By choosing the title “the future we want”, the UN has challenged us to avoid making the mistakes that we have made in the past and to rather think outside of the box to bring real solutions to the negotiating table. So far, it seems that too few have registered this challenge. With precisely 49 days to go until the Rio+20 conference, we call on young people to drop the façade of pragmatism, weakening  demands with excuses such as being “realistic”, and having the guts to keep calling for the true changes that will move us towards a brighter future. Being pragmatic means accepting the status quo, even if we don’t like it. Pragmatism means somehow accepting what is real and making the best of it. But, as we know, what is real now, the status quo, is precisely what we need to change!

We believe the future we want comes down most crucially to reforming our governance structures. Governance is the way we arrive at decisions in our societies, be that as a global society or at regional, national and local levels. It boils down to a few questions: Who is empowered to make decisions? How and to what extent can other stakeholders make their voices heard? And how are all these players held accountable?

So why is governance so important? Because the political process always heavily defines the outcome. If we have good governance and responsible and transparent decision-making processes, there is a much greater probability that we will arrive at sustainable, representative decisions and policies. This is pertinent to youth as every policy decision has consequences: and it will be the youth, the children and future generations that will inherit these consequences. We’ve already reached and sometimes overstretched our planet’s carrying capacity so we need to ensure that the decisions being made today, begin to remedy the rampant social and economic injustices and the damage that humanity is been causing to the environment.

Negotiations related to governance constitute only one of the two themes of the Rio+20 process. The other main theme of the upcoming conference addresses the transition to a green economy. Greening our economies could for example include phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and redirect public funding to where it is truly needed. Even if we succeed in this objective we would still only be remedying mistakes of the past. We actually need to go beyond this. Otherwise the most influential voices are likely to remain the same ones, and the money is likely to flow into the same pockets until the correct political institutions are in place to shape our behaviour, and governments and corporations’ notions of right and wrong.

As we prepare for Rio+20 the idea of the adoption of a new framework for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has gained a lot of ground as a key outcome from the Summit. These SDGs would provide a follow up to the Millennium Development Goals, broadening the scope of these goals to integrate the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development. While this approach can perhaps help governments identify what they perceive as a realistic objective in the mid-term and move towards this direction, it is really difficult to see how any of those objectives resonate with the vision that young people can have of their future planet. For example, when Member States agree to halve the rate of the loss of natural habitat in the coming decade, this means to consider it acceptable for our children to never be able to admire or benefit from the existence of species which wont make that 50% cut. How have we come to this point where we morally justify these choices by our incapacity to create political institutions that can make decisions with a long-term vision? It might be the “future they can” in the current political context, but it for sure isn’t the “future we want”.

Unless we truly challenge the way decisions are being made, and ensure that not just the interests of a powerful minority are taken into consideration, we are failing to address the root problems underlying any environmental, social and economic crises. Considering the depth of many of those crises, we need to revolutionize governance if we truly want to hand a planet to our children that has the capacity to sustain its population. And here’s the good news: there is nothing inherent to the current governance models – whether we make the needed reforms needs only come down to political will.

One of the key objectives of Rio is to renew political commitment for sustainable development. That won’t happen unless we ask for things that inspire! These bold proposals can be put in a palatable package and summitry language. But please, do not shy away from bold, courageous and visionary principles!

A week is a long time in politics. 49 days is a heck of a long time in social-media. We can still make a lot of noise in these crucial last 2 months before Rio+20, putting pressure on political leaders, both in our capitals and around the negotiating tables.  The future needs to be something we can look forward to, so let’s do it!

Sébastien Duyck (board member of Rio Plus Twenties) and Alice Vincent (policy officer at the World Future Council) co-facilitate the policy task force related to governance among the Major Group for Children and Youth.

Images: dan, digitalart , /  FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have become a contentious proposal among Member States that are currently negotiating the outcome document for Rio+20. Member States and the international community are looking for the successors of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which will expire in 2015. The current framework helped the international community to rally behind a common understanding of poverty eradication, and it provided targets and indicators to guide policy decisions. However, the MDGs overemphasised economic poverty[1] and gave limited attention to the structural causes of poverty or to sustainable development.

In the meantime, the historical and development context, in which MDGs were anchored, has changed. For example, the world has seen the rise of the middle-income countries[2], making poverty and inequality more complex issues. Additionally, climate change, water, and biodiversity loss further complicate the interdependencies between poverty eradication and environmental protection. SDGs are emerging as a prospect for the post-2015 framework, and as better indicators for measuring sustainable development.

The Debate

The debate on the post-2015 framework can be summarized in three ideas:

• Keeping the current MDGs but extending their deadline to 2020 or 2025;
• Proposing an upgraded version of the MDGs with global goals, but providing more room for nationally appropriate indicators;
• Proposing a global agreement that combines poverty eradication targets for ‘developing countries’ and sustainable consumption targets for the ‘developed world’.

The latter proposal presents a more bold and visionary policy position that reflects the needs of young people and future generations. Additionally, these goals will represent the shifting sustainable development paradigm.

Sustainable Development Goals

SDGs should have sufficient ambition to meet environmental and social challenges. The new SDGs framework should tackle the underlying drivers of social injustice and environmental degradation. Furthermore, it should consider the links between poverty, gender inequality, climate change, biological diversity, and human rights’ protection.

With less than three weeks of negotiations left, it would be hard to capitalise on the valuable lessons of the MDGs to develop a common understanding of poverty eradication that can be translated into an action-oriented framework. Thus, what we could do at Rio+20 is provide strong guidance on the process to develop the post-2015 framework, crucial content, and guidance on structure.

Process

Rio+20 should promote an inclusive process. Namely, SDGs must be deliberated through an open, transparent, and accountable process. Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development identifies that access to information and decision-making is the foundation of good environmental governance. A series of national consultations of people impacted by poverty should be run through 2013 and the results must be carefully considered in the formation of the SDGs. The final deliberation of the goals must be completed by 2015, making the SDGs an operational framework starting on 2015 until 2030.

This framework must promote compatibility with the MDGs. The MDGs remain a valid set of objectives in their own right. The UN General Assembly office, under the guidance of the UN Secretary General, is considering the post-MDG framework. The Secretary General has stated that the adoption of the SDGs must be streamlined with the follow-up of the MGS. In a recent report, the Secretary General acknowledged Rio+20 as an important international event that could contribute to the post-2015 framework. Hence, the SDG goals should not create an additional process to the elaboration to the post-2015 framework for development.

The process should provide opportunities to harness synergies between the experienced negotiators in environmental sustainability and those who are active in development.

Content

We believe that negotiators have considerable expertise to provide additional guidance on the content of SDGs. Documents such as Agenda 21, the Forest Principles, the Rio Conventions, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, and the draft decision on Sustainable Production and Consumption, offer valuable language on how to operationalise the interlinked nature of SDGs and to capitalise on synergies across sectors.

The specific trade-offs between environmental sustainability and economic development must be addressed by negotiators at Rio+20. Consequently, it is important to provide additional guidance on international cooperation on specific sectors such as: energy, climate, oceans, food, and water. While the MDGs have too much a focus on the economic dimension of development, we should not get carried away by focussing exclusive on environmental targets. We must guarantee that all dimensions of sustainable development are considered, and both Green Economy and Institutional Framework elements are covered. Moreover, we must include references to human rights, gender equality, and social justice.

For example, goals could include targets for resource efficiency, production processes, and the phase-out of fossil fuel subsides. In terms of institutional frameworks there is a need to include targets for national social protection floors and for the establishment of specific sustainable development institutions. Clear references to existing human rights’ treaties must also be visible in the proposals.

Structure

The agreement on SDGs should be universal. SGDs should be accompanied by guidance and direction for all countries, developed or developing ones. Consequently, it is a process that should  be co-chaired by developed and developing nations. The common but differentiated responsibilities[3] will be considered a guiding principle. Nevertheless, SDGs provide with an opportunity to focus action by considering the respective capabilities[4] of states in delivering progress on the goals. Given that equity should run like a common theme through the SDGs, the framework must target inequality between and within countries, and respond to the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalised peoples.

A strong accountability framework and related institutional arrangements should be developed to guarantee the implementation and compliance of the sustainable development proposals that will stem out of Rio+20. A UN General Assembly Council on Sustainable Development seems like a premier venue to make timely assessment and provide political and technical assistance to countries on their strategies to achieve SDGs.

Finally, such framework should also include an Intergovernmental Panel on Sustainable Development to offer new strides in inter- and multidisciplinary scientific consensus. We consider the proposal of an Ombudsman for Future Generations as a crucial component for the promotion of sustainable development. The Ombudsman will be able to translate these identified challenges into politically salient issues and guide further debates with a view on the long-term stakes.

The debate on SDGs is one that will last beyond Rio+20, because of the need to establish a post-2015 framework that reflects the realities of sustainable development and streamlines existing MDGs’ strategies.

Although we do not expect Rio+20 to bring answer to all sustainability challenges, we expect it to be the stepping stone for stronger institutional frameworks and an economy that truly reflects the interests of ours and future generations.

What’s the problem?

Digging into the thematic issues through the lenses of sustainable development, young people are mostly concerned about inefficient and wasteful patterns of consumption and production followed by climate change and the food crisis (Graph 1). Other issues of significant concern are the financial crisis, slow progress and even reversed progress towards achieving the MDGs, the energy crisis, depletion of biodiversity and water scarcity and desertification as well as youth unemployment. Urbanization is perceived as the least important issue to ‘tackle’.

Graph 1: Most pressing sustainability issues

What should be done ? 

Asked about which measures should be taken to contribute to sustainable development, 70% of the respondents see ‘education for sustainable development’ and ‘investing in sustainable agriculture and food production’ as key solutions (see Graph 2). Also investing in renewable energy, in green industries, infrastructure and technological solutions, in water and sanitation, in civil society and in regulations on environmental harmful production are seen by over 50% of the respondents as key solutions.
Graph 2: Youth perspectives on the Green Economy and the Institutional Framework

What are youth willing to do about it?

96% of the respondents are interested to follow and get involved in the process leading to the UN High Level Conference on Sustainable Development. However, the level at which they would like so, is quite diverse: international (38%), regional (19%), national (25%) and local (17%). On the question if people are able or willing to fundraise in order to support their participation to youth projects taking place in the lead of the Conference, 52% responded positively, whereas 48% responded negatively.

How much do youth know about UN processes related to sustainable development?

From the respondents, 71% already heard about Rio+20 before and 29% did not. A vast number of youth and youth organizations are familiar with and know the role of several other UN processes related to sustainability, especially about the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The United Nations Division on Education for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification are less familiar.

Only a small percentage of youth NGO’s participating in the questionnaire are taking part in the above mentioned UN processes, with the UNFCCC being the most attended forum.

Graph 3: Youth and UN Processes related to Sustainable Development

National sustainability councils

We wanted to know whether National Councils for Sustainable Development play a key role in bringing all actors together and whether youth uses these councils to have their voices heard. When asking youth about the role and presence of National Commissions for Sustainable Development, we found out that over half of the respondents didn’t know whether there is a National Commission for SD in their country. Even more young people (64%) are not aware of possibilities to participate in the national sustainability councils. Quite a large share of youth (18%) carry the option that young people are not represented their national sustainability council. An equal amount of youth (18%) feel they are represented in their Sustainable Development council, of which almost half (8%) only as observers. Out of the context of sustainable development, National Youth Councils are better known by youth. 65% know whether there is s National Youth Council in their country. 54% of respondents indicate that there is a National Youth Council indeed.

About the questionnaire

Next to valuable input, the questionnaire has functioned as an effective awareness raising tool to draw the attention of young people to Rio+20 and to trigger young people to get involved. Since then, more than 800 young people have become a member of the youth space mailing lists.

Rio+twenties would like to stress that this overview is not exhaustive by any means and that one should be careful when generalizing our conclusions. It should be seen as an indication of what young people value important in relation to Rio+20 and its themes. The survey was conducted in the first half of 2011.

Profile of the respondents 

We reached a total of 637 responses of which the vast majority was between 18 and 30 years old, 77% (47% between 18 and 25 years and 30% between 26 and 30 years old). 3% of the respondents are under 18 years and 16% are 31 years or older. Various types of NGOs have been participating in the questionnaire: from student organizations to national youth council and youth faith-based organizations. In spreading the questionnaire, we put particular effort in reaching out to young people that are not yet involved in youth participation at the UN level. The research was conducted in three different languages: English, French and Spanish. As a result, a geographically very diverse number of respondents took part in the questionnaire, including youth from the Global North and South.

with the support of the German Federal Environment Ministry, the German Federal Youth Council is hosting a Preparatory meeting for European Youth Representatives attending Rio+20. It will be facilitated in cooperation with Rio+twenties and the European Youth Forum.

The meeting will take place from 18th to 20th of May in Bonn, Germany and aims at youth representatives who are going to follow the negotiations in at the Rio+20 conference.

You will find all details and the application form in this document. We apologise for the short deadline for applications, which is 23rd of April at 18:00 CEST.

Please share this call within your networks. If you have any question, please contact the German Youth Delegates, Lena and Felix (jugenddelegierte@dbjr.de).

Have about the future? Where you will be? What you will do? What it will be like?

But have you thought about what this world should look like? What kind of solutions do we need to create this future world? What are dreams for you, your family and your community? What would our lives look like if you could design our future?

We, the children and youth, are recognised in Agenda 21 as important contributors to the future – not only do we have unique skills that can contribute to sustainable development processes but we have a vested interest in the world we will inherit. We have a mission to overcome the current global challenges and set in motion sustainable lifestyles. To achieve this,  we need a strong, unified voice to ensure our ideas for the future are integrated into the sustainability negotiations, such as Rio+20.

What Rio+20 means to us?

Young people have been participating in the Rio+20 process as part of the Major Group
of Children and Youth (MGCY). For us, Rio+20 is more than an environmental conference.
Rio+20 is an opportunity to propose new paradigms for sustainable development and to
engage all stakeholders in future development policies. We want to take this opportunity
and remind everyone that Rio cannot be branded just as an “environmental conference”.
Rio+20 will be about integrating the three pillars of sustainable development: environment
protection, socio-political processes and economic development. Consequently, all the
pillars and actors must be equally involved and invested in the outcome of the process.

Rio+20 is indeed about sustainable development, which includes not only the
environmental conservation and protection component in development, but equally
assesses national, regional and global economic and social progress. Additionally, Rio+20
must guarantee that human rights, gender equity, access to resource, and the wellbeing of
future generations are protected in this new paradigm of development

Rio +20 has been linked back to 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment as well
as the 1992 Earth Summit, both of which had a much heavier focus on the environmental
pillar. Therefore, it is natural that many of the participating stakeholders, particularly those
in the private sector, have kept away from engaging in the process.

The Future We Want

“The Future We Want” is a global initiative launched by the UN for the Rio+20 Conference to envision what we want our lives and communities to be like 20 years from now. People from all levels of society are sharing their visions of a positive and sustainable world, and young people are actively engaged in this process. You can share your ideas here: http://www.futurewewant.org/ …but this is just a start.

The MGCY supported a global survey with more than 650 young people to explore possible solutions to overcome current global challenges. Education for sustainable development, investing in sustainable agriculture and food production, and promoting renewable energy are seen as key activities that need to occur. There is a strong push for the greening of industries, infrastructure and technology in finding sustainable solutions, and water, sanitation and environmental protection are seen as critical issues that need to be addressed. The need for greater inclusion of civil society in sustainability processes is also recognised.

“The Future We Want” campaign will be brought to life at the Rio+20 Conference where ideas from across the world will be made visible to the global public, and the global decision makers. The MGCY would like to invite all young people to share their voices through this campaign and to share their vision for making a sustainable world.

Our time is now

These are crucial times. Decisions made at Rio+20 will impact our future and that of
future generations. In reality, investors, businesses, and other private sector actors have
a large stake in sustainable development. Additionally, the decisions made at Rio+20 will
also impact the way the function. We cannot afford further fragmentation in the social
movement toward Rio+20. We as Major Groups, have a responsibility to deliver a unified
front at Rio+20 to promote sustainable development policies and practices that will benefit
our constituencies. This is the only way we can guarantee that Rio+20 will deliver the
future that we want.

For more information on how to get involved, visit: www.un.org/en/sustainablefuture/conversation.shtml and www.uncsdchildrenyouth.org

by Astrid Ng

What to do now: Celebrate Earth Day and Win $400!
Got Maps? Students, please send us your youth-led sustainable development project and map in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit. All submissions received by Earth Day, April 22nd, will be eligible for a special prize of $400. Ready? Submit online according to competition guidelines at www.aag.org/mycoesubmit.

What to do next: Be sure to submit by June 1st to win other prizes!
All submissions received by June 1st will be reviewed and displayed, and later posted online for public viewing. The most popular projects and others selected by our international committee of experts will be showcased during the Rio+20 United Nations Conference for Sustainable Development in June 2012 and will receive special recognition and prizes. www.aag.org/mycoeprizes 
(Projects received by April 22 are also eligible, no need to resubmit.)
Submit your project and map online according to competition guidelines at www.aag.org/mycoesubmit

Need help? Find resources, tools, and a step-by-step guide to using geography and geographic tools to promote more sustainable communities around the world. Get started at www.mycoe.org.

Questions? mycoe@aag.org

My Community, Our Earth (MyCOE) is a U.S. Type II Public-Private Partnership established in 2001 in conjunction with the United Nations World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. It is one of the longest continually operating, sustained partnerships of this kind, and provides geographic perspectives, learning resources, and technological tools to encourage youth from middle school to postgraduate students in more than 100 countries to engage with their local communities around global sustainability themes.  Association of American Geographers (AAG) serves as MyCOE Secretariat.

We can no longer justify the damaging consequences of our decisions on the basis of the unsuitability or outdatedness of our institutions.  Fortunately, Rio+20 offers a timely opportunity to address these challenges and to make governance work for the long-term benefit of our planet and populations. In the Rio+20 preparatory processes, proposals on the international framework of sustainable development (IFSD) have stimulated debate and shed light on several practical institutional solutions that would facilitate more informed decision-making, by considering the interests of all those impacted by these choices.

The disconnect between political choices and their environmental consequences, highlights the need for a new institutional mechanism, with the objective to promote knowledge-based decision making at the international level. An Intergovernmental Panel on Sustainable Development could function as an umbrella organisation with a sustainable development research agenda for the 21st century: reviewing relevant sources and forms of knowledge (including not only natural sciences, but also social sciences and traditional knowledge). The Panel should be mandated to provide an assessment of social and ecological boundaries, and the scientific evidence gathered should contribute to knowledge-based policy making and policy monitoring.

Once decision making is grounded in a solid knowledge base, the time span considered as relevant to weight costs and benefits of each decisions should be extended. The 1992 Earth Summit highlighted a useful principle in this respect: the precautionary principle. Twenty years later, the time has come for the full and effective implementation of this principle, through the development of a new instrument to hold economic actors accountable for the risks arising from their activities. Such instrument could also guarantee that industrial production, and commercialisation of new substances and technologies, are authorised only when no reasonable doubt exists regarding their potential harm to our environment and the natural capital left to future generations.

To further guide decision-makers, a proposal is now on the table to establish a High Commissioner or Ombudsperson for Future Generations. This institution would safeguard environmental and social conditions for the benefit of current and future generations by securing their institutional representation in all areas of policy-making.

Finally, the realisation of the right of all stakeholders to actively take part in decision-making would increase the number of perspectives considered, and thus make the decisions reached more inclusive and representative. The implementation of Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration could be strengthened at Rio by the adoption of two parallel and concrete approaches. Firstly, any institution created in Rio should function on the basis of best practices in terms of inclusive governance, by including representatives of civil society in their bureau. Secondly, governments could agree to develop an international agreement to guarantee access to information, effective public participation in environmental matters, and access to justice; and to set the stage for negotiations towards the adoption of regional instruments. The current lack of references to these approaches in the Zero Draft is striking.

Some believe that Rio will simply be a talking shop, which will fail to provide meaningful solutions. Let us prove those people wrong and work with decision-makers to create firm resolutions to put us back on the right track. Increasing consumption and GDP at the price of environmental destruction and social demise is not just unsustainable but also an inadequate quick-fix to our inherently flawed relationship with our planet. We hope that Rio+20 can begin to redefine this relationship, so that future generations have the opportunity to make a healthy and fulfilling life for themselves, just as present generations have come to expect.

Images: jscreationzs, Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

After four days of discussions the first feeling that arise is probably a little bit of frustration with the lack of concrete progress with these discussions. Also, as this first week is qualified as an “informal informal” meeting, civil society has no opportunity to intervene into the process and can thus only listen to the interventions made by governmental delegates. To avoid too much frustration, it is helpful to keep in mind the overall process of negotiations and what stage we are now at.

Governments agreed to negotiate a “focused political document” that they will adopt in Rio, meaning that the Conference on Sustainable Development main outcome will be a declaration, perhaps similar to those adopted at previous conferences. Governments and stakeholders were invited to submit their views last fall on what this document could address (more than 600 inputs were submitted). The secretariat of the conference drafted over the Christmas break an 18-pages long document, the infamous “Zero-Draft”. Then, countries were given the opportunity to submit ammendments to this document and a new version of the text came out, compiling all these inputs, and almost ten times longer than the original document.

During the current meeting in New York, delegations are now given the chance to discuss on the basis of this extended text and to react to what others have proposed. The first reading is now coming to an end and delegations have spent the past 4 days supporting or opposing each other’s proposals. Many stakeholders witnessing these discussions empahsise the important efforts done by the G77 (a negotiating block representing the views of 131 countries!) to propose wording reflecting consensus among its members, despite the diversity of the views/interests of its members. At the same time, many of these proposals have been opposed by most developed countries, something that many describe here as a lack of sensitivity for the perspectives of the global south.

A second reading should be starting soon. Hopefully we will be witnessing more constructive discussions to bridge differences of views and converge towards wordings that can gather broad support. It is not not unexpected that this first round of discussions is limited to the reiteration of entrenched positions. Let’s hope now that the discussions will really begin so that we can see progress towards agreements around some common language.

150 heads of state. 50,000 accredited visitors. Many more to attend the parallel civil society meetings. A budget of $430 million. It is clear that — even though only 30 heads of state have confirmed their presence so far — Rio+20 is expected to be a huge event. The logistics responsible for the summit, Mr. Laudemar Aguiar, even predicts it will be “the largest conference in UN history, surpassing Copenhagen 2009.”

But Mr. Aguiar forgot the biggest group of participants to Rio+20 in his calculations. The ones that will not be present in Rio, but are already preparing heavily for it in their own communities. Spreading the message and topics of the conference. Teaching their peers about sustainable development and international negotiations. Collecting opinions and compiling positions.

Also youth are mobilising towards Rio+20. First initiated at the European Youth Congress in Slovenia, and further developed at Sciences-Po University in France, the MyCity+20 project is now reaching out to cities all over the world. From Paris to Colombo, and from New York to Kampala, youth in every continent are setting up simulations of Rio+20, in order to mobilise their friends and create local actions on sustainable development.

MyCity+20 is a UNESCO-supported umbrella concept, as well as an informal platform, in order to motivate and support other cities to create their own simulation of Rio+20. Strong in diversity, all the local initiatives share a common vision of young people taking action in the field of sustainable development. We aim to achieve this ambitious vision by setting ourselves three goals:

1. to learn about global sustainable development issues, through a simulation of Rio+20;
2. to give youth the opportunity to take action in their local community; and
3. to show we are ready to be involved in the transition towards a sustainable society.

Within this common vision, the diversity of action can be quite big. Already within our team for Amsterdam+20, people have different reasons for joining. One partner wanted to collect opinions from Dutch youth as a mandate for their youth delegates, another wanted to apply their simulation model to sustainable development, and I wanted to organise an event to bring Rio+20 closer to my students’ organisation (AEGEE).

We are all convinced that MyCity+20 offers a unique opportunity to do all of this, so you can see the concept is rather broad and easily adaptable to your specific situation and needs.

Does this concept of a youth simulation of the Rio+20 summit appeal to you? Do you want to mobilise your friends and set your community on the path to a more sustainable society? Then do not hesitate any longer, and start organising your MyCity+20 initiative today! Your capital, your home town, or even your high school or university, we are waiting for all of you to join us and put your community on the map of MyCity+20!

For any questions and information, you can contact mycityplus20@gmail.com.

The World Future Council is working to establish this institution at the global, national and local levels as a concrete solution to be promoted within the Rio+20 major theme Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD).  The WFC believes this institution would safeguard environmental and social conditions for the benefit of current and future generations by securing their institutional representation in all areas of policy-making. Given that existing institutional frameworks have proved inadequate to meet rising sustainable development challenges, new, integrated mechanisms for monitoring or ensuring the implementation of agreed commitments across the SD agenda are required.

The petition entitled ‘Right to the Future’ acknowledges the deficit in our governance structures and the huge gap in bringing sustainability concerns into the heart of our decision making process.  It asks Heads of State to establish this institution at the national, regional and international level. The petition will be open for signatures until early June, at which point it will be sent to Heads of State who will be preparing their arrival in Rio. You can sign it here!

In order to build as much attention to the petition as possible, and to gain the many signatories we need to make a difference, we need your help in circulating and spreading this petition. We are kindly asking you to share this weblink with your colleagues and if possible, your membership base and broader networks.

The petition available in English, Portuguese, German, French and Spanish has its own website, with background information and details.

By launching this e-petition, we are keen to maintain this momentum, and raise the pressure upon Heads of State.

Together with the WFC, Terre des Hommes, Oikos, and all the signatories, demand a planet defender now! Sign the e-petition yourself and help us spread the word !