What will young people do if RIO+20 fails?

Posted on June 19, 2012 by lathamsa

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Sustainable Development Needs Peace (Photo credit: SustainUS)

During the last days of the Youth Blast, we discussed an array of topics ranging from policy strategies for Rio+20 and post-Rio activities. The youth who attended the event sought the opportunity to answer an important question: What will be the future of the youth movement if Rio+20 fails? Only 37 percent of the text has been agreed on so far and young people are starting to worry about the fact that failure might be a reality.

First, what we would do if Rio+20 fails? Despite the negative pessimist nature of the question, Rio+20 will be a success in many ways. We will still be young people the morning after the summit; we will still care about the same issues that drove us to Rio de Janeiro; and if Rio+20 fails, we should use the opportunity to recharge our passions and to understand that the real change lies within civil society.

There is a shared sentiment that the main legacy and outcome of Rio+20 will not be a robust and binding document. The legacy of Rio+20 will be a strong platform for exchanging ideas and the creation of new partnerships that will define the future of Sustainable Development. Many of these partnerships will be developed through newfound alliances between international youth leaders.

Not everybody was as calm when discussing the outcomes of Rio+20. During the closing ceremony of the Youth Blast, Mr Sha Zukang,

the Secretary General of Rio+20, expressed his concerns about the lack of progress in the negotiations. His “call to war” included an invitation to lock down the negotiators in a room until they agree on an outcome document during the last day of the conference. Although I do not agree with his statements, I do understand the frustrations of the Secretary General. However, we as youth also have another responsibility in promoting change beyond the negotiation halls of Riocentro.

Sustainable development should not be dependent of binding treaties or trade agreements. We should all strive to live in a world where we can be safe and healthy in a world where the air we breathe is clean and where the water that we drink is safe.

As civil society, we have come up with innovative ways to promote sustainable development. From using social media to spread knowledge, to the creation of small-scale renewable energy schemes, everyday members of civil society are winning the battle for sustainable development.

We should not need a treaty that reminds/tells/dictates that a change is need in our lives. During the hallway conversations with some delegates, we concurred that one of the main achievements of Rio+20 was the discussion of important issues such as upgrading the UN Environmental Programme, Sustainable Development Goals, and the Ombudsperson for Future Generations. The fact that these kind of innovative proposals are being discussed by Member States is an achievement for the environmental community.

I began writing this post with the intention of giving an overview of the past two days. However, I believe it is important for everyone that is following the event to take a step back and remember the reasons that brought us to Rio+20: an undying will to promote solutions for improving processes and tools in order to forge a better world.

This blog post was written by Olimar Maisonet-Guzman of SustainUS, a youth organization for sustainable development. This entry reflects the author’s personal judgments and does not represent the views of the United States Government or the Department of State.

Climate and Clean Air

Posted on May 30, 2012 by lathamsa

“Stockholm+40 and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition”

Los Angeles, in the United States, has had a serious smog problem since the 1940s.

“Sustainable Development has been marked by three milestones. These are the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, which was the first UN conference to address environmental challenges; the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro; and the 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. “

Last month, I joined ministers and stakeholders in Stockholm, Sweden, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the UN Conference on the Human Environment as a youth representative. The conference brought together actors from the international community for a dialogue on sustainable development. Businesspeople, civil society representatives, researchers, and young people discussed topics on sustainable living, innovation, and production.

The meeting aimed to provide recommendations on developing partnerships for sustainable development, and transitioning to an inclusive green economy. I had the opportunity to participate in a dialogue with the ministers that were present on the last day of the conference. The points raised at the dialogue included the need to redesign economics and attitudes about sustainability, incorporating human rights in sustainable development, the need for new metrics for sustainable development, and the importance of involving youth in the decision-making process.

In my role as a youth representative, I expressed the need of forming partnerships between different actors to promote innovative solutions for sustainable lifestyles. For example, social media has changed the way people learn about topics such as health, politics, and sustainable development. Consequently, it is important to consider how to use it to engage younger generations in the sustainable development debate.

Additionally, I invited the UNEP delegation and the ministers to make the effort to include youth representatives with the power to vote in national delegations, and at UN high level meetings by asserting that “We can do more than listen. Governments should provide us with opportunities that enable our real contribution.”

Along with the environmental conference Stockholm+40, other important events related to sustainable development took place, such as the first meeting of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition.

Climate and Clean Air Coalition

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) was launched in February 2012 by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and representatives from Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico, Sweden, and UNEP.

The coalition aims to reduce the amount of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) such as methane, soot, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), in our atmosphere. These are responsible for close to 40 percent of current global warming. Short-lived pollutants not only increase the amount of greenhouse gases in out atmosphere, but they also threaten the health of women and children all over the world. The World Health Organization estimates that pollution related to black carbon is responsible for more than three million premature deaths each year. Additionally, more than 30 million tons of crops are damaged because of these pollutants.

Todd Stern, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, announced at Stockholm +40 that CCAC had gained new partners. Colombia, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, and the European Commission committed to join the coalition. Additionally, the members agreed on a plan of action that includes five priorities:

1. Working with companies to reduce methane leakages from oil and gas production.
2. Decreasing “black carbon” by improving transportation systems.
3. Developing alternatives to HFCs.
4. Eliminating open burning practices in agriculture.
5. Promoting clean cook stoves in developing countries to diminish respiratory diseases.

Promoting Coalitions for Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development is a shared responsibility between governments, NGOs, businesses, and young people. Events like Stockholm+40 provide space for engaging all stakeholders, which is crucial for promoting solutions that protect our human environment. Additionally, they serve as a barometer for policymakers, to enable them to reaffirm or redefine their priorities when it comes to sustainable development.
Coalitions like CCAC are also necessary for strengthening programs to tackle climate change such as the Global Methane Initiative, and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. Reducing short-live pollutants poses fewer political barriers than limiting carbon dioxide. We already have the technology and the policies to substantially reduce these pollutants. Additionally, the benefits of reducing these pollutants will be seen immediately, particularly in developing countries.

The Stockholm +40 conference and the CCAC both represent tangible steps toward progress in developing and refining initiatives and policies that will work to improve our environment.

“Youth are those with more dreams than memories, which is why they are the leaders of the revolution for sustainable development” – Maurice Strong, UNEP’s first Executive Director

at the closing ceremony for Stockholm+40.

This post was written by Olimar Maisonet-Guzman. You can get links to her other posts here.

World Youth Declaration for Water

Posted on May 2, 2012 by lathamsa

March sure was a busy month for all those working on water issues. Between the World Water Forum and the World Water Day, for the first time ever, youth representatives from all over the world met in Marseilles, France to develop a World Youth Declaration for Water. The declaration seeks to focus the views of the youth, in the long term, to meet the challenges associated with water throughout the world. The representatives were divided by water-basins in order to tackle regional challenges and provide solutions accordingly.

As youth, we pledged our commitments to solve the challenges that are threatening the livelihoods of millions of people around the world and made an emphasis on water access, water governance and the efficient use of water. We also concurred with the water-related concerns raised in international accords such as the Dublin Principles, which specifically call for the implementation of water efficiency strategies and universal water access.

Olimar reading the Water Declaration to the Parliament at the World Water Forum in Marseilles, France in March, 2012 (Photo credit: PMJE)

We have recognized the great challenge of North America when referring to its high use of water. The average person in the United States has a water footprint of 2842 m3 per year, the largest in the world. Furthermore, as buyers and consumers, they also affect the water balances by buying clothes made of cotton from places as far as Malaysia and India, utilizing water from countries that may have a scarce supply as a result.

When I attended the Forum in Marseilles, I had the opportunity to participate in discussions related to water efficiency. During these discussions, experts from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Global Water Footprint, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) called for the implementation of measurements such as water footprints and water efficiency standards. Therefore, as part of our regional compromises for the North American region, we would seek to develop strategies to increase awareness about water footprints and the efficient use of water between young people and policy makers.

In other regions such as Central Africa, water access still represents a barrier to human development. Only 30 percent of Central Africans have access to clean water and even fewer to sanitation. Consequently, the youth representatives of the region have committed to work with different actors to build their capacity concerning access to water and the impact they can have in the decision-making process.

At the end of the Forum, the Youth Declaration for Water was recognized as one of the official outcomes of the event. Additionally, the Water Youth Parliament and the World Water Youth Movement were recognized as the main voices for youth and water.

Second step: World Water Day

After the Forum, the next stop for water experts was the World Water Day celebrated on March 22, 2012 with the purpose of calling attention to the existing relation between water and food. According to the United Nations, over 400 events were organized worldwide to celebrate the World Water Day.

Representatives of the World Water Youth Parliament

In Pakistan, youth representatives organized a fair to share information on water pollution. In Nicaragua, the group Jovenes Ambientalistas called attention to the impacts of water pollution in the rural and urban population. Additionally, in Ecuador, a march to call attention to the human right for water was organized.

Other youth representatives sought to use this day to go to their local media and communicate the accomplishments of the Forum and the Water Youth Parliament as a way to increase awareness in their respective countries.

Next steps: What can you do?

Even though the official month for water is over, the task of raising awareness about water issues is just beginning. We need more concrete policies and actions in both national and international levels.

As youth, I am interested in learning more about the importance of incorporating water use measurements within our policies. How can we introduce initiatives for the better use of water through our different economic sectors? How can we incorporate water into international and regional agreements? These are some of the questions that capture my attention. Hopefully, worldwide youth networks can help shed light into some of these issues.

You, in your country, can also help find solutions to these issues. What issue related to water interests you? What can you do to help find solutions? We all share the responsibility of easing the task to solve the severe water challenges that we face.

This post was written by Olimar Maisonet-Guzman is a 2011 Boren Fellow to Brazil and a member of the SustainUS Youth Delegation that will participate in the Rio+20 Earth Summit. Find out why she thinks the Amazon is the most important rainforest in the world and why youth are incredibly important to the environmental movement.

The Amazon: The Most Important Rainforest in the World

Posted on February 22, 2012 by lathamsa

The Amazon (Courtesy of Amazon Watch)

The preparations for my upcoming trip to the Amazon made me think about the role that international summits play in determining the future of rainforests. Preserving forests and the wildlife that inhabit them has been one of the priorities of the international community since 1992, when Member States developed the Forest Principles to recognize the multiple uses of forests and fight against deforestation. However, there is still much to do to preserve them for the posterity.

Forests are not only biodiversity hotspots; they also play a central role in the regulation of climate and sustain the livelihoods of the people that inhabit them. Forests have a close relationship with water resources. They purify river flows and provide protection against natural disasters caused by floods and soil erosion. In other words, forests are important for the prolongation of the world as we know it.

Despite the Forest Principles, worldwide deforestation has not stopped because of land conversion for agriculture, illegal logging, subsistence farming, industrial activities and cattle ranching. Between 1990 and 2000, the area of forest lost was estimated at 8.9 million hectares per year, an equivalent of 0.22 percent per year. Meanwhile, between 2000 and 2005, a total loss of approximately 7.3 hectares per year was recorded. In summary, during the past decade the global deforestation rate was close to 16 million hectares per year. Fortunately, even though deforestation continues, the net loss of forests is decreasing thanks to afforestation and the proliferation of programs such as UN-REDD and REDD+.

The Amazon Rainforest

Brazil has the largest rainforest area in the world thanks to the Amazon. The Amazon Rainforest covers over a billion acres, encompassing areas in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and the Eastern Andean region of Ecuador and Peru. Two key facts to know about the Amazon are:

• More than half of the world’s estimated 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live in the Amazon’s tropical rainforests. Thousands of living species are yet to be discovered.

• One-fifth of the world’s fresh water is in the Amazon Basin.

Deforestation in the Amazon (Courtesy photo)

Despite the importance of the Amazon, many factors still threaten the survival of this amazing habitat. Urban sprawl, agricultural expansion, and big hydropower projects are intensifying the pressures over natural resources and creating an Arc of Deforestation. Additional proposals to the Brazilian Forest Code might increase the size of the arc by opening 75,630 hectares for new development. This Arc is expected to keep expanding into protected areas, weakening the ecological equilibrium of the rainforest and slowly transforming it into a savannah.

The Government of Brazil is already taking action to protect the Amazon. Since 1988, they have been monitoring the basin to guarantee that the Forest Code is implemented as a tool to reduce the impacts of deforestation. The law requires landowners to maintain at least 80 percent of forest areas as legal reserves. Additionally, the government has established over 20 million hectares of new federally-protected areas. Brazil also uses advanced remote-sensing programs, such as DETER and PRODES, for monitoring deforestation. Using this technology, civil society representatives can access monthly reports and updated satellite images over the internet.

How can the international community help the Amazon Rainforest?

Because of the importance of forests for our well-being and survival, countries must articulate the need to protect them. So far, the international community has taken steps to show their commitment to forest conservation. Nonetheless, innovative approaches should be developed to effectively promote a sustainable use of our biological diversity and ecosystems. World leaders must recognize the importance of developing capacity-building programs in order to enable conservation programs in regions with valuable ecosystems such as the Amazon Rainforest.”

Amazon word bubble

To learn more about the UN-CSD and my trip to the Amazon Rainforest, you can follow me @Oli_mar or join the UN-CSD Major Group of Children and Youth.

Olimar Maisonet-Guzman is a 2011 Boren Fellow to Brazil and a member of the SustainUS Youth Delegation that will participate in the Rio+20 Earth Summit. She is currently in Brazil studying water and energy policy, with a particular focus on hydropower development. She also serves as a Rio+20 taskforce member for the UN CSD Major Group of Children and Youth. Read Olimar’s first blog for us here.

Why Youth Are So Important to the Environment

Posted on November 23, 2011 by lathamsa

Olimar Maisonet-Guzman (Courtesy Photo)

Olimar Maisonet-Guzman is a 2011 Boren Fellow to Brazil and a member of the SustainUS Youth Delegation that will participate in the Rio+20 Earth Summit. She is currently in Brazil studying water and energy policy, with a particular focus on hydropower development. She is interested in the social impacts of development and economic policies, particularly in Latin America and Asia. She also serves as a Rio+20 taskforce member for the UN CSD Major Group of Children and Youth.

Olimar is a self-proclaimed jet setter, and in her spare time she enjoys fencing. Read her guest blog here!

Brazil will be the host of the 2012 Earth Summit (Rio+20).

In June of 2012, world leaders, civil society representatives and young people will meet in Rio de Janeiro to determine the future of sustainable development. The UN Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, better known as the Earth Summit, will seek to renew political commitment for sustainable development, and to assess the progress of past Earth Summits.

Why is Rio+20 important to me? Besides the two main themes of the conference: poverty eradication and the green economy, other complex issues will be discussed at the summit. One of my favorite topics, the water-energy-food security nexus will be a central part of these discussions. So, what is this nexus?

For me, one of today’s main challenges is providing clean water, food, and electricity to a growing population. The water-energy-food security nexus proposes an integrated understanding of natural resources and the improvement of policy coordination across these sectors. Land and water are needed to grow food. Energy is also needed to process and distribute food to us, the consumers. Water is needed for the production of electricity, so we can cook our meals. This is especially true for Latin America, where most of the electricity comes from hydropower.

The expected population growth for Latin America is close to one percent by 2030. Most of this growth will happen in urban centers. For Sao Paulo, one of Latin America’s most crowded cities, annual growth rate is estimated at four percent. Inevitably, population growth in cities will increase the demand for energy, water and food. However, if not managed carefully, these demands will have damaging ecological impacts in the Amazon region, Latin America’s most important source of food, energy and biodiversity.

A complex challenge requires creative and inter-disciplinary solutions. New policies such as “integrated-management of water, energy and agriculture” will facilitate solutions that promote a better quality of life for future generations. Rio+20 will provide leaders and stakeholders the opportunity to create policy frameworks that incorporate the nexus approach in our sustainability discourse. However, leaders still need to know why issues such as the nexus are important to us. We as future generations will carry the consequences of their policy decisions.

Why is Youth important? Why are YOU important?

The participation of all stakeholders is necessary to make Rio+20 a successful event. More than half of the world’s population is under 25 years old and young people are the most vulnerable to water, energy, economic and climate crises. Consequently, it is important that our voice is included in the Rio+20 debates, either in the form of official youth delegates or through youth consultations.

Internationally, the UN Major Group of Children and Youth seeks to facilitate youth efforts and participation within the Rio+20 and other major UN processes. In the United States, SustainUS, is preparing a delegation of energetic young individuals to participate in the Rio+20 events. In Brazil, Rede da Juventude pelo Meio Ambiente e Sustentabilidade, is also preparing a youth delegation to take part of the Earth Summit.

It is not too late to take action. During the upcoming months, regional and intersessional preparatory meetings will take place around the globe to discuss the potential outcomes of the Earth Summit. There will be opportunities for the youth voices to be heard. To learn more about these opportunities and share information about the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development, join the Rio+20 Youth Space: http://www.youthcaucus.net/rioplus20. Feel free to contact me if you want to know how to take a more active role.

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Tag Archives: Olimar Maisonet-Guzman

What will young people do if RIO+20 fails?

Climate and Clean Air

World Youth Declaration for Water

The Amazon: The Most Important Rainforest in the World

Why Youth Are So Important to the Environment