Source: The New Times
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development ended at the weekend in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with the commitment to establish universal sustainable development goals to create a stronger international architecture needed to support sustainable development.
Delegates also affirmed their support for gender empowerment, the right to water and food and the need to address poverty.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, in his closing remarks noted the outcome document provided a firm foundation for social, economic and environmental well-being.
"Nearly 700 commitments worth hundreds of billions of dollars have been publicly announced here in Rio by governments, multilateral development banks, the private sector and civil society," he said.
He added it was the responsibility of global leaders to build on it, since the conference affirmed fundamental principles, renewed essential commitments and has given new direction.
These huge numbers, he said, gave a sense of the scale and growth of investment going into sustainable development.
Ban commended world leaders for their renewed commitment, saying it would benefit all humanity now and in the future.
"Rio+20 has given us a solid platform to build effective sustainable development and it has given us the tools to shape the implementation," he said.
Sha Zukang, the Secretary-General of the United Nations conference on sustainable development (Rio+20) expressed hope that the outcome document adopted at the conference would provide an enduring legacy for the historic Rio +20 Conference.
He observed it was time to take that framework and use it to guide the actions as an international community, as national governments, and engage stakeholders from all sectors.
Zukang, urged delegates to strengthen social protection issues and tackle global unemployment, especially youth unemployment.
The World of Work Report 2012: Better Jobs for a Better Economy - published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) - in May says around 50 million jobs are urgently needed compared to the situation that existed before the global economic crisis.
Zukang called on world leaders to strive for sustainable consumption and production to ensure food security, clean water and sanitation and affordable and sustainable energy for all.
He said the conference secretariat has registered 692 voluntary commitments to advance sustainable development.
"Sustainable development is the only option for humanity for our shared planet and for our common future."