UNESCO Club Sorbonne had the honor and a pleasure to participate in
Oceans at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20)
Building ocean and coastal sustainability and greening the Blue Economy
meeting held in UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 1st November 2011 during the 36th UNESCO General Conference.
As the year 2012 will be the year of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, this Side event was first organized in order to inform Member States and meeting participants on the objectives and issues that will be negotiated at Rio+20 conference, from an ocean perspective.
Secondly, meeting brought attention on initiatives taken by UNESCO/IOC, and other UN agencies (UNDP, IMO, FAO) to underline the role of oceans in sustainable development, including in the formulation of key proposals that could be agreed by Member States at Rio. Finally, a forum for Member States to present their perspectives on key ocean issues and national preparation for Rio+20, had been provided.
Approximately 60 persons were present at the side event, which was opened by Ms Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General. Introduction by Executive Secretary of Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission presented the Rio+20 process and the UN Document ‘Blueprint for ocean and coastal sustainability’.
Several Member States Representatives elocution followed as well as those of representatives of UN Agencies, Funds and Programs. The side event ended by an interactive and constructive discussion.
