NGO Statement - Opening Plenary, 17 May 2009
We welcome the pledge of Under-Secretary General Mr. Sha Zukang for an open
and transparent preparatory process. We strongly believe in the centrality
of the United Nations in work on sustainable development related to the
three pillars of environmental, economic and social sustainability.
The objective of the 2012 Conference is ³to secure renewed political
commitment for sustainable development, assessing the progress to date and
the remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major
summits on sustainable development and addressing new and emerging
challenges². It is clear that has been a failure of implementation. The
various financial crises point to systemic flaws that remain unresolved. New
and emerging issues such as bilateral trade and economic partnership
agreements threaten sustainable development in developing countries. There
is a need to make the linkages, among others, with the work on the MDGs
review and of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the follow-up to the Conference of
the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development of
June 2009.
On the theme of ³green economy² we support dialogue and discussion on the
concept to reach better understanding but have concerns that putting this in
the international agenda as a centre piece will raise problems when there is
the unfinished agenda of implementation of the existing UN sustainable
development commitments. As Mr. Achim Steiner (UNEP) himself said, there are
also risks associated with "green economy" such as those related to trade
and conditionalities.
We therefore urge that the preparatory process focus on the implementations
gaps and renewing political commitment for sustainable development.
