Global partnerships to get a push at Delhi summit

"Addressing global challenges requires a collective and concerted effort, involving all actors. Through partnerships and alliances, we increase our chances for success."

- Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General

New Delhi: The Rio Declaration, a short document produced at Rio de Janeiro’s Earth Summit, in Brazil in 1992, states that the only way to have long-term economic progress is to link it with environmental protection, which is only possible if nations establish a new and equitable global partnership, involving governments, their people, key sectors of societies and will hence act as a crucial milestone on the road to achieve sustainable development.

Out of  the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed to by world leaders to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women, it is MDG 8 that focuses on building a global partnership necessary for achieving sustainable development. Towards that end, only a joint collective effort by governments, corporations, NGOs and individuals can actually halve global poverty.

And it is this, among many other goals, what the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) 2012 , the annual summit by the Delhi-based The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), aims to do – bring about disparate stakeholders together and force them to think where the world is headed. "The whole purpose of this platform is to see that we come up with directions and insights by which the global community can really understand the importance of sustainable development, and also come up with ways by which they can actually practice it in real life," says Dr Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, Director General, TERI.

The annual summit that commenced in 2001 has emerged as one of the most credible platforms for international deliberation and dialogue on issues of long-term sustainable development. Each year, it brings together governments, corporates, multilateral and bilateral organisations, media personnel from across the globe to share ideas and experiences on sustainable development.

The theme for this year is 'Protecting the Global Commons: 20 Years Post Rio', and the summit will focus on issues around international environmental problems and also the actions taken towards protecting the planet's natural wealth since the Earth Summit in 1992. It will take into account the awareness that has been created internationally about sustainable development since the Rio Summit and will discuss the future plan of action.

As the DSDS will be the first important congregation of global leaders preceding the Rio+20 summit scheduled in June 2012 in Brazil, its importance cannot be overlooked as also the fact that it will try to bring to the fore the latest information and scientific knowledge concerning healing the planet.

Pachauri feels that the summit will certainly start a dialogue by which some partnerships will be established between the civil society, governments, research, academia and others. Even if the summit does not lead to tangible programmes of action, it would surely lay foundations where different sectors of society realise the need of working together to attain sustainable development, says Pachauri.

To achieve the MDGs by 2015, it is clear that all sections of the society from across the globe will have to work together to stabilize the planet and the DSDS 2012 hopes to give that clarion call so that the earth can meet the needs and aspirations of the current and future generations.