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Soroptimist International has added its support to the Rio+20 Women Major Stakeholder’s Group Statement. SI has been represented by SI UN Representative Alice Odingo during the meetings and discussions on this statement.

The Global Women’s Major Group submission is submitted in response to the request for input by the Secretariat for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development. It has been developed by over 50 organisations worldwide to reflect the diversity of women’s perspectives. This summary and the longer Women’s Major group compilation document for Rio+20 have been submitted as the global women major group submission.

Throughout the world women are key actors in maintaining and sustaining the livelihoods and welfare of their families and communities, and in making a transition to a more equitable and sustainable world. Our economy is linked to and depends on a healthy planet. It also depends on women’s economic contributions, both formal and informal. This introduction forms the foundation for the recommendations which follow. 

Twenty years after the first Rio conference, great social and economic inequities still remain. These inequities especially affect women and children, who make up the majority of those living in poverty.  Measures to assure equity, equality, social and environmental justice need to be prioritised, as these are the cornerstones for achieving sustainable development globally.  These measures should promote:

Renewed Committment to Agenda 21:

Women worldwide have been working towards recognition of the gender dimensions of sustainable development by the United Nations. The Women’s Action Agenda 21 was developed in 1991 by women from all regions in the world, and aimed to influence the outcomes of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro (UNCED, or the “Earth Summit’). It contained an outline for a healthy and peaceful planet, and formed an important basis for introducing gender equality in the official UNCED outcomes. It criticised existing economic thinking and development models and practices that were deemed unjust, inequitable and unsustainable.

In response to women’s efforts and advocacy, Principle 20 of the Rio Declaration (1992) recognises that: “Women have a vital role in environmental management and development. Their full participation is therefore essential to achieve sustainable development.” Chapter 24 of Agenda 21 “Global Action for Women towards Sustainable Development” contains 11 different commitments with specific recommendations to strengthen the role of women in sustainable development and to eliminate all obstacles to their equal and beneficial participation, particularly in decision making activities.

Other important global agreements that underline the importance of gender equality and sustainable development include the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals.

The statement calls on governments to renew their commitments to these agreements and support their commitments through action and direct financing to support gender equitable sustainable development. 

 The statement is critical of the term 'green economy', arguing that overuse is resulting in a loss of meaning:

“We are concerned it is too often separated from the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication. We are concerned it will be used and misused to green-wash existing unsustainable economic practices that lead to inequities and infringe on the rights of effected peoples and future generations, because it does not fundamentally and adequately question and transform the current economic paradigm.”

The Green Economy  

The current economic system:

Most governments state that their objectives are progress and development. At the same time, they use economic tools which do not help attain these objectives, but instead have led to concentration of wealth and increased inequities. Governments at Rio+20 should renew support for the objectives of equitable and sustainable development, and should commit to choosing the right economic tools.  In a sustainable development framework, the economy has to fulfil social progress, taking into account environmental limits.

The statement supports the transformation from the current economic system to a sustainable and equitable economic system that ensures gender equality, human rights and environmental justice and supports sustainable livelihoods and poverty eradication. 

Emerging Issues of Concern:

The Rio+20 agenda includes setting priorities for work on “Emerging Issues”. Women’s priority issues, including some identified among the UNEP Foresight 21 Challenges for the 21st Century List include:

1. Rush for Land: women’s land rights and ownership tenure, and prevention of land grabbing
2. Halt privatisation and commodification of the commons
3. Promotion of clean renewable energy technologies and phasing out of unsustainable energy
4. Strengthen gender priority in Climate Change policies
5. New challenges to water availability
6. Food security and food sovereignty

    

Sustainable Development Goals:

A proposal has been presented by member states for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which governments in Rio can agree to develop up to 2015, to follow up the Millennium Development Goals. The Women major group supports the idea of SDGs, however, regrets that the proposal does not include as yet any specific gender related goals, unlike the MDGs which contain several.

Conclusion:

"The world stands at a cross-roads, and the future of our planet Earth and its human communities is in (y)our hands. United in our diversity we, women from all regions in the world, call on our governments and other stakeholders to re-new the commitments on equitable and sustainable development made at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. We commit ourselves to contribute to a peaceful and healthy planet, in which human rights are well respected and women’s voices are well-represented. We request that  you act in the spirit of global solidarity, trust, environmental and social care, and take our recommendations well to heart."

The Women submissions are available at the UNCSD website www.uncsd2012.org under ‘Major Groups–Women’, along with regional Women’s Major Group statements from Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean.