Strategies for Sustainable Development Meeting the Challenges of the Post Rio+20 World

November 14, 2012

Retrospective

1992

2002

2012

Global Environment Outlook 5 UNEP

Outlook:• “Without major course

corrections…most internationally agreed goals would be missed, many by a large margin”

Insights:• Social contracts grounded

in jointly developed visions of a sustainable future

• Need for targets and stronger accountability

• Adaptive management

Ch. 16 Scenarios and Sustainability Transformations

Global Risk Clusters 2012World Economic Forum

Prospective

GLOBAL TRENDS IN STRATEGY-MAKING

Positive Trends Integration of SD within existing

national planning mechanisms and/or constitutions (e.g., Ecuador, Costa Rica, Brazil, Bhutan, India, UAE, Zambia, China, South Korea, Switzerland)

Positive Trends High level of activity and quality at

sub-national level

Positive Trends Continued progress at national level

Positive Trends Measurable

targets included in most strategies

Positive Trends Responding to global economic crises

using Green Growth strategies (ROK, EU, Guyana, Ethiopia, others).

Challenges

Accountability mechanisms for targets unclear or lacking

Challenges Multi-stakeholder bodies being

discontinued (UK, Canada, and Tasmania, …)

Challenges Bringing the wellbeing and

sustainability concepts together

“…the time is ripe for our measurement system to shift emphasis from measuring economic production to measuring people’s well-being. And measures of well-being should be put in a context of sustainability...”

CREATING THE ENABLING ENVIRONMENT

Three core abilities for governance in the 21st century

Identifying Critical Capacity Gaps Sustain-ability

Multi-generational

Multi-dimensional

Critical thresholds

Multi-stakeholder

Account-abilityForward-looking

Outcome and evidence-based

Responsibility for performance

Transparency

Adapt-abilityAnticipatory

Self-organizing

Iterative Improvement

Govern-abilities

Knowledge Sharing, Capacity Building and Networking

Strategies for Sustainable Development Meeting the Challenges of the Post Rio+20 World

November 14, 2012