The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development released the zero draft document that will form the basis of negotiations for Rio+20 negotiations starting this June in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. The document serves as an initial outline for the discussions at the 20th anniversary of the first Rio Convention held in 1992. Overall, this zero draft both acknowledges a lot has happened in the last 20 years in globle and environmental development and that there's still a lot to be done.
The document, though in it's skeletal draft form, has been met with optimism, and perhaps rightly so. The zero draft is quite comprensive in it's approach to development. A few things we noticed in the document give promise that the negotiations will be forward thinking. In particular, the zero draft acknowledges the rise of technology that will help service develivery and contribute to poverty eradication programs.
Additionally there is a lot said about "green" as the basis of "sustainable development." This is quite significant becasue it points to a shift in perspective. This year's zero draft document embraces integrated means of solving the world's poverty problem from an inclusive perspective. Of particular interest to us is the paragraph that emphasizes the fact the everyone has a role to play in sustainable development.
During our campaign run towards Durban last year, we explored the need for a change in behaviour as being critical to tackling climate change. Here, the zero draft document goes further by calling on everyone, from indigenous people to civil society organizations and local authorities "to play a meaningful role at all levels." The document states that this is made much easier due to improved access to information. By calling on improvements in the rights of people to access information, the zero draft is attempting to legimize the role of ICT in sustainable development. ICTs in this case, serving as the conduit for sustainable development communications.
From our perspective, climate change communication and participation is most certainly made easier when technology is employed. We'll certainly be using a lot more digital and social media tools to continue looking at the critical climate change components within the draft document. Rio is just around the corner and there's going to be a lot to discuss. This time, the convention isn't simply focused on climate change, rather, climate change is part of a larger push for sustainable, green, inclusive, development from a global perspective.
