New York, March 7th, 2011– The second meeting of the Preparatory Committee for Rio +20 began today, March 7th at the UN Headquarters in New York. The PrepComm meetings are coordinated to discuss substantive and procedural issues in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2012. marking the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).

Eleanor Blomstrom spoke on behalf of the Women's Major Group

This morning, stakeholder groups took the floor to address the co-chair of the assembly planning committee, John Ash, and national delegations on what they hope to achieve at Rio in 2012. Eleanor Blomstrom of WEDO, spoke on behalf of the Women’s Major Group, coordinated in partnership with  Energia, WECF, IUCN, WOCAN, Earth Day Network, and others.  As Eleanor shared, “Many of the growing challenges to address at Rio 2012 severely impact women.  Climate change will exacerbate all other challenges, especially ecosystem degradation and water and food insecurity.  Addressing these challenges requires gender analysis to design, target and monitor effective policies and programs that benefit all communities.”

The Women’s Major Group called for the following items from Rio+20:

• A road map on the green and social economy, with measurable and verifiable targets, indicators and timeline;
• An agreement for a coordinated system for strengthened international governance of sustainable development that recognizes the essential role of women;
• Consideration of instating a high commissioner on environment and sustainable development;
• A global agreement on principle 10 which calls for civil society engagement; and
• Gender balance on sustainable development advisory boards and committees.

At Rio 2012, the world has the opportunity to lead a transformation of global processes, in which women play an integral part. WEDO, as always, will work to ensure that women’s rights and gender equality are driving principles of this transformation.