9.14.11 United Nations DPI/NGO Conference

The 64th Annual United Nations DPI/NGO Conference: 
Sustainable Societies, Responsive Citizens
Bonn, Germany, 3-5 September 2011
Priscilla Otani, president-elect for our Women's Caucus for Art, and I attended as representatives of our NGO. 

CONFERENCE OVERVIEW
The happy sounds of many languages filled the six floors of the Maritim Hotel atrium as the conference began. At the Opening Ceremony, I found myself surrounded by businesswomen from China, people in niqab, saris, and caftans, youth, and many nuns (Catholic, Buddhist, Hindi) some of the representatives of more than 400 NGOs in attendance. We quickly coalesced into the "we the peoples" that starts the Charter of the United Nations. Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations

Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, via, video, set the tone for the conference. "We have to be prepared to make major changes…in our lifestyles, our economic models, our social organization, and our political life." He talked about "tearing down the walls between the development agenda and the climate agenda."

The call to action for this conference was: COMMIT! ENCOURAGE! VOLUNTEER!

I soon had a sense of both the messiness and wonder of civil society and how years of UN conferences have distilled a method for collecting the varied perspectives, views and recommendations asked for, in this case, by the General Assembly in preparation for the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development scheduled for June 2012 in Brazil. At each of the Roundtables, to which all were invited, high-level experts spoke on the topics after which respondents from government reflected back or challenged them on their thoughts. Four to five questions at a time were then taken from the audience and the panel responded. UN staff recorded each of these discussions. The same process, minus the respondents, occurred in the many workshops. Side events gave even more intimate discussion opportunities as did the exhibits, both of which WCA was a part. UN Conference board members worked tirelessly throughout the three days to add to, edit and condense all of this information into the final declaration that reflected the expectations of NGO participants and civil society leaders for the governments attending Rio+20. The declaration was openly discussed for a final time at the closing. Individuals were able to come to the mike, ask for word changes, minor deletions and additions, before the assembly was asked, by show of applause, to accept or reject the declaration before it was given to the German government for presentation to the U.N. General Assembly.

KEY CONCEPTS 
The two key foci of the upcoming Rio+20 are green economy and poverty reduction with the aims of increasing corporate social responsibility, abolishing perverse subsidies (nuclear, oil), financing local sustainable development, and increasing transparency, accountability and opportunities for redress.

Sustainable development is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Our EMPHASIS needs to be on these FUTURE GENERATIONS and preparing them to be responsive citizens as they will have no choice but to transition to sustainability.

Sustainable lifestyle means efficient infrastructures, minimizing use of natural resources/emissions/waste/pollution, supporting socio-economic development, and better quality of life for all.

We need to TEACH PEOPLE FLEXIBILITY - how they can do best with current knowledge and how to change as new information arises, how to deal with a tomorrow that is so different from today without getting lost and fearful.

We no longer have TIME to polarize. We need to end cynicism. We need to celebrate courage and innovation.

Felix Dodds, Chair, 64th DPI/NGO Conference - "THE FUTURE IS NOT A GIFT, it is an achievement. The future does not belong to those who are content with today or to those who lack the courage to force change that is needed." Everyone needs to mobilize, volunteer and take action. At closing ceremony, Flavia Pansieri, Head of the Consultative Forum of the Heads of UN Agencies in Germany, asked everyone who has engaged in a cause without expectation of payment to stand - 100% stood. The spirit of VOLUNTARISM in participants from developing and developed countries alike was huge. "Of course we volunteer, why wouldn't we do our part for the future of the world."

With each dollar we spend, we are deciding what kind of world we are creating for our children, whether we are destroying it or sustaining it.

We need to celebrate courage and innovation.

Not everything is worse. Many positive accomplishments are not picked up by the world's media.

POSITIVE MOVES
The eco village concept - conscious design for long-term sustainability and resilience - is rapidly expanding with over 600 established eco villages around the world and 100+ in the U.S. The country of Senegal is committing a large portion of its budget to transforming struggling traditional villages into ecovillages. Here is the story about Senegal's eco villages

Fair Trade Towns - communities in which people and organizations use their everyday choices to increase sales of Fairtrade products and bring about positive change for farmers and workers in developing countries - are also expanding with over 1000 internationally and 23 in the U.S. as of April. http://www.fairtradetowns.org

To combat the serious lack of drinking water in areas of western China, the Water Cellars for Mothers Project developed and built water collecting devices, each holding a year's worth of rain water for one family. Over 1 million people benefited from this project in 2010 Water Cellars for Mothers Project

Daniel Bena - director of sustainability for Pepsico. showed how a major corporation, with its global presence, can easily support sustainability by: 1) directing funds to projects, 2) sharing knowledge and technology to projects, 3) sharing communication and awareness tools, 4) expanding reach through leveraging global logistics and supply chains, 5) activating employees to volunteer. One example, through Pepsico's social media, 2 million people were made aware of NGOs, which resulted in more money to NGOs.

Victoria Wyszynski Thoresen, of PERL( Partnership of Education and Research for Responsible Living), shared the current discussion in Norway about the bombings. Even though they are told they may be naïve, that their police should carry guns, most have chosen to reconfirm the way of life prevalent in their country - trustworthiness, respect, standing up against bigotry and hate, cooperation, accountability, and peaceful conflict resolution

Farah Cherif d'Ouezzen, of the Thaqafat Association, spoke of working with the Moroccan government to establish a voluntary service year as a way to contribute to the development of the missing skills that young people did not get from formal education and restore the broken trust between the Government and civil society. (During the Arab Spring, a totally new cry was heard - "the people want."). Making volunteerism a more structured part of society would allow people to be more involved in democracy and prepare youth to be more active in building their countries.

LESSONS
After the recent disasters, the Japanese people had to make choices, particularly with energy usage. They chose to run the hugely popular youth baseball games earlier in the day to avoid night lights and peak time TV coverage. But we must not wait for disasters to make such decisions. - Kiyo Akasaka, UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information

The separation, that has come through the ages, between the earth and humanity, needs to be reconnected. Economy and ecology both come form the word oikos (Greek for family, household)..The more we protect nature, the more she provides for our needs…Human rights flow out of the rights of the earth…Engineered solutions, without consideration for the bigger picture, cause problems (super bugs, super weeds) Whatever actions we take, we MUST look at the consequences. [Vandana received much applause] Polluters can't be volunteers. They must be regulated.It is not "of the corporation, by the corporation, for the corporation" - Vandana Shiva, Navdanya International, physicist, philosopher, author, eco-feminist

The importance of teaching children about volunteerism is being threatened by the challenges parents have meeting their basic needs. Volunteerism - contributing to the betterment of those beyond whom one is obliged to support. Teaching them to consider self in relation to others. Peace workers can only be successful if they themselves have inner peace. How can we not use our education in service to the world? - Grace H. Aquiling-Dalisay, VSO Bahaginan, psychologist, Phillipines

We are constantly being told there is no other way. Do Your Homework - there are proven alternatives. Do not be silenced by those who try to make you cower by saying "you don't understand power and the economy." There are those who have successfully challenged conventional wisdom. We should celebrate courage, innovation. We should ban the term "trade off", especially when one group is deciding the trade offs for others. - Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UNEP (UN Environmental Program)

Poverty has a female face. Women make up 70% of the world's poor. Work outside the market forms the bedrock of our human well-being, yet care is invisible. In our "care-less" economies, most cuts are made to this bedrock. -Sascha Gabizon - Director, Women in Europe for a Common Future, and co-coordinator of the Rio+20 Women Major Group

Good local governance must have CARE - credibility, accountability, responsibility and empowerment - Geri Lau, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

If everyone lived as Europeans, we would currently need 3 planets to support us. If everyone lived as US citizens, it would be 5 planets. As Greenpeace is fond of saying, there is no Plan(et) B. -Sue Middleton, BioRegional Development Group