Ankara, March 2012 - The Rio+20 conference, coming two decades after the first UN Sustainable Development Conference there, is seen as an opportunity for the world community to push the reset button on the stalled global environmental agenda and long-term international efforts to eradicate extreme poverty, hunger and preventable disease.

The Istanbul forum represents the first opportunity to discuss the critical issues that will be on the table in Rio by influential leaders of countries deeply involved in the negotiations as well as many top UN experts and agency heads.

The linked issues of social inequalities and environmental stewardship that were raised by the recent 2011 Human Development Report - “Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All” - will be analyzed in depth at the Forum in the context of the new global development agenda being shaped at Rio. 

The forum will include the unveiling of a detailed new report by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) on the urgent sustainability challenges facing developed and developing countries alike.

The organization will conclude with an Istanbul Decraration on Equity and Sustainability setting out clear goals for the 2012 Rio conference.

Global Human Development Forum is co-hosted by the government of Turkey and the United Nations Development Programme.

Click here for the related press release.