zukang of China as General Secretary for the Conference. There were two sessions of Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) meeting took place in May 2010 and March 2011 respectively. The final PrepCom meeting, which was the one I attended, took place in Rio, just one week before the official Conference. 

In year 2012, a zero draft was published in January with the title 'The Future We Want' after a calling for proposals from Member States in order to draft a joint declaration that can be adopted at Rio. However, the presentation of the preparatory declaration document 'went slowly' as it was a complex, inaccessible process. There were disagreements arose during the review of amendment texts made by States, for example, the monologues between developed countries like United States and Canada versus developing countries like G77-China went on and on whereby each delegate stood firm in their respective position in a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Meeting. 

Supposedly the negotiation sessions should have been done earlier for the outcome text are as finalized as possible for the start of the official Rio conference, so that there would be little left to renegotiate at the Summit itself. Ideally, we expected at least 80% of the text approved before the Conference but we still observed that the progress went slow -- because the negotiators do not have the political mandate needed to make significant concessions, and therefore stand firm on their positions-- which made the whole progress lagged. Only if the representatives have more concise positions, they could make further progress. 

Madam Arsu, one of the eight Malaysian Official Delegates from Economy Planning Unit, told me that in one of the preparatory meetings. The principle of 'common but differentiated responsibility', in particular in relation to climate negotiations, for example, is much less prominent as it is highly controversial. The negotiation process, as I recalled, was highly intense. Bangladesh was the spokesperson for G77. In the context of Sustainable Development Goals which will replace Millenium Development Goals in 2015, he said that modernization is not something that we should follow but it's a life changing process. He wanted to ensure the 172 countries were not excluded from the decision made in the SDGs. He even fed-up with the incorporation of developed countries and requested all G77 'to go out of the hall now'. 

I was glad to be able to meet the Malaysian Official Delegation (They are from various departments, i.e. Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications, Economy Planning Unit and Prime Minister's Office). They were quite nice but due to Secretacy Act, they couldn't disclose much of their position to me though I've offered my help for them.

Also, I met one of the Rio+20 Fellow from the Adopt A Negotiator Project -- Chris Wright, a young Australian who's doing his study in Borneo. He was very active and energetic during the conference -- I saw him occasionally in one of those days. Since he was interested in following Malaysia's and Indonesia's negotiation, I introduced him to our Malaysian Delegation and talked about writing articles upon our meeting! 

It was a good opening to my journey in Rio+20 indeed.

It's very common for observers to sit on the ground  and listen to the negotiation process. Chris Wright from Adoptanegotiator.org is next to me.

Useful link:

www.adoptanegotiator.org

www.uncsd2012.org