The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development on Monday begins two weeks of preparations for the 2012 Earth Summit, Rio+20, set for next year in Rio de Janeiro.
Discussion will focus on drawing up policy recommendations for promoting more efficient, equitable and safe use of the world’s resources, it was reported.
The preparatory committee is composed of 53 countries, including Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Cuba, Uruguay and Venezuela for Latin America and the Caribbean.
A draft UN report says the unsustainable and inequitable use of resources has placed many of the world’s ecosystems at the point of no return.
The main challenges today are climate change, the loss of biodiversity, increased soil degradation and the growing scarcity of water resources, the report says.
In December, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed the former senator and Minister of Energy and Environment of Barbados, Elizabeth Thompson, as executive coordinator of the conference next year.
The Rio +20 was convened by the UN General Assembly to be held in June 2012 at the highest possible level, including heads of state and government, 20 years after the so-called Earth Summit held in the same Brazilian city.
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