- In the aftermath of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), the World Summit on Sustainable Development, commonly known as Rio+10, took place in 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
- Subsequently, in 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, often referred to as Rio+20 or Rio Earth Summit 2012, was convened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
RIO+ 10 OR EARTH SUMMIT
- Rio+10 reaffirmed the United Nations’ dedication to Agenda 21, aligning it with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
- The subsequent Johannesburg Declaration solidified the commitment of nations worldwide to the pursuit of sustainable development.
MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS BY 2015
- The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were set after the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, with the objective of achieving eight development goals by 2015.
- The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) replaced the MDGs in 2016.
The Millennium Development Goals aimed to:
- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
- Achieve universal primary education.
- Promote gender equality and empower women.
- Reduce child mortality.
- Improve maternal health.
- Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
- Ensure environmental sustainability.
- Develop a global partnership for development.
RIO +20 OR EARTH SUMMIT 2012
- Rio+20, also referred to as Earth Summit 2012, marked a 20-year follow-up to the Earth Summit in 1992 and a 10-year follow-up to the Earth Summit in 2002.
- It is alternatively known as Rio 2012. Notably, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) originated during Rio+20.
- These SDGs have been incorporated into the Agenda 2030 since 2015.
UN AGENDA 2030 – SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
- The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) comprise a set of 17 global goals, along with 169 associated targets, established by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2015.
- The UNGA resolution, known as the “2030 Agenda,” outlines these goals with the aim of eliminating poverty in all its forms and working towards the realization of human rights for all while striving for gender equality.
Goal 1: No Poverty
- “End poverty in all its forms everywhere” by
- Ensuring equal rights to ownership, essential services, technology, and economic resources.
- Building resilience to environmental, economic, and social disasters.
Goal 2: Zero Hunger
- “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” byDoubling agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers (women, tribals, etc.) by increasing access to land and eliminating wastage.
- Maintaining the genetic diversity of seeds and improving land and soil quality.
- Preventing trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets.
Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being
- “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” by
- Reducing maternal mortality and ending all preventable deaths under five years of age.
- Reducing mortality from communicable and non-communicable diseases.
- Preventing and treating substance abuse.
- Promoting mental health.
- Reducing road injuries and deaths.
- Granting universal access to sexual and reproductive care, family planning, and education.
- Achieving universal health coverage.
- Reducing illnesses and deaths from hazardous chemicals and pollution.
- Implementing the WHO framework convention on tobacco control.
- Supporting research, development, and universal access to affordable vaccines and medicines.
- Increasing health financing and workforce in developing countries.
- Improving early warning systems for global health risks.
Goal 4: Quality Education
- “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” by
- Providing free, equal access to pre-primary, primary, and secondary education, and affordable technical, vocational, and higher education.
- Expanding higher education scholarships and increasing the supply of qualified teachers in developing countries.
Goal 5: Gender Equality
- “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” by
- Ending all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
- Ending violence and exploitation of women and girls.
- Eliminating harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriage, and female genital mutilation.
- Increasing the value of unpaid care (domestic chores) and promoting shared domestic responsibilities.
- Ensuring full participation of women in leadership and decision-making.
- Ensuring access to universal reproductive rights and health.
- Fostering equal rights to economic resources, property ownership, and financial services for women.
- Promoting the empowerment of women through technology.
- Adopting, strengthening policies, and enforcing legislation for gender equality.
Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
- “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” by
- Providing safe and affordable drinking water.
- Ending open defecation and providing access to sanitation and hygiene.
- Ensuring equitable sanitation for addressing the specific needs of women and girls, disabled, age, etc.
- Improving water quality, wastewater treatment, and safe reuse.
- Increasing water-use efficiency and ensuring freshwater supplies.
- Implementing Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).
- Protecting and restoring water-related ecosystems.
- IWRM is a process that promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land, and related resources to maximize economic and social welfare equitably without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems.
Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
- “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by increasing the share of renewable energy.
Goal 8: Jobs and Growth
- “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment” by
- Improving resource efficiency in consumption and production.
- Providing full employment and decent work with equal pay.
- Promoting youth employment, education, and training.
- Ending modern slavery, trafficking, and child labor.
- Protecting labor rights and promoting safe working environments.
- Promoting beneficial and sustainable tourism.
- Ensuring universal access to banking, insurance, and financial services.
Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
- “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation” by
- Increasing access to financial services and markets.
- Supporting domestic technology development and industrial diversification.
- Ensuring universal access to information and communications technology.
Goal 10: Reduced Inequality
- “Reduce income inequality within and among countries” by
- Promoting universal social, economic, and political inclusion.
- Ensuring equal opportunities and ending discrimination.
- Improving the regulation of global financial markets and institutions.
- Enhancing representation for developing countries in financial institutions.
- Framing responsible and well-managed migration policies.
- Reducing transaction costs for migrant remittances.
Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable” by
- Enabling affordable housing, transport systems, and sustainable urbanization.
- Protecting the world’s cultural and natural heritage.
- Reducing the adverse effects of natural disasters.
- Reducing the environmental impacts and providing access to safe and inclusive green and public spaces.
Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
- “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns” by
- Achieving sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
- Reducing by half the per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and the reduction of food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.
- Achieving environmentally sound management of chemicals and wastes throughout their life cycle.
- Reducing waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse.
- Removing market distortions, like fossil fuel subsidies, that encourage wasteful consumption.
Goal 13: Climate Action
- “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts by regulating emissions and promoting developments in renewable energy” by
- Strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related disasters.
- Integrating climate change measures into policies and planning.
- Building knowledge and capacity to meet climate change.
- Implementing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Goal 14: Life Below Water
- “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development” by
- Reducing marine pollution and ocean acidification and protecting and restoring ecosystems.
- Supporting sustainable fishing and small-scale fishers.
- Ending subsidies contributing to overfishing.
- Increasing the economic benefits from the sustainable use of marine resources.
Goal 15: Life on Land
- “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss” by
- Conserving and restoring terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems.
- Ending desertification and restoring degraded land.
- Conserving mountain ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural habitats.
- Reducing urbanization.
- Protecting access to genetic resources and fair sharing of benefits.
- Eliminating poaching and trafficking of protected species.
- Preventing invasive alien species on land and in water ecosystems.
- Increasing financial resources to conserve and sustainably use ecosystems and biodiversity.
- Financing and incentivizing sustainable forest management.
Goal 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
- “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels” by
- Protecting children from abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and violence.
- Promoting the rule of law and ensuring equal access to justice.
- Combating organized crime and illicit financial and arms flows.
- Substantially reducing corruption and bribery.
- Developing effective, accountable, and transparent institutions.
- Ensuring responsive, inclusive, and representative decision-making.
- Providing universal legal identity.
- Ensuring public access to information and protecting fundamental freedoms.
Goal 17: Partnership for the Goals
- “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development” by
- Assisting developing countries in attaining debt sustainability.
- Investing in least-developed countries.
- Knowledge sharing and cooperation for access to science, technology, and innovation.
- Promoting sustainable technologies to developing countries.
- Promoting a universal trading system under the WTO.
- Removing trade barriers for least-developed countries.
FAQs – United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Rio+20
Q1: What is the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)?
A1: UNCED, also known as the Earth Summit, occurred in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 3 to 14, 1992. It aimed to integrate environmental and sustainable development concerns globally.
Q2: What followed UNCED?
A2: Rio+10, also known as the World Summit on Sustainable Development, took place in 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa, reaffirming the commitment to Agenda 21 and aligning it with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Q3: What was the significance of Rio+20 or Earth Summit 2012?
A3: Rio+20, held in 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, marked a 20-year follow-up to Earth Summit 1992 and a 10-year follow-up to Earth Summit 2002. It is known for originating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), later incorporated into the Agenda 2030.
Q4: What are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)?
A4: MDGs, established after the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, aimed to achieve eight development goals by 2015. They focused on eradicating poverty, achieving universal education, promoting gender equality, improving health, and fostering global partnerships.
Q5: What replaced the MDGs?
A5: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) replaced the MDGs in 2016, providing a broader and more comprehensive framework for global development.
Q6: What is the UN Agenda 2030?
A6: The UN Agenda 2030 comprises 17 SDGs with 169 targets, aiming to eliminate poverty, promote human rights, and achieve gender equality by 2030.
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