UNECE at RIO+20

UNECE will participate actively in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in Rio de Janeiro from 20 to 22 June 2012. A compact UNECE delegation, led by Executive Secretary Sven Alkalaj, will showcase how UNECE is already working to make the Green Economy concept operational in its programmes of work. On going initiatives include:

Environment – reduced pollution, green governance and environmental democracy;
Forests – sectoral action plan for the green economy;
Housing – greening real estate markets, green homes and climate neutral cities;
Innovation – eco-innovation and ways to finance it;
Statistics – measuring sustainable development;
Sustainable energy – clean energy and energy efficiency investments;
Transport - worldwide standards for cleaner and smarter vehicles.

The Executive Secretary will speak, or be represented, at various events organized or co-organized by UNECE. He will also host a series of bilateral meetings with high-ranking officials present in Rio.

Rio+20 outcome document

**List of events with UNECE participation**
18 June	All day event	Forest: the heart of a green economy	Ribalta Eventos http://www.fao.org/forestry/trade/76571/en/ The event will highlight the role of forests and forest industries in building the green economy and fostering rural development at the resource base – the two key themes of Rio+20. It will showcase examples of sustainable low-carbon forests products used in new applications, and lessons learned from deploying forest supply chains in the bio-economy.
19 June	8:30 – 17:30	Choosing our future: open and participatory sustainable development Governance	Fundaçao Getulio Vargas Law School – Praia de Botafogo, 190 http://www.accessinitiative.org/choosefuture Governments, civil society groups, and intergovernmental organizations will meet to assess progress and make proposals to move <acronym>Principle 10</acronym> of the 1992 Rio Declaration into the next generation of reforms. The event aims at advancing ideas on how to build legal frameworks at the national, regional and international levels to implement Principle 10.
	17:00 - 19:00	Sharing environment information in action	European Pavilion of EU delegation – Athlete’s Park http://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/what/public-events/eea-at-the-rio-20-conference/eea-side-event-sharing-environmental The event will showcase examples of European progress in the global sharing of environmental information. It will also present Europe's Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) and its principles and foundations.
	19:30 - 21:00	2013 International Year of Water Cooperation	Room T-2 - Rio Centro http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/meetings_sidevents.html This event, organized by UN Water, the United Nations inter-agency coordination mechanism for all freshwater related issues, will showcase best practices in cooperation and dialogue to resolve current water issues. The event aims at advancing ideas for recommendations and effective approaches to strengthen water cooperation among users and countries, and for the implementation of the International Year of Water Cooperation in 2013.
21 June	15:00 -17:00	Green growth and sustainable development – regional perspectives	Room T-2 - Rio Centro http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/meetings_sidevents.html The event, organized jointly by the 5 Regional Commissions, will present specific examples and approaches, ranging from norms and standards to economic instruments and overarching sustainable development frameworks, contributing to the integration of the pillars of sustainable development. These serve to highlight the pivotal role that has been played by the Regional Commissions in promoting and implementing an integrated approach to sustainable development at the regional level.
	14:30 - 18:00	Greening the real estate market: the development of a dustainable real estate sector	Windsor Barra Hotel & Congresos - Av. Lucio Costa, 2630 - Barra da Tijuca http://www.unece.org/index.php?id=29906 Building on the UNECE Policy Framework for Sustainable Real Estate Markets, adopted in 2010, this event will provide decision makers with tools to identify the steps needed to improve market sustainability and to promote the real estate sector as a driving force in the provision of social, economic and environmental benefits.
22 June	13:00 – 14:30	What is your priority action for the forest sector in a green economy?	Room P3-A – Rio Centro http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/meetings_sidevents.html The event will showcase the draft Action Plan for the Forest Sector in a Green Economy developed by the UNECE Timber Committee and the FAO European Forestry Commission. The plan covers the following sectors: sustainable production and consumption of forest products; the low-carbon forest sector; decent green jobs in the forest sector; valuation of and payment for forest ecosystem services and monitoring and governance of the forest sector.