SI Assistant Programme Director, Anusha Santhirasthipam, is reporting live from
the UN Conference on Sustainable Development – known as Rio+20. We have
a Soroptimist delegation observing the high level discussions,
participating in the side events and networking with other NGOs.
Progress over the past few months has been slow when it comes to issues
of gender. Read on to see how the most recent developments influence the
debate…. Tweet your questions to SIE Programme Executive @SubaUma or facebook International
Assistant Programme Director Anusha through the SI page!
The SI delegation at the Rio+20 UN Summit on Sustainable Development
has arrived to begin attending high-level
meetings, dialogues and round table working groups. I am leading our team
comprising of Dr. Alice Odingo and Rose Mwangi, SI UN Representatives to UN
Environmental Program (UNEP) and joined by Suba Parthiban, SI Europe’s
Programme Officer. Seven Soroptimists from Brazil will join us
for the Conference sessions from 20-22 June.
This morning, we participated in the Sustainable Development Dialogue on
The Economics of Sustainable Development including Sustainable Patterns of
Consumption. This proved to be a very engaging interactive panel session
comprising leading experts and also strong vocal audience participation. We got
to vote on the recommendations that we wanted to send to Governments on this
theme. The top priority recommendations selected by the voting process:
1. Phase out
harmful subsidies and develop green tax schemes.
2. Include
environmental damages in Gross National Product and complement it with measures
for social development.
3. Promote a
holistic approach to sustainable development taking into account environmental,
economic, political and social impact.
4. Promote
sustainable public procurement worldwide as a catalyst for sustainable patterns
(including green infrastructure).
Concern was expressed that 16% of the world’s people are responsible for
78% of consumption and that this consumption model is unsustainable because it
means that we will need 4 times planet Earth to feed everyone as more and more
developing countries embrace the consumption model of developed nations. Global
education campaigns and multi-stakeholder engagement can reverse this trend.
Ample evidence shows that consumption does not correlate with happiness
or wellness. Lifestyle and behavioral changes that dematerialize our way of
living was strongly emphasized. Women’s role as advocates, educators and family
managers were seen as pivotal.
In the evening, we participated in the Sustainable Development Dialogue
on Food and Nutrition Security. An illustrious panel of speakers, which
included 3 former Heads of State, gave excellent pointers on the way forward.
Audience engagement was passionate and constructive. Again, we got to vote on
the preferred recommendations to Governments and the voting outcomes as top
priorities were:
1. Promote food
systems that are sustainable and contribute to improvement of health.
2. Develop
policies to encourage sustainable production of food supplies directed to both producers
and consumers.
3. Government
programs to enhance food and nutrition security should incorporate
environmental considerations.
4. Eliminate
misery and poverty rooted in hunger and malnutrition.
Several speakers cautioned against market forces that cause high food
prices manipulated by commodity market index trading and that this was
depriving most people of access to food. Hunger eradication is not a problem of
inadequate food supply but rather the lack of access to food.
Speaker after speaker in
this panel emphasized the key role of women for food security. The former Prime Minister of Mozambique said women smallholders in Africa account for
80% of food production in Africa and therefore
empowering these women with innovative technologies and resources is the best
way to ensure food security.
The Vice President of the World Economic Forum concurred with this
statistic, but reminded us that “hunger has a woman’s face” and that this was
the biggest irony in the world!
So how do we empower
women to be responsible for food and nutrition security?
Celebrated author and scientist, Dr. Vandana Shiva said “ Don’t
disempower women by denying them the right to seeds (referring to patenting of
indigenous crop seeds by multinational corporations), respect women’s role in
food production and stop processes that remove women from playing a central
role in agriculture, example industrialised farming polarises women.”
Former President of Ireland, Mary
Robinson emphatically declared that “food and nutrition are human rights” to a
thunderous audience applause. She added that empowering women is fundamental
and the best way is to ensure that women have land ownership for farming and
ownership of seeds. She said that it is not equitable to make women responsible
for food production without giving them access to land, seeds, finance and most
importantly their dignity!
She added that one-third of children in the world are malnourished and
stunted and that this was a crime against humanity and our future generations.
Anusha Santhirasthipam
International Assistant
Programme Director