EEAC statement and Background papers

with national and regional good practice examples on a green(er) economy

EEAC statement

Context

The international community decided to takeadvantage of the forthcoming twentieth anniversaryof the Earth Summit in 2012.

The UN GeneralAssembly decided to hold again a UN Conference onsustainable development in Brazil in 2012. The aimof this conference is to arrive at a renewed politicalcommitment to sustainable development, to assess theprogress made since 1992, to check whether there areany implementation gaps in the Rio and Johannesburgagreements, and to examine the challenges of today.

The UNCSD 2012 will discuss two topics:?a green economy in the context of poverty eradicationand sustainable development? and an ?institutionalframework for sustainable development.?Important players in this process, alongside themember states, are the UN intergovernmentalorganisations and the Major Groups.

The network of European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils, EEAC, attaches great importance to the Rio2012 conference, as a unique opportunity to give a new, necessary impetus to a more sustainable development for our planet.

EEAC is participating in the process by providing an input based on the know-how and experience of its members across Europe.EEAC is providing input on the two UNCSD topics with this statement, which is accompanied by two more detailed Background documents included herewith.The recommendations are based on a) a collection of national good practice examples and challenges for GE and b) the analysis of a survey on governance for sustainable development with the former included inthis publication (see Annex).

The statement and background papers are presented at the EEAC Annual Conference 2011 in September, as further step in the process towards the 2012 UNCSD.The EEAC network intends using this statement as the basis for continuing dialogue with the Europeaninstitutions and other actors about making the economywork for SD.1 It is also aimed to endorse comments on the Communication from the European Commission on Rio+20. ...