Post by Wayne Hall on Nov 6, 2011 2:39:45 GMT -5
Subject: ETC Group's Submission to Rio+20: Tackling Technology
This week, ETC Group, along with hundreds of organizations and member States, told the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (CSD) what it believes the outcome of next year's Rio+20 Summit should be. A brief summary of our submission to the CSD's so-called Zero Draft is below, and you can read our full, 22-page submission here. (The Zero Draft will form the basis of the Rio+20 Outcome Document that will be negotiated over the coming months.)
The most dramatic technological transformation in history – involving information technologies, biotechnologies and engineering – has occurred since the first Rio Earth Summit in 1992; during the same period, however, governments have systematically downsized or eliminated their capacity to understand science and monitor technologies. While technology has thus far played an extraordinarily prominent role in preparatory documents for Rio+20, technology’s potential contribution to sustainable development and/or new Green Economies cannot be realized as long as the world lacks trusted and transparent mechanisms – at global, regional and national levels – for technology evaluation. The absence of such mechanisms incites distrust and invites disaster.
At Rio+20, governments need to adopt forward-looking strategies that will make tangible progress toward sustainable development through policies empowered to:
Assess in a comprehensive way the social, economic and ecological impacts of new technologies and to share information about them;
Ban geoengineering (the large-scale technological manipulation of the Earth’s systems as they affect the climate); and
Support small-scale peasant-led agriculture that reduces waste, protects biodiversity and enables rural livelihoods.
All of this must be accomplished with the active participation of civil society groups, especially the communities that are most likely to be affected by decisions at the Summit.
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For more information about our work, please visit our website at www.etcgroup.org/
Interested in supporting our work? Donate Here! www.etcgroup.org/en/node/5195
ETC Group is a registered Charity in Canada. ETC Headquarters are at:
431 Gilmour Street, Second Floor
Ottawa, ON K2P-0R5
Canada
This week, ETC Group, along with hundreds of organizations and member States, told the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (CSD) what it believes the outcome of next year's Rio+20 Summit should be. A brief summary of our submission to the CSD's so-called Zero Draft is below, and you can read our full, 22-page submission here. (The Zero Draft will form the basis of the Rio+20 Outcome Document that will be negotiated over the coming months.)
The most dramatic technological transformation in history – involving information technologies, biotechnologies and engineering – has occurred since the first Rio Earth Summit in 1992; during the same period, however, governments have systematically downsized or eliminated their capacity to understand science and monitor technologies. While technology has thus far played an extraordinarily prominent role in preparatory documents for Rio+20, technology’s potential contribution to sustainable development and/or new Green Economies cannot be realized as long as the world lacks trusted and transparent mechanisms – at global, regional and national levels – for technology evaluation. The absence of such mechanisms incites distrust and invites disaster.
At Rio+20, governments need to adopt forward-looking strategies that will make tangible progress toward sustainable development through policies empowered to:
Assess in a comprehensive way the social, economic and ecological impacts of new technologies and to share information about them;
Ban geoengineering (the large-scale technological manipulation of the Earth’s systems as they affect the climate); and
Support small-scale peasant-led agriculture that reduces waste, protects biodiversity and enables rural livelihoods.
All of this must be accomplished with the active participation of civil society groups, especially the communities that are most likely to be affected by decisions at the Summit.
-----
For more information about our work, please visit our website at www.etcgroup.org/
Interested in supporting our work? Donate Here! www.etcgroup.org/en/node/5195
ETC Group is a registered Charity in Canada. ETC Headquarters are at:
431 Gilmour Street, Second Floor
Ottawa, ON K2P-0R5
Canada