What Kind of Future Do You Want?

Rio de Janeiro, the host for the Rio+20.

“If you could build the future, what kind of future would you want?”
This is the question for the conference gatherers of the  "Save the Planet" summit will be trying to answer.
This years conference is called United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development or "Rio+20" for short.
It will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012 – twenty years after the landmark 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. Rio+20 is also an opportunity to look ahead to the world we want in 20 years.
At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet.
The official discussions will focus on two main themes: how to build a green economy to achieve sustainable development and lift people out of poverty; and how to improve international coordination for sustainable development.
It is a historic opportunity to define pathways to a sustainable future – a future with more jobs, more clean energy, greater security and a decent standard of living for all.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says, “Rio+20 will be one of the most important global meetings on sustainable development in our time.”

(Photo courtesy of  UN website)

Why Do We Need R+20?

► The world now has 7 billion people — by 2050,there will be 9 billion.
► One out of every five people — 1.4 billion — currently lives on $1.25 a day or less.
► A billion and a half people in the world do not have access to electricity. Two and a half billion do not have a toilet. And almost a billion go hungry every day.
► Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and more than a third of all known species could go extinct if climate change continues unchecked.
► If we are to leave a liveable world to our children and grandchildren, the challenges of widespread poverty and environmental destruction need to be tackled now.
► We will incur far greater costs in the future
— including more poverty and instability, and a
degraded planet — if we fail to adequately address
these critical challenges now.
► Rio+20 provides an opportunity to think globally,
so that we can all act locally to secure our common future.

According to Sha Zukang, Secretary-General of the Rio+20 Conference, sustainable development is not an option! It is the only path that allows all of humanity to share a decent life on this, one planet. Rio+20 gives our generation the opportunity to choose this path.

R+20 will tackle the issues on finding a solutions for many sustainable development problems, including challenges related to cities, energy, water, food and ecosystems. At Rio+20, countries will seek ways to make them a reality by:

► Making the transition to greener economies while focusing on poverty eradication.
► Protecting our oceans from overfishing, the destruction of marine ecosystems and the adverse effects of climate change.
► Making our cities more liveable and more efficient.
► Broadening the use of renewable energy sources that can significantly lower carbon emissions as well as indoor and outdoor pollution, while promoting economic growth.

How about you? What kind of future do you want?