U.S. State Department Announces Rio +20 Delegation, Hillary Clinton Included

By Timothy Herrmann | June 14, 2012

Here is the official wire:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Head U.S. Delegation to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will head the U.S. delegation to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20, which will take place June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Secretary also plans to meet with key world leaders while at the conference.

Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, will serve as alternate head of delegation, and Todd Stern, Special Envoy on Climate Change, will serve as chief negotiator. This conference commemorates 20 years since the June 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (the “Earth Summit”).

In addition to Secretary Clinton, Administrator Jackson, and Special Envoy Stern, the U.S. Delegation will include the following U.S. government representatives:

· Ambassador Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., Ambassador of the United States to Brazil

· Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality

· Kerri-Ann Jones, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs

· Ambassador Elizabeth Cousens, U.S. Representative to the UN Economic and Social Council

· Carlos Pascual, Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs, Department of State

· Reta Jo Lewis, Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs, Department of State

· Kris Balderston, Special Representative for Global Partnerships, Department of State

· Don Steinberg, Deputy Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development

· Elizabeth L. Littlefield, President and CEO, Overseas Private Investment Corporation

Other members of the U.S. Delegation include technical experts from the Department of State, the United States Mission to the UN, the United States Agency for International Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the United States Trade Representative, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy and the Treasury Department. They will also be accompanied by nine Private Sector Advisors representing business, state and local officials, non-government organizations, youth, women, and labor.

For more information, please visit: http://state.gov/rio20

The U.S. will also set up a “US Center” at the conference site to host its own side events related to Sustainable Development. You can download the schedule here.

For the moment it appears that the official U.S. delegation attending the conference with Clinton is not coming to stir up any trouble related to abortion or “sexual and reproductive rights”. We will keep you posted.

Additionally, the events sponsored by the US center seem to focus mostly on the environment and sustainable practices and to be avoiding the sexual and reproductive health debate and population control. There are two events however, that have our interest peaked:

1. Women and Natural Resources

Sponsor: U.S. Agency for International Development Friday, June 22 12:30 – 2:00 pm

Speakers:
• Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administrator, US Agency for International Development • Dr. Jeannette Gurung, Executive Director, Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture
and Natural Resource Management
• Dr. Deborah Shields, Professor, Department of Economics, Colorado State University
• Kerri-Ann Jones (invited), Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International
Environmental and Scientific Affairs

Event Summary: It is critical to good governance to understand women‘s distinct roles in natural resource management, but often a heavy burden of domestic and economic responsibilities limits women’s involvement in community activities. These limitations have kept women in some societies politically and culturally marginalized from decision making structures that affect their access to resources. Increasing women’s involvement in and access to decision making on natural resource management can benefit societies as a whole.

and

2. Making Population Matter: Reaping the Demographic Dividend for Sustainable Development

Primary Sponsor: U.S. Agency for International Development Thursday, June 21
3:30 – 5:00 pm

Speakers:

• Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administrator at U.S. Agency for International Development
• Dr. Eliya Msiyaphazi Zulu, Executive Director of the African Institute for Development
Policy (AFIDEP)
• Peggy Clark, Vice President of Policy Programs and Executive Director of Aspen Global
Health and Development at the Aspen Institute
• Cassio M. Turra, Associate Professor of Demography at UFMG and Vice-President for
the Brazilian Association of Population Studies

Event Summary: The Demographic Dividend is the opportunity that arises when a country transitions from high to low rates of fertility and child and infant mortality. This transition creates a generation that is significantly larger than the generations immediately preceding and following it. As this group enters working age, they have the ability to enter into productive economic activities and invest savings at relatively high rates, thus spurring heightened economic growth. This growth depends however, on the right enabling policy environment. Favorable demographics do not guarantee increased economic growth. For example, while a number of countries in East Asia realized increased growth from 1965 to 1990 through a combination of demography and policy, a period often referred to as the region’s “economic miracle”, many other countries missed their opportunities during the same time period, despite favorable demographics, in large part due to poor governance and weak policies. Sub-Saharan Africa’s ability to capitalize on its upcoming demographic promise is currently the source of much discussion.

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