UN-Water and the Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB) are organizing an official side event to the second Rio+20 Preparatory Committee: How the Green Economy depends on Water (March 7, in Conference Room 4, New North Lawn Building, UNHQ, New York)


How the Green Economy depends on Water
The side event will articulate the linkages among water (including drinking water and water resources management), sanitation and the multiple facets of the green economy while providing a forum to discuss how water issues feature on the Rio+20 agenda. The side event will focus on the themes and objectives of Rio+20 highlighting particularly how water and the green economy are co-dependent. It will discuss how water can be placed in these discussions.


Speakers

• Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UNEP and Sylvie Lemmet, Director, Division of Technology Industry and Economics, UNEP for UN-Water
• Uschi Eid, UNSGAB Vice-Chair, and Bonn 2011 Conference Steering Committee Vice-Chair
• Jean-Pierre Thebault, Ambassador for Environment and Head of Delegation
• Asad M. Khan, Vice-Chair of the Bureau for the Preparatory Process of Rio 2012 and Director-General, United Nations Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Pakistan
• Julia Bucknall, Manager Global Water Unit, World Bank

The three broad topics for the discussion are:
Topic 1: Green Economy and the Water, Food and Energy nexus. What is the water world's understanding of the Green Economy? What role does the food - energy - water nexus play in the debate of the Green Economy and green growth?
Topic 2: Joint commitment, assessment and reporting from the water community. How can the water community ensure that renewed political commitment addresses also water in the context of sustainable development?
Topic 3: The way to Rio for the Water Community. What are the next steps for the water community to support the Rio+20 process and ensure a successful conference with a strong outcome for the sustainable development objectives of the international community?


For more information download the documents to the right or contact:
Francois Guerquin


Background on Rio+20
The conference will focus on two themes (i) Green Economy within the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and (ii) the institutional framework for sustainable development.

The objectives of UNCSD 2012 (Rio+20) are:

• securing renewed political commitment for sustainable development,
• assessing the progress and implementation gaps in meeting already agreed commitments, and
• addressing new and emerging challenges.

The 2nd UNCSD Preparatory Committee (Prepcom 2) is the best opportunity to have an impact on the substantive debate and to situate water (including access to drinking water and water resources management) and sanitation on the Rio+20 agenda. This side event focuses on the first theme of UNCSD 2012 from a water perspective, while taking into consideration the other theme and objectives of UNCSD 2012.