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| Sustainable Development workshop on the road to Rio+20 kicks off ECA Press Release No. 14/2011 Addis Ababa, 08 March 2011 (ECA) - A three-day workshop on Institutional and Strategic Frameworks for Sustainable Development kicked off Monday March 7, 2011, at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) in Addis Ababa. The workshop is part of the Africa Regional Preparatory process for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development , popularly known as Rio+20. The Conference wiill take place in 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Agenda 21, the United Nation’s blueprint for sustainable development was launched 20 years ago. The series of preparatory meetings are aimed at enabling Africa to arrive at a consensus on the continent’s key sustainable development concerns and priorities, to effectively articulate them and to ensure that they are adequately reflected in the Conference outcomes. “Given the daunting challenges confronting Africa in achieving sustainable development and the direct relevance of Rio+20 themes to Africa’s concerns and priorities, Africa cannot afford to be ill-prepared to participate in the Conference,” said Josué Dioné, Director, Food Security and Sustainable Development Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) during the opening of the Workshop. Rio+20 will focus on two substantive themes, namely: ‘Green economy within the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication’ and ‘Institutional framework for sustainable development.’ “This concept of green economy and its potential role in achieving sustainable development has gained prominence in the recent past,” Mr Dioné said. “It is therefore important that Africa is adequately prepared to leverage upon the opportunity it presents. Key to achieving this, he said, is having the right institutions and planning frameworks in place. Abebe Haile Gabriel, Director of the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture at the African Union Commission (AUC) on his part said that lack of adequate, reliable and effective institutional framework has hampered progress in monitoring the implementation of sustainable development in Africa. “Due diligence needs to be accorded to streamlining of coordination at regional and subregional levels to support efforts of Member States in achieving the sustainable development agenda (Agenda 21),” he said. The Workshop is examining and defining the institutional framework for sustainable development in Africa, taking into account existing institutions at regional and subregional levels. It is also examining institutions, policies and strategies for sustainable development at national level. ECA will use the presence of the policy Member States, subregional and regional organizations, civil society organizations, UN agencies, the African Union Commission and development partners to discuss its findings from studies on the functioning of National Councils for Sustainable Development (NCSDs) and the development and implementation of National Strategies for Sustainable Development (NSSDs). Background: On 11 December 2009, the Second Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution to organize the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), otherwise known as Rio+20, at the highest possible level in Brazil in 2012. Its objectives include securing renewed political commitment for sustainable development and assessing progress to date and the remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits on sustainable development. Agenda 21, adopted in 1992, sought to ensure sustainable development through integration of environment and development issues and a global consensus and political commitment at the highest level. However, the implementation progress was found to be too little over the years. ECA, jointly with the African Union and its NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, Regional Economic Communities, the African Development Bank and other UN bodies have embarked on the Africa regional preparations for Rio+20.
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