FINAL REPORT 64th Annual United Nations Department of Public Information/ Non-Governmental Organizations Conference Bonn, Germany • 3-5 September 2011 Organized by the United Nations Department of Public Information in partnership with the NGO/DPI Executive Committee, the Government of Germany and UN Volunteers, International Year of Volunteers International Year of Volunteers 10th anniversary 10th anniversary United Nations 2011 and hosted Unitedby the Nations City of Bonn2011 64th Annual United Nations Department of Public Information/ Non-Governmental Organizations Conference Bonn, Germany 3-5 September 2011 Sustainable Societies; Responsive Citizens FINAL REPORT Organized by the United Nations Department of Public Information in partnership with the NGO/DPI Executive Committee, the Government of Germany and UN Volunteers, and hosted by the City of Bonn International Year of Volunteers 10th anniversary United Nations 2011 Table of Contents Thank You Note from Chief, NGO Relations . 001 Thank You Note from Chair of the Conference . 003 Special Tribute to the late Wangari Maathai . 005 64th Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference Overview . 006 Summary of Opening Remarks and Addresses . 019 Reports of Roundtable Sessions Roundtable I . 037 Roundtable II . 043 Roundtable III . 049 Roundtable IV . 053 Summary of Closing Remarks and Addresses . 057 64th Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference Final Declaration . 072 Annexes Annex 1: Exhibits Offer NGOs Opportunity to Connect the Dots . .089 Annex 2: Excellent Learning Opportunity for Youth to Connect the Dots between Sustainability and Volunteerism . 092 Annex 3: Media Subcommittee Report . 100 Annex 4: Lunchtime Presentations Enhance Delegates’ Understanding of Sustainability, Volunteerism . 115 Annex 5: Public and Side Events Enrich Conference . 119 Annex 6: UNICs Help Shed Light on 64th UN DPI/NGO Conference . 121 Annex 7: Coverage of the 64th UN DPI/NGO Conference . 126 Annex 8: Conference Organizers . 141 Annex 9: Sponsors and Supporters . 149 Annex 10: Conference Participants Survey Report . 152 SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES; RESPONSIVE CITIZENS iii DPI/NGO Relations would like to express its gratitude to the New York UNESCO Office and the Bonn UNV Headquarters for the use of their conference rooms and video conferencing apparatus. This allowed the New York and German Planning Committee members to meet face-to-face during the planning process, which was an invaluable means to discuss, clarify and solidify crucial Conference details. The visual identity for the Conference, the Final Report, on-site banners and signage, t-shirts and other collateral designs were created by the Graphic Design Unit, Outreach Division, Department of Public Information. Photography in the Final Report was by Meike Böschemeyer, as well as Philip Sen of UNV, Maya Manocsoc and Verzhiniya Derelieiva, UNV volunteers, and other participants. The archived webcast of the 64th Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference can be accessed at http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/c/64-dpi-ngo-conf.html iv 64TH Annual UN DPI/NGO CONFERENCE - FINAL Report Dear Colleagues, Organizing a UN Conference for civil society with one theme offers challenges for the Planning Committee, but convening a Conference with two themes that should be ad- dressed in a balanced manner literally poses twice the number of challenges. However, despite these concerns the 64th Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference, titled “Sus- tainable Societies; Responsive Citizens” went off without a hitch and turned out to be a great success. Held on the eve of two major global events, the International Year of Volunteers+10 sum- mit at the General Assembly in December of this year and the Rio+20 Conference in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, the Conference featured expert NGO and UN speakers, who offered civil society a range of insights, ideas and best practices on how to promote sustainability and volunteerism. During the weeks of planning, it became clear to everyone that sustainability is really about individual and collective actions. And that’s what civil society does best. As was stated early on in the Connecting the Dots essay, “Connecting the dots between sus- tainable development and engaging communities is about bringing in those citizens that respond to the challenge: not just the challenge of building a green economy but all the implications that come with it. And it’s NGOs and voluntary organizations that empower responsive citizens to act together and build real, sustainable societies”. With some 1,300 participants representing 300 NGOs from 85 countries, the Conference venue was abuzz with ceaseless activity and discussions from the Opening to the Closing Ceremony. I was inspired by the attendees’ high degree of interest and involvement in the Opening and Closing ceremonies, Roundtable sessions, Workshops and Exhibits, which highlighted their desire to address the equally important issues of sustainable societies and volunteerism. It was also a delight to watch the students and youth participants take an active role in the proceedings and pledge to work with other NGOs and the UN in this campaign. The Conference culminated with the adoption of the Final Declaration that will help all participants in presenting the Conference’s recommendations to their national govern- ments for inclusion in Rio+20 documents. We are pleased to note that the Government of Germany, through its Permanent Mission to the UN, presented the document to the Presi- dent of the General Assembly to be circulated as an official document. The energy generated by speakers and panelists, as well as the representatives of civil society, surely served as the needed momentum to reinvigorate the campaign for sustain- able societies and responsive citizenship on the roads to both international gatherings. I would like to thank our partners in this endeavor, the NGO/DPI Executive Committee, our UN partners, UN Volunteers and all its staff, as well as the sponsors and supporters for their comprehensive support for the Conference. SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES; RESPONSIVE CITIZENS 001 Our deepest appreciation and thanks go to our hosts, the Government of Germany, the State Government of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the City of Bonn for the enthusiasm with which they embraced this Conference and the steadfast and generous support which they extended to it. Without their contributions, and devoted commitment, the convening of this event in Germany would have been impossible. This letter would be incomplete if I didn’t express a word of thanks to all of the members of the Conference Planning Committee in New York and Germany – as well as all NGOs – for their selfless dedication and efforts to make this Conference a success. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to Felix Dodds, Chair of the Conference, and Bernward Geier, Coordinator of the NGO Focal Group of Germany, who left no stone unturned as they strove to promote the Conference to regional and global NGOs and the German public. This Conference was also an inauguration for Maher Nasser, the new Director of the Out- reach Division, whose much appreciated and watchful attention to every detail and advice assured the participants and speakers of a fruitful and pleasant experience. We look for- ward to many years of rewarding cooperation. On behalf of all my DPI colleagues – whose support was indispensable to the success of this Conference – I look forward to our continuing productive cooperation with civil soci- ety as we travel to our next conference destination. Maria-Luisa Chávez, Chief NGO Relations, Outreach Division Department of Public Information 002 64TH Annual UN DPI/NGO CONFERENCE - FINAL Report Message from the Chair of the 64th Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference The 64th Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference on “Sustainable Societies; Responsive Citi- zens” was unique as it had two focuses under that one theme. It aimed to contribute to the 10th Anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers with a focus on citizen action and also make a set of high-level policy recommendations to the Rio+20 process. The main outcome was an NGO Final Declaration drafted and organized by an outstand- ing group of experts based in New York and Bonn, who came forward with a set of co- herent sustainable development goals for Rio+20 that had been circulated in advance of and during the Conference for civil society inputs worldwide. This would not have been possible without the excellent work of the four co-chairs: Nilab Alokuzay, Richard Jordan, Sean Southey and Anne Sturm. The Conference had 38 NGO workshops covering everything from the Green Economy to Taking Stock – The Role of Farmers, Governments and Society in Tackling the Food and Climate Crises to NGO efforts to promote Sustainable Development through Volunteerism to the Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus. I’d like to thank the NGO Workshop Sub- committee co-chairs – in particular Janet Stovin. The Conference had many NGO representatives and volunteers helping in Bonn under the capable leadership of the chair of the German NGO Focal Group, Bernward Geier, who made it seem so easy, and Verena Schwarte from the City of Bonn. I would also like to add what a pleasure it was to work with UN Volunteers staffers Donna Keher, Marco van der Ree and Rosmarie Jah who helped manage more than 100 Conference volunteers. Nothing would have been possible without the support of the NGO/DPI Executive Committee Chair Jeffery Huffines who advised me often as one who had only recently joined the UN DPI/NGO Family. My profound thanks also goes to Maria-Luisa Chávez, my co-chair of the Planning Committee, who with her knowledge of how the Confer- ences have operated in the past made it a great success. The Conference was made possible by the support of the German Government which demonstrated enormous leadership by hosting the UN DPI/NGO Conference while organizing three other major conferences on Rio+20. I would also like to thank UNEP and UN DESA for their support of the Conference.