Analysis of the most recent text on food security

By Nimisha Bastedo, Anna Odell, Clara de Iturbe and Lara Shirley Having watched the development of the issue of food security in the negotiating text from the original release of the Zero Order Draft to the current negotiating text, we have identified some key areas that are particularly relevant and/or contentious in the facilitator’s suggested text. We have examined the text in depth, and...

Analysis of the most recent suggested text on food security

By Anna Odell, Clara de Iturbe and Lara Shirley We have read the Zero Order Draft, the latest version of the amended text for food security, and the co-chair's suggested text that followed it. Overall, we have found that the Co-Chairs’ suggested text is a combination of acutely incompatible and different opinions. While inevitable to a certain extent, in this case the views expressed differ to...

Education for Sustainable Development and Shifting the Paradigms

by Anna Odell One of the issues when dealing with “sustainable development” is the lack of clarity around the term itself. We have spent an entire term working, studying, and understanding text such as the “The Future We Really Want” in depth and grasping the general issues that are relevant for Rio+20. But at times, I feel as though we need to take a step back and look at what we expect...

The (Lack of) Formal Youth Involvement in the Informal-Informals

By Anna Odell Even after spending a term studying sustainable development, the United Nations process, and the Rio+20 conference in depth, when people asked me what exactly I was doing in New York at the informal-informals, I responded with the truth: I had no idea. I could say that I was going to the United Nations negotiations and that I was going to be working with youth from across the world,...