sustainable development 20 years on from the ... - José Eli da Veiga

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(e)
(f)
Governments must be encouraged to ratify and implement international instruments
protecting the rights of disadvantaged groups, in particular children under two <strong>years</strong>,
women and indigenous peoples, especially the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women, the Beijing Platform for Action and the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and align with the international
framework of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Initiative
It is essential to work towards region-wide cooperation and agreements to gradually
internalize environmental costs
Unilateral measures in this area are likely to carry heavy competitiveness-related costs for
countries. Accordingly, regional (and ideally global) commitments are needed to drive headway in the
preparation of integrated natural capital accounts and other instruments such as economic standards and
measures with early implementation deadlines. Regional cooperation on technical assistance, capacitybuilding
and knowledge exchange, among other goals, are also necessary.
Another useful measure would be to create global market incentives for the conservation and
<strong>sustainable</strong> management of biodiversity, including the reduction of barriers to trade in biodiversity-based
higher-value-added products. 11
A multilateral agreement on climate change that includes the main emitting countries must be
reached as soon as possible. Until consensus is achieved on a regime to follow the first commitment
period of the Kyoto Protocol, countries will continue to stall and certain organizations will continue to
broadcast different opinions on what the multilateral system could and should be doing, and this will
make it more likely that the industrialized countries will introduce unilateral measures that will restrict the
region’s access to their markets. At the regional level, it is important to review the best options for
integrating infrastructure for energy, communications and transport, in order to prevent <strong>development</strong>
paths from becoming locked into a high-carbon trajectory.
(g)
Rules must be defined on access to new technologies
Technology transfer is an acknowledged must if developing countries are to meet their
international commitments on the environment. Among the most important issues for <strong>development</strong>
partnerships to address are trade rules as they relate to intellectual property rights, biotechnology in
biodiversity and information and communication technologies (ICTs).
E. CLOSING REMARKS
The information presented in this document describes a pressing and highly uneven environmental, social,
economic and institutional situation, against the backdrop of various crises at all levels, including the
global level. But, above all, it points to vast room for improvement in economic governance in terms of
making it more comprehensive and consistent with a higher concept of <strong>development</strong>. Rio+<strong>20</strong> represents
an opportunity to redefine the future <strong>development</strong> vision to which countries aspire, with human beings at
the centre and set within the current global context. The proposals made here, together with other similar
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Tools that could be explored in this connection include financial securities for biodiversity conservation and mutual
recognition of <strong>sustainable</strong> practices in biodiversity-based production for international trade.