Helen Clark & Tarja Halonen on Rio+20 at Kapuscinski lecture in Helsinki, 7.05.2012

Helsinki, Finland – 7 May, 2012 – Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator and Tarja Halonen, former Finnish President delivered a lecture "Resetting the global development agenda at the Rio+20 summit", hosted by the University of Helsinki and Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Watch recorded video. Date: 7.05.2012.

Content from the lecture in Helsinki:

Twenty years after the historic Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro the international community meets this June at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, expected to be one of the largest such gatherings of world leaders in recent times. Over 120 heads of state and government have indicated their intention to participate in the Rio+20 conference. The participants will discuss the threefold development agenda which addresses social, economic and environmental concerns. In the aftermath of the conference the global development agenda could require a significant shift in policy and practice towards sustainable development.

Will the world leaders trigger debate on new Sustainable Development Goals for the post-2015 period? How should the global development agenda improve in practice, beyond only changing the wording? What is the role of governance in sustainable development? Will the Rio+20 conference mark the end of GDP as the only measurement of development? Tarja Halonen, former President of Finland and Helen Clark, Administrator of UNDP discussed at the "Kapuscinski development lecture" in Helsinki those and other questions and expectations raised ahead of the Rio conference. Tarja Halonen is the co-chair of the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability.

The event is part of the "Kapuscinski development lectures" initiative of the European Commission, the United Nations Development Programme. Experts from around the world deliver lectures on development and development cooperation at universities and think-tanks across the European Union. The series “Kapuscinski Lectures” is named for Ryszard Kapuscinski, a Polish reporter and writer who covered developing countries. The lecture in Helsinki is organized by the University of Helsinki, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, European Commission and UNDP.

Date: 7.05.2012, 10:00 EEST (9:00 CET)

Venue: Small Hall, 4^th floor, Fabianinkatu 33, University of Helsinki, Helsinki

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