As part of the stakeholder engagement process, the Stakeholder Forum organized a workshop during the UN/DPI conference on September 3. It represented an opportunity for civil society organizations to contribute to the debate around water, energy and food security.
The event was moderated by Thomas Stratenwerth of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, and Franz Marré of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Panelists were Albert Butare, former Minister of Energy and Water of the Republic of Rwanda and Co-Chair of the International Steering Committee of the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference, and Johan Kuylenstierna, Centre Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute and Steering Committee Member.
Albert Butare presented the relevance of the nexus approach for developing countries and emphasized the problems involved with treating each resource individually. Johan Kuylenstierna provided an overview of the current work around the three securities, and the key incentives needed to facilitate coherent policies and governance.
The second part of the workshop consisted in a roundtable discussion, allowing participants to discuss the main challenges to water, energy and food security. Challenges included the lack of tools and participatory processes in decision-making; the lack of public awareness and education regarding the sustainable use of resources; the role of the private sector in the provision of basic services; and the lack of cross-sectoral and interconnected planning, amongst others. The participants discussed a range of potential policy recommendations in response to these problems.
The workshop allowed for a range of viewpoints to be aired, and as such formed a valuable part of the preparations for the Bonn2011 Conference. The next workshops will be organized during the preparatory meetings for Rio+20 in Seoul and Addis Ababa in late October 2011.