Outcomes of the Africa Regional Preparations for Rio+20 Regional Commissions Side-Event Second Rio+20 Intersessional Meeting New York, USA, 15 December 2011 Josue Dione, Director Food Security and Sustainable Development Division Food Security and Sustainable Development Division United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Outline 1.Background 2.Africa Regional Preparatory Process 3.Milestones 4.Highlights of the Africa Consensus Statement 5.Way Forward to Rio+20

Africa Regional Preparatory process Regional preparations spearheaded by ECA jointly with the AUC and AfDB, in strong partnership with RECs, UNEP, and UNDP Objectives of the preparations: Guide and prepare African countries to collectively articulate their concerns and priorities at the Conference Guide and prepare African countries to collectively articulate their concerns and priorities at the Conference Ensure these priorities are adequately reflected in the Conference outcomes Ensure these priorities are adequately reflected in the Conference outcomes Strengthen regional consultative mechanism to support implementation of Conference outcomes Strengthen regional consultative mechanism to support implementation of Conference outcomes

Milestones November 2010: The 11 th Session of RCM-Africa provided a platform to raise awareness and mobilize support for Africas effective preparation March 201: Workshop on Institutional and Strategic Frameworks for Sustainable Dev. organized by ECA with AUC, AfDB, UNEP, UNDP July 2011: 17 th AU Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea adopted a Decision on Africas Preparations for Rio+20, Green Economy and IEG September 2011: 4 th Special Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment also adopted a Decision on Africas Preparations for Rio+20, Green Economy and IEG October 2011: Africa Regional Preparatory Conference for Rio+20 convened at Expert and Ministerial levels adopted the Africa Consensus Statement to Rio+20 November The Twelfth Session of RCM-Africa adopted recommendations on Africas Effective Participation at Rio+20

Consensus Statement Preamble Reaffirms commitment to NEPAD and acknowledges the need to achieve its laudable objectives Calls on Rio+20 to reinvigorate political will and international commitment to the goals and ideals of SD, to move the SD agenda forward at all levels Calls on Rio+20 to adopt concrete measures, supported by adequate means to ensure accelerated implementation of SD commitments, including those to be adopted at Rio+20

Consensus Statement… New and emerging challenges Expresses concern that Africas progress towards SD is being compromised by new and emerging challenges such as: Climate change Climate change Increasing water scarcity Increasing water scarcity Loss of biodiversity and desertification Loss of biodiversity and desertification Low resilience to natural disasters Low resilience to natural disasters Migration, urbanization Migration, urbanization Energy, food, economic and financial crises Energy, food, economic and financial crises Recognizes that some of the new and emerging challenges could provide opportunities, e.g. spurring transition to a green economy Calls on the international community to provide meaningful support to address new and emerging challenges

Consensus Statement… Green economy in the context of SD and poverty eradication Stresses that transition to a green economy could offer new opportunity to contribute to SD through economic growth, employment creation, and reduction of poverty and inequalities Highlights the central role of the state in driving the transition to a green economy -- in line with national economic, social and environmental development objectives -- and the critical role of the private sector Underscores the need to put in place an international investment strategy in order to facilitate the transition towards green economy Calls for an agreement on the Global 10-YFP to promote SCP as a contribution by Rio+20 to support the transition to green economies Cautions against using green economy to create trade barriers or new conditionalities on developing countries

Consensus Statement… Institutional and strategic frameworks for sustainable development Urges countries to establish, revive and strengthen national sustainable development strategies and national councils Reaffirms the role of the ECA in promoting a balanced integration of the three pillars of SD in the region Calls on ECA, AUC, NPCA, AfDB, and RECs to facilitate consultative processes to monitor, evaluate and scale up the implementation of SD commitments by African countries Supports efforts to reform ECOSOC and UN-CSD for effective integration of the three pillars of SD Underscores the need to strengthen, consolidate and transform UNEP into an international specialized institution for the environment based in Nairobi, Kenya

Consensus Statement… Means of implementation Underscores the gaps in fulfilling international commitments on sustainable development in Africa, in the areas of finance, external debt, trade investment, capacity-building, and technology transfer Emphasizes the need to renew international communitys effort to increase ODA, debt cancellation, technology transfer, and promote equitable trading system, among others Underlines that Africa needs to: Capitalize on synergies among means of implementation to ensure the effectiveness of the interventions Capitalize on synergies among means of implementation to ensure the effectiveness of the interventions Invest financial and human resources efficiently to meet current SD commitments and new commitments from Rio+20 Invest financial and human resources efficiently to meet current SD commitments and new commitments from Rio+20

Way Forward to Rio+20 Africa Consensus Statement to Rio+20 tabled for endorsement by the 18th Session of the AU Summit in January 2012 Finalization and dissemination of the background reports prepared by ECA and partners Organization of an Africa Day at Rio+20 to provide a Platform for Africa and partners at the highest level to reflect on Africas priorities as contained in the consensus statement AUC, AfDB, ECA, UNEP, UNDP, UNDESA and other partners to consult on regular basis to ensure effective support for Africas participation at Rio+20

Thank You