I just finished a conference call where more than a dozen NGO leaders were holding a discussion with representatives from the US Departments of State, Education, and Labor. The meeting was entitled, “Rio+20 Social Pillar Stakeholder Consultations.” (You may have noticed in the recent AASHE Announcements that we have established a website for collecting input from the higher education sustainability community for the Compilation Document for the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development known as Rio+20.) Toward the end of the call one of the participants asked whether RIO+20 would make any difference. I believe the answer is “YES” to much of world and “POSSIBLY” to those areas where Agenda 21 (the outcomes document of the original Rio conference 20 years ago) was ignored.

The two main themes of Rio+20 are Green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication and Institutional framework for sustainable development. In the conversation this morning we were reacting to statements/priorities drawn up by Education and Labor that focused on the green economy theme. Education’s priorities were for K-12, a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education as it relates to human activities, health, ecosystems and sustainability. Labor’s priorities focused on worker skills, worker rights, and social safety nets for displaced workers.

First, let me commend the interagency group (which includes 15 departments/agencies) for inviting the NGOs to provide their input to the US position. The discussion was robust and indicated a need to expand the understanding of a green economy to to look at not just the STEM disciplines but all of education. There were also comments about protecting not only individual workers but also the health of the communities that might be impacted by a green economy.

All of these are important ideas when thinking about a green economy but they work from the assumption that such an economy is either in existence or inevitable. What seemed to be missing was a discussion about how we CREATE the green economy. And this is where we all come into the discussion. The green economy (defined by the UNEP as: an economy that results in “improved human well-being and social equity while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcity”) is what we all need to be envisioning as we think about how we create a sustainable world. And it’s not just about us – we need to do this as a global community, i.e. a global green economy.

Rio+20 has the potential to develop (part of) the blueprint for the creation of a global green economy. What will happen to that blueprint? Twenty years ago, the creation of Agenda 21 led to many nations accepting the document as a guide for national practices. I was impressed when I was in South Korea earlier this year about the extent to which they use Agenda 21 as a framework and benchmark for their progress. The US is one of the more conspicuous “ignorers” of Agenda 21. We ought not let that happened again. Rio+20 can matter to all of us if a) we engage in providing input to shape it and b) we ask our governments, educational institutions, NGOs, and the business and labor communities to pay attention to a blueprint in which we all have a stake. The green economy will not “just happen.” The green economy needs all of us working to shape it, define it, and make it whole. Join with us by providing your thoughts today!

Paul Rowland, AASHE Executive Director