
International Conferences
Public Conference

RIO+20: Challenges, Opportunities and Responses
Uni-Dufour, Geneva, 10th May 2012
20 years after the 1992 Earth Summit, The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development will be held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012. This conference, known as Rio+20, will focus mainly on promoting a green economy and reforming the institutional framework for sustainable development.
There are numerous challenges and the international community faces increasing difficulties to reach common agreements to take action, as illustrated by the effective implementation of the Kyoto protocol. Rio+20 is a unique opportunity to redefine a global framework for action, through institutional reforms, enabling a green economy and defining Sustainable Development Goals.
Are these responses at the level of the challenges? The speakers will exchange their perspectives on issues that are increasingly treated along the “North-South” divide and give insights about what the world can expect from the Rio+20 conference.
Daniel ZIEGERER
Daniel Ziegerer is acting Head of Global Affairs at the Federal Environment Office in Switzerland. Before that he was a Senior Policy Adviser at the International Affairs Division of the Swiss Office for the Environment. He coordinates the involvement and activities of the Swiss Government with UNEP and with the CSD and represents his government in international conferences and negotiations on environmental matters. Before joining the Swiss Office for the Environment, Daniel Ziegerer worked as Policy Adviser for the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law (SPDA) in its Biodiversity and International Affairs Programme and for the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs in its Economic Development Cooperation Division.
Dr Sarah COOK
Dr Sarah Cook is Director of UNRISD since 2009. She moved to UNRISD from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex, UK, where she had been a Research Fellow since 1996. She also worked for the Ford Foundation as Programme Officer for Governance and Public Policy from 2000-2005. Ms. Cook received her PhD in Public Policy from Harvard University.
October 28th 2010: Public Conference for the launch of UNIGE-UNEP new executive programmes
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People on the Move:
Impacts of Climate Change on Human Well-being
(Public Conference | October 28th 2010 | University of Geneva)
Prof. Michael OPPENHEIMER, IPCC & Princeton University, USA
Dr Koko WARNER, United Nations University, Bonn, Germany


