Brazil and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil— As a major and concrete legacy of the Rio+20 Conference, the
Brazilian Government announced the creation of Rio+ Centre, the World Centre
for Sustainable Development, at a ceremony this morning attended by Izabella
Teixeira, Brazil’s Minister for the Environment and Helen Clark, United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator.
The Rio+
Centre will facilitate research, knowledge exchange and promote international
debate about sustainable development. It will bring together a broad
international consortium of partners, consisting of government agencies, United
Nations agencies, local governments (including the state government and
municipality of Rio de Janeiro), NGOs, universities, think-tanks and the
private sector.
“For us
it’s really important to have a legacy here after Rio+20, in the city of Rio de
Janeiro. Our universities, various sectors of society, the business community
and everyone here wants to work hard for this legacy,’’ announced Minister
Teixeira, and added that $5 million in seed money for the Centre’s operations
had already been secured.
UNDP
Administrator Helen Clark, welcomed the partnership: “Brazil’s President Dilma
Rousseff has said that not only is it possible to grow and to include, protect,
and conserve at the same time, but also truly sustainable development requires
that we do so, and at UNDP we believe the same thing.”
“Governments,
private sector, and civil society actors will be able to use this Centre to
learn from each other’s experiences, identify people and partners with critical
expertise, plan ahead, and design programmes and policies. UNDP can contribute
with its extensive networks of experience and expertise to this new Centre. We
have a long history of capacity development support, and an established role as
an impartial broker who can connect sustainable development initiatives that
need to go up scale,” Helen Clark noted.
At the
moment of its launch, the Rio+ Centre counts on the support of nearly 25
Brazilian and international institutions, which displays the success achieved
by the initiative, as well as the inclusive and participatory nature of its
conception.
Luciano
Coutinho, President of Brazil's Development Bank (Banco Nacional de
Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social, BNDES) stated that “BNDES joins the
Brazilian government in supporting the Rio+ Centre and welcomes the UNDP and
other partner institutions in this important initiative arising from
Rio+20. It will create a unique space
for discussion of innovative ideas and actions for building a sustainable
world.”
According
to the official announcement of Brazil’s Ministry of External Relations, the
Rio+ Centre “is born with the mission to be a main reference centre for the
promotion of one of the defining debates of this century: the integration
between the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable
development.”
The
objective behind the creation of the Rio+ Centre is to build on new and
innovative mechanisms for engaging the participation of local governments,
civil society, business and academia in knowledge exchange and discussions
around the subject.
From the outset,
the Rio+ Centre will provide continuity to the discussions launched by the Rio
Dialogues for Sustainable Development (www.riodialogues.com). The Dialogues
were launched by the Government of Brazil with the support of UNDP in the
lead-up to Rio+20 as a way of actively ensuring inputs of civil society and
experts worldwide.
The new
centre will build on the successful existing partnership between the Government
of Brazil and UNDP: the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth
(IPC-IG), established in 2004, in Brasilia.
Since its founding, IPC-IG has been playing a key role in the dialogue
between countries of the South on policies for social protection and inclusion,
development innovation as well as rural and sustainable development issues.
The Rio+
Centre facilities will be initially hosted by Federal University of Rio de
Janeiro’s Institute of Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering
(COPPE/UFRJ), at the Ilha do Fundão Campus. Rio's Municipality has stated its
willingness to provide a space for the future headquarters of Rio+ Centre.
The
establishment of the Rio+ Centre initially received support from the following
institutions:
United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
International
Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)
United
Nations Programme for Human Settlements (UN-HABITAT)
International
Labour Organisation (ILO)
Institute
of Advanced Studies, United Nations University (UNU-IAS)
Regional
Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development (RCE)
Government
of the Federative Republic of Brazil
State Government of Rio de Janeiro
Municipality of Rio de Janeiro
Financier
of Studies and Projects (FINEP)
Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social (BNDES)
Center for
Strategic Studies and Management (CGEE)
Global
Institute for Green Technologies and Employment (GIGTech, COPPE / UFRJ)
Center for
Sustainable Development at the University of Brasilia (UNB-CDS )
FGV Network
of Technology and Innovation of Rio de Janeiro (REDETEC)
Technological
Information Network Latin America (RITLA / UNESCO)
National
Confederation of Industry Brazil (CNI)
Brazilian
Service to Support Micro and Small Enterprises (Sebrae)
Brazilian
Business Council for Development (CEBDS)
Brazilian
Foundation for Sustainable Development (FBDS)
BVRio (Bolsa Verde Rio)
Reverurbano
Pro-Natura Foundation
Contact Information
In Rio de Janeiro: Satinder Bindra, Mobile: +1 917 587 9579,
satinder.bindra@undp.org; Daniel de Castro, Mobile +5561 30389117,
Daniel.decastro@undp.org
In New York: Stanislav Saling, Mobile +1 917 346 1955,
stanislav.saling@undp.org
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