After Rio+20, $513b committed to sustain world’s development

Rio+20 came to an end on June 22, 2012 and about $513 billion in funding has been committed by governments, the private sector, civil society and other groups to achieve a sustainable future across the world.

Notable among the institutions that made the pledges are the World Bank, African Development Bank, The Asian Development and many others.

Aside the funding, a wide range of actions have also been pledged and these include planting 100 million trees and empowering 5,000 women entrepreneurs in green economy businesses in Africa.

“The commitments that we share with you today demonstrate that governments, the UN systems, and the nine major groups are committed and serious about implementation,” the UN News Centre quoted Rio+20’s Secretary-General, Sha Zukang as saying at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Some 40,000 people including Heads of State and government, representatives from non-governmental organizations and the private sector attended the conference and they were seeking to help shape new policies to promote global prosperity, reduce poverty and advance social equity and environmental protection.

A key element of the Conference has been its outcome document, entitled “The Future We Want” and agreed on by Member States.

“Rio+20 has been a great success,” Mr. Sha said, according to the UN News Centre.

He added, “It had a huge participation, but participation without success means nothing, but we succeeded in concluding negotiations and agreeing to establish not only sustainable development goals but also a high-level forum to monitor the implementation of all commitments.”

By Ekow Quandzie