[ 2012-07-21 ]

Rio summit keeps African hopes alive
African expectations were high for the United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, the
biggest UN summit ever. The conference, held in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June, was “too
important to fail,” said UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon at the outset. Under the theme of
“The Future We Want,” many of the 100 heads of
state and more than 40,000 participants demanded
ambitious and measurable outcomes to address
sustainability issues such as the “green
economy,” climate change and so on. Yet when it
was over, the “Rio+20” summit left a heated
debate over whether those goals had been met.

For African delegates, the general view was that
while the continent did not come away with a
basketful of goodies, it also did not leave with
empty hands. Izabella Teixeira, Brazil's
environment minister, noted that not everyone was
going to be happy with the result. Negotiating
with 193 nations to agree on consensus outcomes
would inevitably be a grinding task, she said.
Some arguments will prevail, some will not.

Africa's preparations for Rio+20 began with a
meeting of its environment ministers in Ethiopia
in October 2011. There they hammered out Africa's
consensus statement. Africa anchored its case on
two broad principles: that the continent is making
serious efforts towards sustainable development
and that the world should support those efforts.

The 14-page statement presented many positions,
including a call for a stronger, independent and
well financed UN Environment Programme (UNEP),
which is based in Nairobi, Kenya. UNEP should have
“secure, stable, additional and predictable
financing to fulfil its mandate,” argued the
African statement. At Rio, delegates agreed that
the programme needs bolstering.

Africa also asked developed countries to allocate
0.7 per cent of their gross national product (GNP)
as aid to developing countries and canvassed for
“equitable, durable and development-oriented
solutions to debt problems.”

At the summit, the coordinator of African
negotiators, Macharia Kamau of Kenya, said that
“the ability of African countries to implement
agreements on sustainable development is only
possible if they are empowered with the resources
and means to undertake development that will
protect biodiversity and not lead to climate
change.” There was no concrete commitment on
this, although future talks are planned.

South African President Jacob Zuma, who was very
active in Rio, said that the “outcomes have
refocused the attention of the world leaders to
the daunting challenges of addressing global
poverty, inequality and the deteriorating state of
the environment.”

Sunita Narain, an Indian environmentalist, went as
far as to call the Rio outcome document a
“victory for the developing world … because it
reiterates the principle of common but
differentiated responsibilities and respective
capabilities.” That terminology relates to a
shared vision for combating climate change based
upon each country's social and economic
capacities.

Ms. Narain also noted that the summit “did not
dismantle the framework of justice and equity in
global negotiations.” She thus alluded to the
successful effort by developing countries,
especially India, China and those in Africa, to
push back a proposal by the rich countries to set
targets and timetables towards a “green
economy.” Such targets, developing countries
feared, could have led to trade restrictions or
other sanctions if they did not move quickly
enough.

African negotiators, especially from South Africa,
wanted specific commitments on Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), which are expected to
replace the Millennium Development Goals after
their expiration in 2015. The delegates agreed to
constitute by next year a 30-member working group
under the UN General Assembly to report on such
global SDGs. In addition, there will be an
intergovernmental process, supervised by the
General Assembly, that by 2014 will recommend ways
to finance a sustainability strategy.

“The formulation of the SDGs, and their
interface with the post-2015 development agenda,
will be one of the most important follow-up
actions initiated by the Rio+20 summit,” argues
Martin Khor, executive director of the South
Centre, a Switzerland-based organization of
developing country governments. “At least the
world has agreed to continue to promote
sustainable development,” adds Manish Bapna,
acting president of the World Resources Institute,
a US-based environmental think tank.

In contrast to the gradual approach seemingly
favoured by governments, it appears that
businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
civil society groups, universities and others are
revving up momentum. The UN reports that, together
with governments, such groups made about 700
commitments, totalling more than $500 billion. Of
that amount, $50 billion will be used for an
initiative by the UN Secretary-General to achieve
universal access to sustainable energy by 2030.

Bindu Lohani, vice-president of the Asian
Development Bank, reminded delegates that eight
development banks will invest $175 billion in
sustainable transport in developing countries.

José María Figueres, former president of Costa
Rica, said, “Those who have failed you, Mr. Sha,
are the governments, not the CEOs, not the
NGOs.” Mr. Sha Zukang headed the conference
secretariat and is UN under-secretary-general for
economic and social affairs.

Summit participants also pledged to plant 100
million trees by 2017, empower 5,000 women
entrepreneurs in green economy businesses in
Africa and annually recycle 800,000 tonnes of
polyvinyl chloride, a commonly used plastic.

While some African leaders remain hopeful, the
Africa Progress Panel, a group of eminent
individuals headed by former UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan, believes that the conference
commitments were too vague: “The lack of
commitment to defined and measurable sustainable
development goals at the Rio+20 summit is a
profoundly disturbing outcome.”

Others believe the conference did not adequately
reflect a number of positive developments around
the world. “Just look at Germany's shift to
clean energy,” notes Mr. Bapna, “Niger's
efforts to re-green its landscape or Rio's just-
launched bus rapid transit system.”

There is no doubt that the conference did not meet
everyone's expectations. Yet many elements in the
outcome document satisfied some African delegates.
The next challenge is for world leaders,
businesses and NGOs to come through on their
promises. “The speeches are over. Now the work
begins,” said Mr. Ban. “Rio+20 has affirmed
fundamental principles — renewed essential
commitments — and given us new direction.”

By Kingsley Ighobor

Source - Africa Renewal

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