Summer Speakers Series

Transcription

1 WORLD INFORMATION TRANSFER AUGUST 2012 Summer Speakers Series WIT Mission Statement Education brings choices. Choices bring power. World Information Transfer is a non-profit, non-governmental organization in General Consultative Status with the United Nations, promoting environmental health and literacy. In 1987, inspired by the Chornobyl nuclear tragedy, WIT was formed in recognition of the pressing need to provide accurate actionable information about our deteriorating global environment and its effect on human health. Introduction During the course of WIT s 2012 summer internship program, a number of speakers from various academic and professional backgrounds are invited to speak to the interns and share their knowledge and experiences. They represent a variety of fields that relate to WIT s work in the United Nations, giving the interns a great opportunity to learn about different perspectives on critical international health and environmental issues. In addition, WIT s spring interns had a chance to attend the Rio+20 Conference in June, sharing their experiences in this edition of the Speakers Series. H.E. Yuriy A. Sergeyev Ambassador of Ukraine to the U.N. Contents Roland DeSilva Co-Founder and Managing Partner of DeSilva + Philips Investment Bank Beppe Lovoi Sustainable Development Officer, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) Dr. Patricia Myskowski Professor of Dermatology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Dr. Mark Robson Dean of Agricultural and Urban Programs at Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University Mr. Nikhil Seth Director of the Division for Sustainable Development, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) Mr. Ziad Mahmassani Political Affairs Officer, General Assembly Affairs Branch/Dept. for General Assembly and Conference Management Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development: Interns Reflections WIT Spring Interns Experiences Attending the Rio+20 Conference

2 Ambassador Mr. Yuriy A. Sergeyev Ambassador Sergeyev spoke to the interns about health and educa8on issues in Ukraine and what is being done to solve them. He talked about the United Na8ons Conven8on on the Law of the Sea and discussed the many challenges of sustainable development from the UN perspec8ve, including Ukraine s energy use acer the Chernobyl incident. Roland DeSilva Mr. DeSilva began his presenta8on by first allowing the interns to discuss how they view the U.N. before going into detail how the private sector, businesses specifically, views the interna8onal body. While he believed the U.N. is in need of reform, he regarded the organiza8on as being a vital plaiorm to discuss important interna8onal issues.

3 Beppe Lovoi Mr. Lovoi discussed the Rio+20 United Na8ons Conference on Sustainable Development that took place in June 2012 in Brazil, analyzing how well the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, social, and economics) were integrated at Rio. He also shared how Rio began many cri8cal agendas and ins8tu8onal frameworks, moving towards the next step of developing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dr. Patricia Myskowski Dr. Myskowski addressed the nega8ve effects UV rays have on human health, which include skin damage, skin cancer and cataracts. She shared how host factors, such as family history and skin color, as well as environmental factors contribute to skin cancer. Dr. Myskowski also went into detail about the biological system behind skin cancer and emphasized the importance of applying sunblock in order to protect the skin against the sun s harmful UV rays.

4 Dr. Mark Robson Dr. Robson spoke about the teaching programs he par8cipated in with students in Thailand along with his research. These consisted of studies on the environmental and health effects caused by the country s contaminated water sources. Dr. Robson s research addressed issues, such as pes8cides in rural Thailand, along with possible solu8ons, like protec8ve gear for the fishermen. Mr. Nikhil Seth Mr. Seth held a discussion based on the 2012 Rio +20 Conference, comparing and contras8ng his impressions of this Conference to the Earth Summit in 1992, which he also azended. He shared new measures of sustainability that were debated at Rio, including the GDP+ ini8a8ve which measures a country s natural wealth, and shed light on what needs to be done in order to reach a sustainable future.

5 Mr. Ziad Mahmassani Mr. Mahmassani explained his posi8on within the UN and the path he took to get there. He provided details about and dis8nc8ons between the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Secretariat, Interna8onal Court of Jus8ce and the Trusteeship Council. Mr. Mahmassani's presenta8on was very informa8ve for anyone who aims to work for the UN in the future.

6 Antonio Lacerda/EPA Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development - Interns Reflections Tarek Hamdan: In June 2012, the United Na8ons Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20 Summit) took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. AZending this Summit was a once in a life8me experience. The Summit lasted for approximately two weeks. Every day there was something going on. It was impossible to azend even a quarter of the discussions. During each hour, ten to twenty conferences were simultaneously taking place. Although most of the events at the Rio Conven8on Center, many of them took place throughout the city. I opted to azend the conferences regarding sustainable communi8es, sustainable development in La8n America and others related to oceans and wildlife preserva8on. There were hundreds of proposals for various sustainable development programs. One of the proposed programs that gave me hope was the idea that we can develop sustainable communi8es and eventually create sustainable ci8es. Experts proposed a community in which all of the energy comes from the sun. The energy will be harbored u8lizing solar panels and can be stored for use at night. The energy is used primarily for electricity but may addi8onally be used as a replacement for gas which is used mainly for cooking purposes. These communi8es will cul8vate their own food. The overall effect will be to limit the processed food, lower environmental damage, and assist in improving societal health. If these communi8es are able to develop, this eventually may be imported to other ci8es. Such a community is already in existence in Argen8na; it is called the Ecovilla Gaia community. The Ecovilla Gaia people live from solar energy and eat the food they cul8vate. Unfortunately, such a revolu8onary idea would have the effect of reducing the need for many industries. These industries would strongly oppose such an innova8on. Grow, Include, Protect This example illustrates a small frac8on of the totality of subjects addressed during the Summit. Much can be learned by azending and the principal reward is all the knowledge that may be gained by hearing experts describing the problems facing our environment and providing solu8ons. I strongly encourage everyone to read about the Summit and azempt to find other recorded conferences as much can be learned. Though the next Summit is in twenty years, it is important to keep up with all environmental events as they will be the subject mazer in the next Rio Earth Summit. Tarek Hamdan The University at Texas at Aus5n 11 WIT Spring Intern

7 Caesar Park Ipanema Julia Naime: This summer I was part of WIT s delega8on to the United Na8ons Conference on Sustainable Development (July 20th to 22nd) and its 3 rd Intercessional (July 11 th to 13 th). The conference was mul8faceted. On the one hand, there were diplomats pa8ently nego8a8ng an ambi8ous document, and major groups were interes8ng with them to try to influence the document. On the other, civil society was gathering together in places such as Copacabana or the Athletes Park to learn about issues of sustainable development, to discuss and to organize. Simultaneously, businesses were talking about sustainability and corporate responsibility in a different forum and similarly, city majors met for a C40 sustainability forum. As a WIT delegate I had the privilege to experience the different aspects of the conference, focusing on what was more interes8ng to me. For two weeks, I azended the conferences, nego8a8ons, and mee8ngs of Rio+20. I was able to witness the development of the document and the hardships of the nego8a8ons. As the days went by, there was more pressure to obtain results and reach consensus. But coopera8on was not easy: there was an important north/ south divide and issues such as financial aid, technology transfer, and Ins8tu8onal reform caused many headaches to the diplomats. For many days, I had to stay un8l 11:00pm in Rio center (the building were all the diplomats and major groups met) to hear the results of the day s nego8a8ons. I also had the opportunity to azend the many events organized by ins8tu8ons and NGO s. There, cross Ricardo Moraes/Reuters cuhng issues such as popula8on growth, food security or deforesta8on were being avidly discussed. I learned about new methodologies and processes that create bezer linkages between economics and the environment such as the Payment For Ecosystems Services (PES) or the Systems for Environmental- Economic Account (SEEA). If sustainable development is to be achieved, the interest of the poor and the environment must be treated in tandem; I think that these innova8ve systems are a necessary element of the solu8ons we are seeking. Rio+20 is a failure or success according to expecta8ons. Personally, I think that anyone who azended Rio+20 was amazed by the enormous quan88es of new ideas and processes that can lead to sustainable development and that are currently happening around the world. I certainly was. The big challenge now is a perennial ques8on of sustainable development: how can we implement it all, and put everything into concrete ac8on? This is the challenge that will have to be discussed in future nego8a8ons. Julia Naime New York University 12 WIT Spring Intern

8 WIT Intern: At the Rio+20 as a WIT representa8ve, I followed nego8a8ons on IFSD and was lucky to azend many of the side events as well as the People's Summit. I was not there with a specific plaiorm, but rather simply to engage with other civil society actors involved in the sector, gain bezer insight into the ways in which delega8ons of African na8ons and NGOs were discussing and discussing, and to follow the outcome document. Originally the zero- drac, I was fortunate to follow the document since its incep8on as well as talks prior to the formal intersessionals at UNHQ. Ricardo Moraes/Reuters I found the conference to be a cri8cal plaiorm for mul8sectoral dialogue. From my personal perspec8ve, I don't think Rio+20 could have been and was not a failure despite the many cri8cisms. The conference was a space to think ahead, envision goals, and grapple with the difficult ques8ons like interna8onal standards and country borders. It allowed for a conversa8on about how to bezer foster innova8on and deal with the poli8cal and ins8tu8onal changes necessary. There was discussion surrounding tools like ecosystem services and how we can use them not simply within environmental spheres, but within economic and poli8cal spheres, so bringing sustainable development from the "sexy" development concept to have more weight across sectors. It seemed civil society was most frustrated by the diploma8c processes, leading to the weakness of the outcome document- nego8a8ons didn't result in any new interna8onal consensus on how we will achieve a sustainability, but rather maintained ambiguous guidelines of a green economy and ins8tu8ons necessary to regulate it. But keeping in mind that the UN is comprised of member states who have complex rela8onships, nego8a8ng and agreeing outside of the conference room, and speaking strictly on behalf of their capital might explain some of the slow and diluted outcomes. I certainly think the UN, one of the many ins8tu8ons in the system we work with as global ci8zens, does not fulfill all we want it to. It is however what we have now, so we should be innova8ve both inside and outside the system. The youth definitely exemplified this innova8on at the conference, and had an incredible presence in numbers. I was thrilled to see the size of the Major Group of Children and Youth, which ul8mately gained momentum and pushed a number of concepts into the outcome document. Felipe Dana/AP Ul8mately, I think the conference provided important space to share, but I think the real work needs to happen in society. Whether or not the general consensus is that the outcome document is revolu8onary or watered down, an interna8onal consensus by governments won't change the mindset of society. WIT Intern

9 WORLD INFORMATION TRANSFER AUGUST 2012 S ummer S pea k er S er ies Visit the WIT Ecology Enquirer website: World Information Transfer Like us on Facebook: Follow us on Twitter: Editors: Nadia Mughal Suzy Hallak Interns: Yin Long Lin Gregory Swistel Christina Robson Rebecca Lau Sin Ming Gabrielle Favorito Sabrina Arias Matthew Lee Ho Ching Gianni Hallak World Information Transfer, Inc. 475 Park Ave. South New York, NY Tel: Fax: wit@worldinfo.org