Through this campaign, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) sheds light the exorbitant cost of recovery assistance following natural disasters, and urges wealthy nations to spend now in order to save later.

The campaign aims to raise awareness of the stark economic and human costs of natural disasters.  Not only have natural disasters killed more than a million people and affected over a quarter of the global population since 2000; they have also cost the world upwards of US$1 trillion.

Learn more about what the UN is doing on this topic on the website of the Office of the UN Office for  Disaster  Risk Reduction (UNISDR) http://www.unisdr.org

For more information on the campaign please click here

The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) launched an insightful film on Green Economy and Sustainable Development: Bringing Back the Social as the first of the series “Bringing the Social to Rio+20“. The film,which is available below, uses footage from recordings and interviews from the 2011 UNRISD conference, “Green Economy and Sustainable Development: Bringing Back the Social Dimension“. It explores green economy’s potential as a path to inclusive, sustainable development and poverty eradication.

Rio+20: An opportunity to refocus on social sustainability

Rio+20 provides us with an opportunity to: (i) sustain the focus on people-centred development and to build on last year’s MDG Summit; (ii) undertake a critical review of what has worked and the cause of our failures; and (iii) bring inclusion and inclusiveness more centrally into the discussions. It is for this reason that the focus on institutional frameworks is as important as the green economy itself. Without strong and effective governance mechanisms, including formal and informal mechanisms, for negotiating across competing needs and interests, much of the efforts to “go green” will likely follow up the path of previous efforts.

Often treated as important but not priority or strategic entry points, poverty reduction and gender equality must now move squarely to the center of the agenda. We have often failed to appreciate the way in which poverty forces the poor to rely exclusively on environmental resources for livelihoods and survival or how engines of growth are reliant on the quality and quantity of natural resources. 96% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is dependent on rain-fed agriculture. At present, more than a billion persons still live on less than USD 1.25 a day, more than 2.6 billion lack access to safe and hygienic sanitation facilities (of these more than 300 million are Africans) and women in Africa spend quite substantial hours collecting water annually (ActionAid, 2009). In Sub-Saharan Africa alone about 140 million people live with the constant threat of droughts or floods.

How to advance the social sustainability agenda at Rio+20? Refer to the following IPC-IG and UNRISD resources and publications:

Green Economies with Social Futures [IPC-IG in the media]

The Dimensions of Inclusive Development [IPC-IG Poverty in Focus magazine]

Interview with Leisa Perch on Rio+20 [IPC-IG article]

Mitigation of What and by What? Adaptation by Whom and for Whom? Dilemmas in Delivering for the Poor and the Vulnerable in International Climate Policy  [IPC-IG working paper]

UNRISD Flagship Report “Combating Poverty and Inequality” 

watch?v=MVFn_F491sU

Are you interested in this subject? Would you like to learn more about the current crisis in the Horn of Africa and how developing countries are tackling hunger around the world? Refer to the following resources by the UNDP International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) in Brasilia:

East Africa Food Crisis: Understand the Importance of Smallholder Farmers – IPC-IG article

Comparative study analyzes food security situation in Brazil, India and South Africa – IPC-IG publications and evaluations

The future of food security lies in the hands of women farmers – IPC-IG article

The implementation of Brazil’s food security policies – IPC-IG publications and evaluations

Can food security and food procurement initiatives facilitate enhanced production capabilities and market access for smallholder farmers? Lessons from Brazil’s food Acquisition Programme (PAA) - IPC-IG events

Food Security in Brazil, India and South Africa: Cooperation Still Lacking – IPC-IG article

Food (In)security: The Paradox of Hunger and Obesity in the BRIC countries – IPC-IG article

The Rio favelas are mainly comprised of people of Afro Brazilian decent from the Northeast. Many journeyed to the South in search of a better life. Today, Rio’s population has skyrocketed  turning it into a sprawling city of 5 + million people and a major financial hub in the country. For most favela residents, despite Rio’s economic progress, many still find themselves confined to a life of social deprivation following endless years of blunt socio economic discrimination at the hands of the Brazilian state and the wealthier population. Rios favela residents have endured deep rooted structural violence since their arrival in the city. Violence largely unnoticed, but intricately intertwined in every facet of their lives. Beyond being a place of socio economic destitution, the favelas have also become an epicenter of gang related and pervasive violence, a violence which has had a rippling effect on the lives of the residents, young and old. Gang related violence has often involved extremely intense and deadly confrontation with Brazilian police.  

Violence between the two entities has raged gruesomely. To suppress the power of the drug cartels and establish authority in Rio’s favelas, the Brazilian state since the 1980s until 2008, had tried to fight violence with violence by way of deploying a “Special Police Operations Battalion”(BOPE), one example being an armored vehicle known as the ”Caveirão” (“Big Skull”) introduced in 2003,as a measure of stabilizing the favelas. BOPE’s tactics and the implementation of “ Caveirão” ended up instilling fear and resentment in the respective favela communities following charges that the vehicles and its passengers  applied physical and psychological threats. Beyond state security, residents have also been subjected to informal security through Militias (armed paramilitary-style groups).

In 2008, Brazil adopted a human rights approach to combating violence in which policy began to  respect, protect and fulfill the rights of its citizens thus living up to national and international human rights conventions. In upholding its promise, the state of Brazil introduced Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora ( UPP)- a pacifying/peacekeeping unit. The UPP was installed in the city of God in 2009. Santa Marta was introduced to the UPP in 2008.  Since the presence of the UPP both favelas, residents have been able to obtain fundamental freedoms. For the first time many now have adequate access to better social opportunities, economic facilities, political freedoms, transparent guarantees and protective security as outlined by Amartya Sen. Both favelas have also seen an increase in social and economic investment. 

The implementation of the UPP and the increasing funding towards enhancing fundamental freedoms in the City of God and Santa Marta have had resounding impacts especially upon the younger generation. But many challenges still remain. Police units are under paid thus forcing many to resort to a life of corruption. In recent years, the media has also stylized the violence in favelas thus reproducing a negative image. Lack of research has also contributed to reinforcing a negative image of the favela and people who live in it. Additionally, many residents in both favelas are weary, especially the older generations fear UPP removal post  2014 world cup and 2016 Olympics. The younger generation however, is more optimistic. Lets hope their optimism will continue to shift the security paradigm of Rio de Janeiro and greater Brazil.

 by Charlotte Lazarus. See below interview with Mary Robbins:

See Ms Mary Robbins presentation slides here.