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SDKP:
Workshop, New York, 8-10 May 2010

The Challenge of Sustainability: A Workshop in Preparation for Rio+20

8-10 May 2010
New York

Background

This workshop is intended as an opening serving as an introduction to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (also called "Rio+20") workshop series.

The workshop was co-organized by:

  • Professor Steve Marglin, Walter S. Barker Chair, Department of Economics, Harvard University, and
  • the United Nations Division for sustainable Development

It was financially supported by the Fetzer Institute.

Objectives

The main objective of the workshop was to engage a discussion among seasoned experts from different disciplines on both the possibility of global sustainable growth based on absolute decoupling of growth from additional inputs of material resources and the desirability of growth. The minimal goal was to understand the fault lines in this discussion; the maximal goal was to bring the various sides closer together in a common understanding of the role of growth in sustainable development.

A broader objective was to highlight priorities relative to the future of sustainable development that would need to be addressed in the course of the preparation of the Rio+20 conference.

More details are available in the Concept Note.

Format

The workshop was organized so as to provide maximum time for free-flowing discussion between experts. 11 participants were asked to prepare short position papers that were shared between participants before the workshop. Authors briefly presented their papers at the beginning of the sessions, after which a general discussion proceeded.

The last hours of the meeting were used to recapitulate the points of agreement and disagreement and prepare a joint statement reflecting a broad consensus among participants.

Outputs

The main output of the meeting is a Joint Statement, signed by most of the participants to the meeting. The statement aims to reflect a consensus position among experts coming from different disciplines on the long-term imperatives and directions for change in order to achieve sustainability.

Based on the discussions held during the meeting, several complementary outputs are contemplated, including:

  • dissemination of the joint statement through networks of NGOs, on a voluntary basis,
  • follow-up articles based in part on content discussed during the meeting, to be published by subsets of participants in scientific journals or newspapers. Those will be referenced on this website as they become available.