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.
