Saturday 25 February 2012

The Road to Rio: Youth View on Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development

Between 18 and 22 Feb. 2012, the Kenya Youth Network towards Rio +20 and Beyond took part in the UNEP Governing Councul and the Global Major Groups Stakelholdesr Forum.
As youth, we came up with proposals to for the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development
 
These are the outcome:

From a youth point of view, the answer to the questions asked today is very straightforward. Upgrading UNEP is a prerequisite for a successful conference in Rio. Failing to do so would make it simply impossible for us to call Rio+20 a success.
 
You have tried in Johannesburg to address the governance issue that you are discussing now without a major institutional reform, and we all know that this approach has not been successful.
 
The same goes for the establishment of a strong and central institution to address coherence and integration of all three elements of sustainable development. 
 
These two decisions to improve the existing institutional framework are conditions for a success in Rio. However, they would still fall short in addressing the root cause of the crises that we are facing. Our current decision-making processes only allows a limited amount of perspectives to be taken into consideration. It focuses on short-term incentives. 
 
With the youth involved in this process, I strongly believe that the Rio+20 needs to conclude on the establishment at the UN-level of an ombudsperson for future generations, and a commitment for similar initiatives at the national level. Those are 2 of the solutions that would ensure that we stop considering our short term interest but think about the long term impacts and benefits of our decisions
 
Rio+20 needs to also set the stage for more inclusive governance, from the local to the global level. The conference gives us a unique opportunity to adopt a global convention and regional agreements on Rio principle 10 to provide opportunities for stakeholders to shareexpertise and solutions
 
Rio+20 offers a unique window of opportunity for the adoption of the effective solutions needed for our planet and our people. We need to make use of this opportunity to not only change where decisions are made but also, and most importantly, how they are reached.