Asia – Pacific Regional Preparatory Meeting for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development 2012

Introduction The UN General Assembly passed a resolution in December 2009 to hold a Rio+20 Earth Summit in 2012. The conference will take place in Brazil on 4-6 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. From the first meeting in 1992, the participation of various stakeholder groups was seen as crucial to achieve and promote effective implementation of sustainable development policies. Participation of the stakeholder groups have been promoted with the process developed around nine Major Groups - Business and Industry; Children and Youth; Farmers; Indigenous Peoples; Local Authorities; Non-Governmental Organizations; Scientific and Technological Community; Women; Workers and Trade Unions. The Major Groups and Stakeholders Asia Pacific Meeting 2011 was held from 17–18 October 2011, immediately prior to the Asia–Pacific Regional Preparatory Committee Meeting on 19-20 October, 2011. More than 100 delegates participated in the meeting. Discussions were organized under four themes: Regional and Sub-regional priorities and emerging challenges, Green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, Institutional framework for sustainable development, and Access to information, public participation and environmental justice. Many of the MGS who participated in the meeting also joined the Asia Pacific Regional Preparatory Meeting that took place Oct. 19-20, 2011 in Seoul, where they had an opportunity to share the MGS Asia Pacific statement, which was shared by the elected Vice-Chair, Chee Yokeling, from Third World Network. Different major groups were also able to share their statements during the meeting, which is annexed to the Asia Pacific Statement given below.