Building The Future We Want!

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is running a global online forum for sustainable development accessible through multiple social media platforms.

UN ECOSAC – Building the Future we Want (Photo – UN.org)

The forum is being used to allow people from all over the world the ability to question government officials participating in a meeting to be held on 24^th Sept, 2012.

The forum, which is being conducted through various social media platforms until Sept 24, 2012, seeks to provide people with the opportunity to be part of ECOSOC’s Special Ministerial Meeting.

The meeting is supposed to be an update for progress on the issues discussed at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Brazil in June.

Selected questions from the forum, which has theme of “Building the Future We Want”, will be answered by experts during an interactive dialogue at the meeting on the 24th, which will also be broadcast live from UN Headquarters in New York.

“In Rio, governments renewed and strengthened political commitment to sustainable development. They provided a foundation for building the future we want,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told ECOSOC members during the Council’s recent high-level segment. “We need an agenda that is concrete, action-oriented and focused on poverty eradication, inclusive economic and social development, environmental sustainability and peace and security for all.”

The Rio+20 outcome document, entitled “The Future We Want”, called for a wide range of actions, including beginning the process to establish sustainable development goals, and:-

-         detailing how the green economy can be used as a tool to achieve sustainable development;

-         strengthening the UN Environment Programme (UNEP);

-         promoting corporate sustainability reporting measures;

-         taking steps to go beyond gross domestic product to assess the well-being of a country;

-         developing a strategy for sustainable development financing; and,

-         adopting a framework for tackling sustainable consumption and production.