The Daily Star - Mikati leaves for major Brazil environment conference, June 16 2012

BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati left Friday for a much-heralded U.N. conference on development and the environment in Brazil, where he will make Lebanon’s wide-ranging proposal for sustainable development in front of world leaders.

At the conference, to be held in Rio de Janeiro next week, leaders will present their achievements and plans for development that minimize negative environmental impacts.

The meeting will be one of the largest environmental gatherings in recent years, titled Rio +20 as it comes 20 years after nations made pledges for sustainable development at a similar conference in Rio de Janeiro.

This year’s meeting will focus on the relationship between a green economy and poverty reduction.

It will also explore the institutional structure needed for development.

Some environmental organizations are hopeful the meeting will serve as the launching pad for major environment reforms, but many critics say the gathering is unlikely to generate any meaningful change due to the difficulty of achieving any type of global consensus.

Mikati will be heading a delegation that includes the environment, foreign and economy minister.

Lebanon’s national report for the conference contains a stark analysis of the many challenges the country faced in development over the past 20 years.

Unveiled at the Grand Serail earlier this month, the report acknowledges the government’s generally ineffective approach to development that fails to provide broad policy changes, as well as a number of political challenges that have continued to set the country back.

It calls for accelerating political, social and economic reform, rooting out corruption and adopting a wide-ranging new development strategy to generate jobs, energy and create better urban planning.

The plan’s recommendations to the conference call for the establishment of an environmental court and rethinking the global economy.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Jun-16/177046-mikati-leaves-for-major-brazil-environment-conference.ashx