Address to a forum in preparation for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20)
Organized by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research
New York City - June 4, 2012

The present discourse on sustainable development strongly highlights that development should meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In my presentation, I will discuss the three questions that the organizers set for me, in an interconnected way:

• What the discourse means for Rio+20
• The impact of discourse on policy formulation
• The take away from the Rio+20 Conference as a result of this discourse

Two key concepts of the discourse on sustainable development

The present discourse has two key concepts: the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of an ever-increasing global population which will reach 9 billion in 2050 and 10 billion around 2100, and especially, the economically disadvantaged, to whom overriding priority should be given. Currently over 1 billion people are going to bed hungry each night, and this is not sustainable development. While we consider the global population’s needs, each region and country will also have to consider national needs and consumption of food, water, and energy.

The second key concept is that of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization by governments on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs.

The international community needs to take a progressive view of sustainable development – seeing the world as a system — a system that connects space and a system that connects time. For example, when we think of the world as a system over space, we grow to understand that air pollution from North America affects air quality in Asia and that salt from Central Asia's Aral Sea is found in Sweden and other areas. When we think of the world as a system over time, we start to realize that the decisions taken by our former generations impact us today in every way: industrial and agricultural production, health, quality of life in general, and the significantly reduced financial resources available for development after massive outlays on military and warfare. Likewise, the economic policies we endorse today will have an impact on urban poverty when our children are adults. These concepts, therefore, call for urgent action.

We also understand that quality of life is a system, too. It is good to be physically healthy, but what if one is poor and does not have access to education or the right to employment? Take, for example, the case of Kazakhstan. We have improved our average per capita income, including people in the eastern part of the country; however, the quality of air and water is affected by the more than 468 nuclear weapons tests conducted in the four decades from 1949 to 1989. This consideration calls for a holistic approach in the outcome document as well as in the subsequent policies that each country will formulate after Rio+20. Hence, the general discourse also addresses very prominently the question of human rights: the right to food, energy, water, jobs, education, health, and other fundamental services.

Three components of sustainable development

The three dimensions of sustainable development are economic, social, and environmental. While these are often referred to in the Zero Draft, the challenge before us is to integrate them in the Outcome Document and in the policies that governments will put into action. Likewise, at the country level too, concomitantly, we have three kinds of wealth or capital: economic (profit), environmental (planet), and social (people), that will have to be taken into consideration.

They are as follows:

• Profit (economic capital): While all countries aim at optimizing economic growth, we must look for efficient and economical means of production and consumption, elimination of waste through better asset management, and budgetary planning, and recognizing the interdependence of all three.
• Planet (environmental capital): The purest and most valuable form of environmental stewardship is to model our natural systems throughout our development activities. Connecting our industrial growth to nature equals success from an environmental, social, and economic context. Capturing and leveraging our natural energy systems through renewable energy sources and biological materials will be the answer for the future. Minimizing the amount of non-renewable energy and pollutants and creating and reusing renewable sources are the keys to success. To accomplish this will require mobilization of financial resources, technology transfer, and capacity building. As of yet, such commitments from the developed world have fallen below expectations. Developing countries will have to seek their own ways. Internal resource mobilization through taxation and fiscal means has been proposed. Most of all, what comes through clearly is that human beings and nature must coexist together, a point which came out very strongly in this discourse.
• People (social capital): It is our ethical responsibility that while maximizing economic results we minimize environmental impact, restore degraded ecosystems, and thus maximize the quality of life for people so as to ensure the future of our civilization with its rich cultural values and traditions. Sharing knowledge and science-based evidence becomes important. And finally, all our efforts should be geared towards a rights-based approach so as to make possible an equitable and just society.

Special focus on women, youth, children, the vulnerable populations, and indigenous groups

We have to meet the diverse needs of all people in present and future communities, promoting personal well-being, social cohesion, and inclusion, thus creating equal opportunity. This is a challenge and must translate into enlightened policies especially in the developed and developing countries, notwithstanding low economic growth rates, especially in the latter, which are also beset with much restricted fiscal resources.

Course of informal discussion on the Rio+20 Outcome Document

In spite of the national interests of governments, a global vision should prevail. There is a need to search for solutions to the problems that block sustainable development.