Rio de Janeiro – Although diplomats of 193 countries have been meeting since the 13th, at the Riocentro, in Rio de Janeiro, and have announced consensus regarding the most controversial measures discussed at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, the Rio+20, heads of state will give the final word on responsibilities, investment and public policies. Leaders of 115 countries meet starting on Wednesday (20) in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Brazilian ambassadors announced yesterday morning (19) that they have come to a consensus on the strengthening of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as against the establishment of another fund to finance sustainable projects. This was a demand of developed nations, who were not prepared to engage to spend more money at a moment of economic crisis.
According to Brazil’s head negotiator at the Rio+20, ambassador Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, the countries united at the Rio+20 agree to strengthen and “upgrade” the UNEP. Figueiredo addressed the press alongside the head of the Brazilian delegation, André Corrêa do Lago. "The final text strengthens and upgrades the UNEP. It does not judge whether we are going to create an [environmental] agency or whether we are going to maintain the name UNEP. The fact is that it is going to leave Rio de Janeiro stronger, with strengthened functions. The idea was to grant the UNEP conditions to be a strong environmental pillar.”
The heads of state to come to the Rio+20 will, for example, have to discuss whether the UNEP will have a fixed annual budget, as it lives off voluntary donations. Having a definite budget within the United Nations system, said Figueiredo, helps the organisation determine its priorities. The leaders should also discuss the UNEP status, or that of a new agency, in the United Nations. This decision should be reached at the Rio+20, but only signed at the 67th General Assembly of the United Nations, scheduled for the second half.
For the document entitled "The Future We Want", written based on the zero draft, to be approved by all delegations, concessions were necessary. The G77, a group of emerging and poor nations that includes Brazil and China, had to give up on the creation of a US$ 30 billion fund to finance sustainable development in countries with few funds, scheduled for 2013. On the other hand, rich nations must still accept the principle of common responsibilities, which forecasts that all nations should agree on sustainable development, though with greater concessions by the rich nations.
These changes should undergo further modification in the final draft, in the evaluation of the head minister of the General Secretariat for the Presidency of the Republic, Gilberto Carvalho. He said, on Tuesday (19), during a press conference at the Rio+20, that the document is still a base text and supported the manifestations of non-governmental organisations that criticised the framework agreement. "Criticism by the civil society must be taken into consideration, but the text is the base. There will still be much negotiation,” said Carvalho. He added that he did not participate in the talks. However, he believes that heads of state will not come to Brazil "solely to sign a document". "We will not simply have a rite of passage here,” he said.
To Carvalho, the greatest victory and the legacy of the Rio+20 will be the mobilisation it provoked in the civil society. "I cannot see failure in as rich a process as this one.”
*Translated by Mark Ament
