1、Sustainable development has become an increasingly important topic in recent years. It is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future.Achieving sustainable development is perhaps one of the most difficult and pressing goals we face right no
2、w.CRIs Autumn Szeliga has the story.Global crises are posing greater challenges to peoples lives and even threatening human existence. Population growth, resource scarcity and worldwide environmental problems are emerging as globalization deepens. These issues combined can take a serious toll on the
3、 future of human development.Twenty years ago, the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro discussed environmental and developmental issues for the first time on a global scale. It produced the idea of sustainable development, taking into account the three dimensions of economic, environmental and social sus
4、tainability. Although these pillars are supposed to carry equal weight, many fear that the environmental focus is lagging.Professor Kirit Parikh, former director of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, explains why.The economical one is the one that everyone is interested in. And the
5、 consequences of economical development also clear some social problems. While for the environment, only when pollution became very high, then people tended to react to it. If climate changes take place, it will be a slow thing, and its not a kind of thing I can do by myself. Thats why I think it (t
6、he environmental focus) gets neglected.Given the deteriorating state of the environment, it is high time to move forward in promoting sustainable development. As a result, global actors are now trying to foster greater international cooperation to advance the implementation of green economic develop
7、ment.Mohan Peck from the Office of the Executive Coordinators for Rio+20 at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, explains what the UN is doing to promote sustainable development.Since 1992, the global facility has been created. The UN development adopted a sustainable develo
8、pment program approach, and there is cooperation with countries. UN organizations never stop their tolls. This sentence doesnt make sense. The needs are much greater than we have the capacity to deal with, so we have training programs, capacity-building workshops and ground-money projects. We work i
9、n partnership with governments, with other UN agencies, and even the private sector.In many cases, the technology necessary for sustainable development already exists. Often, the problem is less about finding the solutions and more about implementing them. So what we need to focus is on how to overc
10、ome the obstacles blocking the implementation of green policies.Arno Behrens, director of Energy at the Center for European Policy Studies, explains further.The most important thing, I think, is actually government support. So if you have a strong government with a leadership, and to implement the g
11、reen economy, then things can happen much faster. And coming from the EU, theres quite a kind of support, still for reducing green house emissions, for increasing the renewable things, and this is surely set to continue. And I want to repeat that government is the key on all levels.It has been twent
12、y years since the first UN conference on environment and development was held in Rio de Janeiro, and 10 years since the Johannesburg world summit on sustainable development. While some progress has been made in the realm of sustainable development since that time, much remains to be achieved. This i
13、s where the upcoming Rio+20 Conference comes into play.Chao Qingchen, Deputy Director-general of the China Meteorological Administration, expresses optimism about the Rio+20 Conference.At this Rio+20 Conference, there are two issuesgreen economy and institutional governance. I think our government w
14、ill be actively involved in this conference, and also to show what we have made and what we want to take. So I believe it will be a success for this conference.The upcoming Rio+20 Conference must find ways to promote sustainable development and provide real solutions to environmental and other issues. It is a good chance for us to move away from business-as-usual policies and act to address environmental destruction as well as build a bridge to the future.For CRI, Im Autumn Szeliga.
