UN Unveils Agreement Detailing Global Governance Strategy for Sustainable Green PathSusanne Posel, Contributor The purpose of this years conference is to outline global governance under the cover of environmentalism and protecting the planet. The strengtheningof the UN Environmental Program through secure, adequate and increased financial resources was one of the biggest issues brought to the forefront at the conference. The UN is kicking into high gear, planning on creating a clear path toward global governance. Their strength will become evident in the international mandates they plan to impose onto the governments of the world. China, India, Indonesia and South Africa will be represented by their presidents and prime ministers. President Obama, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will send representatives in their stead. However, extended arms of the UN such as eco-fascist groups, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and charities believe that the agreement is not strict enough. A panel of alarmist scientists, ministers and Nobel laureates are decryingthat society is on the edge of a threshold of a future with unprecedented environmental risks. Their declaration, delivered to the attendees of the Summit called for immediate and significant changes. They wrote: The combined effects of climate change, resource scarcity, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem resilience at a time of increased demand, poses a real threat to humanitys welfare. There is an unacceptable risk that human pressures on the planet, should they continue on a business as usual trajectory, will trigger abrupt and irreversible changes with catastrophic outcomes for human societies and life as we know it. Professor Will Steffen, of the Australian National University, believed that the declaration would send a clear message to the world leaders of their desire to set intrinsic limits on consumption so that humanity would not exceed the planets capacity. Issues of discussion include: The green economy Following suit, the European Union (EU) was most unsatisfied with the document, however, Ida Auken, the Danish Environment Minister explained: The EU would have liked to see a much more concrete and ambitious outcome, so in that respect Im not happy with it. However, we managed to get the green economy on the agenda, and so I think we have a strong foundation for this vision that can drive civil society and the private sector to work in the same direction, to understand that environment and [that] the social side must be integrated into the heart of the economy. Auken still believes that the agreement will be signedby attendees without any further alterations. Janez Potocnik, EU Environment Commissioner, asserted that the EU remains committed, for as long as it takes, to achieving concrete and ambitious outcomes from the Rio+20 negotiations . . . to bring the world towards a sustainable future. Radical environmentalists launched a Twitter call to action, campaigning for as much pressure as possible against governments to systematically end fossil fuel consumption immediately. The agreement asserts that these programs will be phased out without setting specific dates and affirming that only if these modes of energy consumption are harmful and inefficient. The UN will be deploying their Environment Program Corporationsto report on environmental and social impact in a yet-to-be determined process of sustainable development goals (SDGs) to be mandated by 2015; as well as extensions on the UNs Millennium Development Goals(MDGs). The agreement mandates urgent action against what they classify as unsustainable production and consumption; yet definitions are broad and could be widely reinterpreted. Per usual with UN agreements, there is a lack of dead-line, explanation of how these mandates can be achieved, and no succinct suggestion as to how the world economy could afford the programs the UN demands all the worlds governments implement. Craig Bennett, director of policy and campaigns for Friends of the Earth, asserts that the UN must be more authoritative to solve the global emergency were facing and explained that: Developed countries have repeatedly failed to live safely within our planets limits. Now they must wake up to the fact that until we fix our broken economic system were just papering over the ever-widening cracks. According to the agreement, governments will refrain from making water and energy more accessible to their citizens unless directed by the UN. Predatory talks concerning the securitization of resources by the UN within developing nations became outlines for demands and affirmation of pledges of financial and technological assistance from Western countries. The document reads: We emphasize the need to make progress in implementing previous commitments it is critical that we honor all previous commitments, without regression. Asad Rehman, head of international climate of the Friends of the Earthsaid: Faced with the determined efforts by some developed countries, in particular the US, to rip up the Earth Summit agreement of 1992, the text seems to have stopped us moving backwards. But it certainly doesnt get close to addressing the concerns of the people or our planet. Faced with a triple planetary crisis climate catastrophe, deepening global inequity and unsustainable consumption driven by a broken economic system the text is neither ambitious enough nor delivers the required political will needed. The UN itself will implement sustainable development programs under UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonsSustainable Energy For Allinitiative, in developing countries to create greening economies. This scheme will mandate UN sanctioned renewable energy efficiency by 2030. The UN also wants to directly affect control over measures of progress to complement GDP in order to better inform policy decisions. The right to food and water, a subject of broad governance as written in the document is certainly an aspect of the UNs sustainable development agenda. Ocean conservation, another topic of interest, explicitly demanded that they govern those assets allocated from this expansive resource. The UN will oversee the international governance over the end of illegal and exploitative fishing, support local small-scale fishers, and set up a process that would eventually regulate fishing and protect life on the high seas. Those definitions, though broad in the document, would left to specific interpretation as needed in individual situations. The UN will govern the right to: Gender equality in the workplace Susanne Posel is the Chief Editor of Occupy Corporatism. Our alternative news site is dedicated to reporting the news as it actually happens; not as it is spun by the corporately funded mainstream media. You can find us on ourFacebook page. linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 