Rio+20 is a United Nations Conference which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012. The Conference comes 20 years after the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, which also took place in Rio and 10 years after the World Summit on Sustainable Development, in South Africa. Rio+20 aims at bringing together major global decision groups in order to create a framework and renew political commitment for worldwide sustainable development.
During the Conference, the current development situation will be assessed; progress of the implementation of previous decisions will be monitored, new plans will be made in order to face the new challenges of the planet. The main focuses of the Conference will be (a) green economy and its connection to sustainable development and poverty eradication and (b) the institutional framework for sustainable development.[1]
Furthermore, Rio+20 brings forward seven critical issues which are deeply influenced by the current changes in the environment: jobs, energy, food, cities, water, oceans and disasters.
There is a general awareness regarding the worldwide high rates of unemplyment, the scarcity of food and water in various regions around the globe and the high incidence of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanos, floods, hurricanes. Many of them happen due to poor decisions that we have been taking in regard to the resources of the Earth.
Green economy and green jobs
According to the United Nations International Labour Organization, the world now has a deficit of 600 million jobs, which need to be created within the next decade, in order to support the population growth. At the end of November 2011 the global population has reached 7 billion people, and it is predicted that it will reach 9 billion by 2050. Furthermore, according to the „Global Employment Trends 2012: Preventing a deeper jobs crisis” of the ILO, there are currently 900 million workers who subsist on less than $2 a day, most of them in developing countries.[2] New and emerging challenges include the further intensification of earlier problems calling for more urgent responses. We are deeply concerned that around 1.4 billion people still live in extreme poverty and one sixth of the world’s population is undernourished, pandemics and epidemics are omnipresent threats.[3]
However, together with the need of an increase in number of jobs comes the need for that increase to be made in a sustainable manner, in order not to generate even more damage to the planet. Thus, the concept of green jobs was brought forward by development specialists. The concept of green job is an attempt to look for synergies in simultaneously addressing employment, energy and environment issues.[4]
Along with the green jobs comes an even broader perspective on the matter, representing one of the two focal points of the Rio+20 Conference, green economy.
The green economy refers to trade and general well-being of the individuals and companies, by also taking in consideration the environment and the possible effects on it. However,
[1] http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/about.html
[2] http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41018&Cr=unemployment&Cr1
[3] http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2012/jan/10/rio-earth-summit-agenda, United nations, Jan 10, 2012
[4] http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.php?page=view&type=400&nr=224&menu=45
various countries have expressed their worries regarding the possible damages that a transition towards a green economy could cause – decrease in exports, large amounts of money spent for sustainability in a a time of financial crisis, etc. Furthermore, companies and organizations worldwide see competiveness and environmental standards as two oposing forces. In short, the environment is the detail that is too expensive to be taken into consideration on the financial market, even though companies are aware that this detail can cause long-term problems. Germany and Japan are the two countries providing positive example, by having taken into consideration and including in their development strategies the environment. Their strategies are clear: innovate now and capture markets in the future. It should be stressed, however, that technological capacity is key to such success.[1]
In order to provide support to the local, regional, national, global economies, Rio+20 aims to create policy frameworks which would smooth the transition towards green. Besides worldwide implementation of these policies, other measures have been taken into consideration and will be debated within the Conference: a focus on domestic production, subsidies for the national agricultures; a broader use of renewable energies; a decrease in carbon emissions.
All of these aspects, as the world leaders will hopefully reach a common ground and framework for them, will need to be put in practice as soon as possible. If this happens, the concept of green jobs will become more familiar. Although there is no general definition for the term, green jobs refer to the employment positions which occur out of the „green” aspects of the economy. For example, if a new solar energy plant is built, the people who will get hired will have green jobs as they work in environmental issues. In response to the financial crisis, many large economies had adopted green stimulus packages by 2009. The „green” share in overall stimulus packages ranged from 3% in Japan and 81% in the Republic of Korea. Much of the stimulus was allocated to energy efficiency of buildings, railway networks, and power grids, with only a small share for renewable energy. The green stimuli are likely associated with the creation of about 4 million jobs.[2]
An important aspect regarding Rio+20 is that there will be various interest groups, each striving for their own well-being and, hopefully, all striving for the planet’s well-being. The major political groups which have confirmed their attendance at Rio+20 are: Group of 77 and China, EU and the member states, Pacific Islands Forum, Pacific Small Island Developing States and the Carribean Community. Other seemingly important groups, called the major groups are: Business and Industry, Children and Youth, Women, Workers and Trade Unions, Farmers and, lastly, Indigenous people. All of these groups, together with the United Nations and each of its member states (156), will provide input for the Rio+20.
The main focus areas which need to be developed, as the future of the planet is strongly linked to them, are: Manufacture, Fisheries, Agriculture, Cities, Forests, Energy and Tourism.[3] Basically, we need to go back to basics and to learn how to protect the heritage given by our planet. These represent the seven critical issues at Rio+20, for which frameworks will be developed.
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What can we do?
What can we do, as individuals, to support the drift towards a green economy? First of all, we need to get informed. After that, a series of actions can be taken, such as: asking for companies to be more nature-friendly, by providing constructive feedback and no longer accepting to buy their products. For instance, the Chief Executive Officer of one of Canada’s most competitive paper companies remarked that the pressures from his European customers have become so severe that he is now running his mills to European, rather than Canadian, standards.[5] Furthermore, we can choose to ride the bike over driving a car to work, we can recycle, close the water-tap while brushing our teeth, choose to take a quick shower instead of a bath. All of these little actions make us more nature-friendly and more connected to the needs of the planet. It is important to be aware of the realities the limits of our resources. Once we become aware of these issues, we can become proactive and volunteer for different ecological organisations (ex. Greenpeace is probably the most known, but there are many others), start awareness campaigns, create a website which could inform people about recycling or other important issues, hold classes and workshops in schools and kindergardens regarding the limited resources and ways in which we can help, etc.
Lastly, help and input is needed for the development of the Youth part of Rio+20. Plenty of information is available, as well as ways one could get involved.