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| Brazilians are praying for a world of sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro before the Rio+20 Conference takes place. |
(VOVworld) – The UN Conference on sustainable development also known as Rio+20 will begin in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil tomorrow with the participation of 130 state leaders and hundreds of businesses’ directors and representatives of civil organizations. During the 3-day conference, participants will assess progress the world has made towards sustainable growth and eliminating poverty. They will also approve new policies and strategies to set up regulations on sustainable development and globalization. Not an easy goal considering the current global challenges. Editor Hong Van analyses the Rio+20 Summit – a historical milestone for sustainable development.
The Rio+20 Summit is considered one of the most important events in the 21st century as it seeks consensus on various issues, especially sustainable development goals post 2015. 2015 is also the year when the implementation of millennium development goals is set to conclude. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says the world vision should elucidate a green economy and focus on environmental protection and increasing earnings while reducing poverty. Analysts say these issues are the top concerns of the Rio+20 Summit as the world is facing serious challenges. One fifth of the 7 billion population on the globe are living with 1.25 USD a day or less and nearly 1 billion people are suffering from hunger each day. In addition, green house emissions continue to rise and more than one third of the animal and plants are likely to become extinct.
Participating countries to this meeting will join together in looking for solutions to evolve towards into a greener economy focusing on poverty reduction but avoid destroying the marine ecological system and expanding the use of renewable energies. Better forest management is required so that by 2030 the deforestation will be reduced to half economizing 3.7 trillion USD compensation for losses caused by climate change and green house effect. Countries are expected to adopt compulsory goals to ensure food security, increase Gross Domestic Product, and guarantee social and environmental standards.
To prepare for the summit, a series of sub-meetings were held over the past 10 days. However, there remain many divergent opinions on the goals set in the final document of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development. These goals are said to affect the interests of different nations, therefore signatories to the document, particularly developed countries will need to change their strategies, state budgets and current priorities. For this, developed countries find it hard to finalize the Rio+20 document. At this conference, many governments, businessmen and international organizations will relate commitments or initiatives to speed up the process toward sustainable energy sources for all, sustainable transportation and rights to access safe water.
Twenty years ago, the 1992 Rui Summit outlined an agenda on sustainable development, forecast on climate change and the recession of the ecological diversification. 20 years later, this summit is expected to work out specific directions for human sustainable growth for the future.
Hong Van