Green Politics: Rio+20 Rolls Back to 2000

Sometimes you have to go back to go forward.

With few solid promises expected from the Rio+20 main stage, let’s look instead at a Side Event report that picks up the energy from the 2000 Millennium Summit.

Remember 2000? The world’s leaders came together at the “dawn of a new millennium” and vowed to end poverty by 2015.

Here’s the inspiring original United Nations Millennium Declaration.

And how the environment fared:

Respect for nature. Prudence must be shown in the management of all living species and natural resources, in accordance with the precepts of sustainable development. Only in this way can the immeasurable riches provided to us by nature be preserved and passed on to our descendants. The current unsustainable patterns of production and consumption must be changed in the interest of our future welfare and that of our descendants.

Elsewhere: to “intensify,” “strive,” and “spare no effort.” I like that.

(To properly frame this positive momentum, the September Millennium summit was held two months before the U.S. Presidential election, and three months before the U.S. Supreme Court handed the election to G.W. Bush. It was probably the worst-year ever for Vice President Al Gore and a huge thud of dismay for millions. “An Inconvenient Truth” was still six years away.)

Now, where was I? Right. 2012 edition.

Via GreenLaw, with thanks:

Global Environment Outlook: Environment for the future we want

The United Nations Environment Programme recently released its fifth Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5), a report on world progress towards the environmental aspects of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For those who lack the time to absorb all 525 pages of the report, UNEP provided a shorter trending report, Measuring Progress, which uses approachable charts and succinct text to show the state of global environmental goals (GEGs). The report was featured at a Rio+20 side event last week, and UNEP created a briefing document for policymakers.

The new Global Environmental Outlook offers scant really good news, scarcer great news. But it does show progress towards the environment–and future–we want.

As GreenLaw author and Pace University dean Lin Harmon recommends, it’s a worthwhile read.