More Voices from Japan Required in Future, Says Committee Reviewing Japan's Role in U.N.'s Rio+20 Conference in 2012

The Ninth Japanese Preparatory Committee for Rio+20 was held in Tokyo on January 28, 2013. The committee was first established in July 2011 to promote dialogue among various stakeholders for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, known as Rio+20, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012. It has since been sending out information to the world, facilitating exchanges of opinions, and submitted results of the discussions to the United Nations Secretariat.

At this day of discussions, the final day for the Committee, participants reported on activities after Rio+20, exchanged opinions on the challenges towards Rio+30. They included citizen groups, businesses, and government officials who had participated in Rio+20.

From among the citizen groups, a women's group representative mentioned that they wanted to reinforce international collaboration by sending out more information from Japan. A youth representative talked about the need to strengthen Japan's presence in the world, and they shared both recognition that enhancing Japan's communication ability would help contribute more to world.

Some pointed out the ambiguity between the "Sustainable Development Goals" (SDGs), which identify issues to tackle going forward, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are supposed to be achieved by 2015. An official from the Ministry of the Environment presented a framework of research for goals and governance to promote sustainable development, which will newly start from fiscal 2013, as he believes that interdisciplinary research is necessary.

Related JFS article:
Japanese Private Citizen Sector Efforts Toward Rio+20
After Rio+20 -- How to Deliver the Voices of Civil Society to Decision-makers?