RIO+ Centre newsletter - October/2013 - No 1 View this email in your browser

RIO+ follows international development agenda

RIO DE JANEIRO (October) - Following its mandate of promoting sustainable

development throughout the world, the RIO+ Centre has been actively

participating in several international events over the past couple of months, including

a high level event on social protection and inequality held on the margins of the 68th

General Assembly, two climate change-related events in Africa and a seminar with

acclaimed sustainable architect Shigeru Ban .

Social protection policies and inequality, United Nations

Secretariat, New York - The RIO+Centre was invited by the International

Labour Organization to participate in a high level debate together with the

Government of Brazil and the Government of Belgium to discuss the role that social

policies can play in the fight against inequality. Dr Rômulo Paes de Sousa, Director of

the RIO+, shared insights on the conceptual and practical dimensions of the social

protection experience in various countries and how these learnings can inform the

thinking on a post 2015 development agenda.

The panel saw the participation of Belgium’s Minister of Development

Cooperation, Mr. Jean-Pascal Labille; ILO’s general-director, Mr. Guy Rider; ILO’s

director of Multilateral Cooperation, Mr. Stephen Pursey and Brazilian

Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranhos.

Curaçao’s Prime Minster, Mr Ivar Asjes, Mozambique’s Minister of Women and

Social Affairs, Ms Iolanda Cintura and Ms Izabel Ortiz from the Initiative for Policy

Dialogue also spoke at the meeting.

For the link about the event, click here.

ILO Director-General gives opening speech in social protection event. Photo: Jean-Pascal Labille

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HIGHLIGHTS

Shigeru Ban speaks at RIO+ event in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Diego Amorim/RIO+ Centre

Shigeru Ban debates sustainable architecture

Innovative Solutions for Urban Architecture (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) –

Discussions around sustainable cities have been growing steadily in the last few

years as urban centers grow in population and size, consuming an increasing amount

of resources. As such, urban planning and the creation of sustainable solutions have

become a mandatory part of the debate to improve the quality of life at the municipal

level.

With its mandate of promoting innovation, the RIO+ Centre brought the

renowned Japanese architect Shigeru Ban to Rio de Janeiro to discuss innovative

solutions for urban architecture, including energy efficient buildings and

temporary structures for events and for humanitarian relief in conflict and disaster

areas.

With over 100 people that crowded the theater of the outstanding Rio de

Janeiro's art museum MAR, Mr Ban talked about his projects and life experience

working in with environment efficient materials, like cardboard and timber, which

can be easily disposed and reutilized in other constructions, differently from concrete

and steel.

Ban has worked in several countries, from New Zealand and Japan to France

and Spain. To see Ban’s work, click here.

Somali women carry their sick and malnourished children outside a medical clinic established in Somalia, after a severe drought that has ravaged large swaths of the Horn of Africa in 2011, leaving an estimated 11 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Photo: Stuart Price/UN Photos

Multiple Dimensions of Climate Change

Gendered Dimensions of Climate Change, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - An

expert group meeting on climate change impacts on women and girls was held in

order to review articles. RIO+Centre's Policy Specialist Leisa Perch served as a

discussant for a paper on the agreement protocols and frameworks for gender and

climate change at the global level and how these have informed regional, national and

local policy efforts. The papers reviewed in the meeting will be published in a book

by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis

Network (FANRPAN), Maseru, Lesotho - Ms. Perch participated in a high level

dialogue, held in September to discuss policies, examples and solutions for a

proposed Community of Practice for Climate-Smart Agriculture which is to be hosted

by FANRPAN as part of a NORAD-funded initiative.

Climate-Smart Agriculture put into Practice: Innovative Approaches

in Latin America, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. RIO+ participated in this event, held

to debate climate finance and the carbon market in the region, where Ms. Perch

served as a moderator on the panel. The event was held in lead up to the recent Latin

America and Caribbean Carbon Forum (LACCF).

Chapter 13: Poverty and Livelihoods, IPCC Fifth Assessment

Report Ms Perch is one of the Lead Authors for of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report

and as such participated in the last Lead Authors meeting which was held in July

2013 in Bled, Slovenia. The final draft of the Chapter was recently submitted by the

Coordinating Lead Authors, concluding a multi-year process of review of the

available literature and knowledge on this theme in the context of climate change.

UNDP's knowledge management

specialist Laura Hildebrandt joined the

RIO+ Centre team in early October, from

New York.

She will be responsible for

reactivating the Rio Dialogues online

platform, promoting broad based

engagement in the debate on sustainable

development with the general public.

Laura is the seventh person to join

the RIO+ Centre team since its creation in

June/2013 and will be here for a 3-6

months span.

A partnership between UNDP and

the Government of Brazil, the Rio

Dialogues provided a forum for academia,

civil society, private sector and the general

public to draft and prioritize

recommendations to world leaders at the

Rio+20 Conference.

SHORT NOTES

Rômulo Paes de Sousa (RIO+ Centre), Thereza Lobo (Rio como Vamos), Hermano Castro (Fiocruz/ENSP)

In the news media

RIO+ has also been in the media. Dr. Rômulo Paes de Sousa, the Centre's

director, gave an interview to Canal Saúde's TV program "Sala de Convidados",

which is also broadcasted through national public channel NBR. Paes and the guests

Hermano Castro, from Fiocruz's public health school ENSP, and Thereza Lobo, from

ONG Rio como Vamos, discussed how big cities today face several challenges

regarding sustainability and life quality.

To watch the full video, in Portuguese only, click here.

FAO's technical paper

Dr. Rômulo Paes de Sousa, director of the RIO+ Centre, served as advisor in a high

level panel to stablish the methodology of FAO's technical paper "The Food

Insecurity Experience Scale: Development of a Global Standard for

Monitoring Hunger Worldwide", published in October/2013 and made by Terri

J. Ballard, Anne W. Kepple and Carlo Cafiero. To access the paper, click here.

Upcoming:

- International Conference on Agricultural Statistics (ICAS), from 23 to 25

October/2013 in Rio de Janeiro, promoted by IBGE. The Centre's director will be a

keynote speaker on the first day of meetings. For the full programme, click here.

- Technical workshop for the discussion of international experiences

regarding longitudinal panels studies on poverty, from 22 to 24

October/2013 in Brasilia, promoted by EuroSocial Program and Brazil's Social

Development Ministry.

RIO+ from day one:

October

V Seminar on Technology Management and Innovation on Health. To see the

website, click here (Portuguese only).

September

RIO+ Centre presentation in UNDP BBL meeting. To watch the video, click

here (English). Special Program on Sustainable Development and Health Equity (SDE), a

dialogue on the work of the United Nations Development Programme

(UNDP) and the World Centre for Sustainable Development (RIO+Centre),

promoted by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Keynote speaker at CEBEDS's corporate sustainability event "Sustentável

2013". Institutional sponsorship at the "Sustainable Cities" event, in Rio de Janeiro,

Brazil.

August

Interview to IPC-IG on cash transfer policies. To watch the interview, click

here (Portuguese only). Presentation about social protection policies in Brazil and Latin America and

the post-2015 agenda at Fiocruz/ENSP, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. To watch

the video, click here (Portuguese only).

July

Interview to Health Channel about the RIO+ Centre's creation. To watch it,

click here (Portuguese only). Sustainable Cities debate at UFRJ/COPPE, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in

partnership with COPPE and the University of Tsinghua.

Interview to German news agency DW about the creation of the RIO+ Centre.

To read the interview, click here (Portuguese only).

June

8th Global Conference on Health Promotion, in Helsinki, Finland. To watch

the video and see the presentation (both in English), click here. For the

conference website, click here. International Panel and Technical Seminar on Conditional Cash Transfer

programs, in Brasilia, Brazil. Promoted by IPC-IG.

May

ISAGS conference on Social Determinants of Health, in Rio de Janeiro,

Brazil. To watch the video, click here; for institutional news, click here.

The World Centre for Sustainable Development (RIO+ Centre) is a legacy of the Rio+20

Conference on Sustainable Development and was set up to inspire and inform policies and

practices that lead to greater social, environmental and economic justice. It works with

governments, civil society and the private sector to stimulate dialogue and action on alternative

development pathways. As a global centre based in the south, RIO+ aims to bolster south-south

cooperation and facilitate the participation of the global south in international efforts on

sustainable development.

RIO+ Centre team:

Director: Rômulo Paes de Sousa

Deputy Director: Layla Saad

Policy Specialist: Leisa Perch

Rio Dialogues Specialist: Laura Hildebrandt

Program Associate: Ione Nascimento

Administrative Clerk: Wilians Alves

Communications:

Sérgio Spagnuolo

sergio.spagnuolo@undp.org

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