Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration, signed at the first Earth Summit in 1992, asserts that access to information, public participation and access to justice are critical for sustainable development.
The United Nations Earth Summit is returning to Rio de Janeiro in 2012, with sustainable development governance and green economy as the main themes.
The heightened attention of governments, civil society and the media to these issues in the run up to the 2012 Earth Summit provides an opportunity to:
Secure renewed and more specific commitments by governments to Rio Principle 10 through, for example, discussions on the establishment of enforceable access rights including the development of regional conventions.
Showcase the success of governments and civil society champions for Principle 10’s access rights, and to demonstrate the need for continued general reform of right to know laws, environmental impact assessments and judicial and administrative procedures.
Organize civil society to hold governments accountable for unfinished reforms in decision‐making processes that continue to separate citizens from the information and institutions that determine the quality of their lives and livelihoods.
Resources
Information Note: Success at Rio+20? English | Español | Français
Moving from Principles to Rights: Rio 2012 and Ensuring Access to Information, Public Participation, and Access to Justice for Everyone, A joint position paper from The Access Initiative and Article 19. Available on The Access Initiative website >>>
Rio+20 Three Demands Campaign by Country
What should Rio+20 achieve, and how should governments prepare for it? To help answer these questions, WRI has been working as part of The Access Initiative (TAI) to encourage governments to develop specific recommendations for Rio+20. As part of these efforts, the global TAI network has now launched the Three Demands (3Ds) Campaign.
WRI’s Green Economy Work
The World Resources Institute has been actively engaged in United Nations’ processes surrounding the Green Economy theme.
Feb – June 2011: UN Green Economy Workshops WRI worked with the UN Group of Friends of the General Assembly’s Thematic Debate on Green Economy to put on three interactive workshops and a Thematic Debate on Green Economy.
- Compendium of Green Economy Case Studies (PDF, 319 Kb): This document highlights examples of “Green Economy” policies, programs, and initiatives taking place around the world. Case studies were selected to reflect geographic diversity and are limited to those examples with demonstrable benefits in each of the three sustainable development domains – economic, social, and environmental – and those with clear links to public policy. WRI prepared this document for the first interactive workshop on Green Economy.
- Additional background materials and PowerPoint presentations from these workshops can be found here: www.wri.org/greeneconomy.
January 22 -24, 2012: Retreat on “SDGs, Rio+20 and the Post-2015 Development Agenda.” Informal consultations on the proposal for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the context of Rio+20 and the post-2015 development agenda were held in Tarrytown, NY from 23 to 24 January 2012, with the participation of 44 countries, representatives of NGOs, and representatives of the UN and UN agencies. This Retreat was chaired by Colombia to forge a collective vision on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to build consensus on the way forward in the context of Rio+20 and the post-2015 development agenda. WRI prepared three background discussion notes for this Retreat.
- Discussion Note #1 (PDF, 103 Kb) - Linking SDGs, MDGs and the post-2015 Development Agenda: A “framing” piece that explores Sustainable Development Goals in the context of the MDGs and the post-2015 development agenda process, and the role of Rio+20.
- Discussion Note #2 (PDF, 132 Kb) - Sustainable Development Challenges and Thematic Areas of Common Concern: A “gap analysis” piece that discusses major gaps in the sustainable development agenda since ratification of Agenda 21 and critical issue areas around which SDGs could be developed.
- Discussion Note #3 (PDF, 103 Kb) - A Conceptual Architecture for Sustainable Development Goals: A “deep dive” piece that suggests an overall architecture for SDGs and examines food security and energy in detail discussing work to date on goals, targets, and indicators that may inform the SDG refinement process both pre- and post-Rio.
(Photo credit: Felipe Neves)
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