Islamabad: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) has appointed Ambassador (R) Shafqat Kakakhel to prepare a report on Pakistan’s preparatory process for the forthcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as Rio+20 to be held in Brazil in June 2012.
Shafqat Kakakhel is former Ambassador, Assistant Secretary General/Deputy Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) during 1998-2007 and currently Senior Advisor at Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad. He will work closely with the Government of Pakistan, the UN Country Team, and all foreign and national stakeholders. The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan’s premier, not-for-profit policy research and advocacy organization, has also agreed to set-up a support team to assist Ambassador Kakakhel in the process.
Mr. Kakakhel would work on stocktaking report on the policies adopted and actions taken by Pakistan since the Rio Summit in 1992 to promote sustainable development, based on desk research and interviews with key stakeholders, including government and major groups, the UN entities and other multilateral partners in Pakistan. He would also organize a national workshop for holding multi-stakeholder consultations on the objectives and themes of the UNCSD; and prepare documents comprising the outcome of the consultations. Finally, based upon contents of the stocktaking report and outcome of the stakeholder’s consultations, he would prepare a comprehensive report on Pakistan’s preparatory process for the forthcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD).
The UNCSD is focusing on green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication and the institutional framework for sustainable development. The objective of the conference is to secure renewed political commitments for sustainable development, assess the progress to date, identify the remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits on sustainable development, and address new and emerging challenges.
UNDESA is supporting 21 countries in their national preparations, through appointing and funding experienced persons as consultants. Pakistan is one of the countries being supported. This national report is meant to identify the key issues and barriers to addressing the green economy from the perspective of government, major groups and donors; propose institutional arrangements for sustainable development, and make recommendations to strengthen the national sustainable development agenda based on the inputs in the preparatory process.
The preparatory process for UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is being handled by a secretariat led by Sha Zu Kang, Under Secretary General, UNDESA, and driven by member states through a 16-member Bureau representing all regions.
UN General Assembly Resolution 64/236 on the convening of the UNCSD encourages “…the active participation of all major groups… at all stages of the preparatory process” It also “…encourages interregional and bilateral donors and other countries in a position to do so, to support the preparations for the Conference through voluntary contributions to the Commission’s Trust Fund and to support the participation of representatives of developing countries.
For more information, contact:
Faisal Nadeem Gorchani
Coordinator, Policy Advocacy and Outreach
Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)
38 Embassy Road, G-6/3 Islamabad, Pakistan
Postal Code: 44000
Tel: +92-51-2278134, (Ext: 113)
Fax: +92-51-2278135
Cell: 00-92-333-559 2210
Email: main@sdpi.org