UNFPA and Rio+20

Twenty years after the groundbreaking ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro, Rio + 20 aims to renew political commitment for sustainable development at the highest levels. This global conference will also assess progress in implementing past global commitments and address daunting new environmental challenges – from climate change to urbanization.

Rio+20  will focus on the importance of the green economy and the establishment of an institutional framework for following up on the agreed-upon outcomes for sustainable development. In the lead-up to the June conference, UNFPA is working hard to ensure that population dynamics and human rights-based policies that influence them, are part of the discussion and outcome. Toward this end it is organizing a series of briefings for key stakeholders on these issues.

Focusing on people

Because the ultimate aim of development is to improve human lives, successful strategies must revolve around people – their numbers, location, age, living conditions, ambitions and opportunities. And for such development to be sustainable over the long term, impacts on the environment much be taken into account as well.

The links between population dynamics and sustainability are widely acknowledged, both by scientists and development experts, and have been emphasized in major political declarations (including those emerging from the Earth Summit and the landmark International Conference on Population and Development).

Yet, the importance of population dynamics and its levers -- such as access to sexual and reproductive health and family planning, the empowerment of women and investment in younger generations— were left out in the initial draft of the outcome document.

Rio+20: The Future We Want

Mounting pressure on resources

Addressing the dual challenge of improving the quality of life of a growing population while reducing the impact on the environment to sustainable levels requires a two-pronged approach: A shift towards more sustainable consumption and production – which is the hallmark of the transition to the green economy – and appropriate demographic policies.

Population trends are not written in stone; they can be influenced through human-rights based policies -- as agreed in the 1994 ICPD Programme of Action – notably access to reproductive health care and family planning, investment in education, and the empowerment of women and youth. Together these measures can both improve lives and result in more balanced population growth.