VZCZCXRO4369
RR RUEHRG
DE RUEHBR #0491 1101653
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201653Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4100
INFO RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 3896
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7586
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 9391
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0167
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 0143
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 1063
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0156
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0043
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1569
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0302

UNCLAS BRASILIA 000491 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPARTMENT FOR OES/ENV KERI HOLLAND 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV UNCSD UNEP BR
SUBJECT:  BRAZIL'S PROPOSED AGENDA FOR RIO-PLUS-20 
 
REF:  (A) STATE 36708, (B) 2007 BRASILIA 1935 
 
(U)  THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED AND NOT FOR INTERNET 
DISTRIBUTION. 
 
1.(SBU)  On April 17, Environment, Science and Technology, and 
Health (ESTH) Counselor met with Brazil's Director of the 
Environmental Policy and Sustainable Development Division of the 
Ministry of Exterior Relations (MRE), Andre Odenbreit Carvalho, to 
discuss the Government of Brazil's views on an agenda for the 
Rio-plus 20 summit as requested in REFTEL A.  Odenbreit identified 
three themes for the proposed summit: 
 
- Stocktaking:  The participants would take stock of what has 
happened since the 1992 Rio Summit and the 2002 World Summit on 
Sustainable Development (WSSD).  They would identify what has been 
accomplished to date, and what was not and discuss why. 
 
- International Environmental Governance Reform:  Brazil believes 
this summit should take up the topic of international governance. 
This would build on the body of work and discussions on the topic, 
including the 2007 conference in Rio de Janeiro on international 
environmental governance (REFTEL B) and the work of the UN group led 
by Mexico and Switzerland.  He reiterated the position that Brazil 
presented in 2007 at Rio (REFTEL B).  Brazil would like a framework 
agreement, which considered three pillars - environment, economic 
and social.  He said they did not support the proposal of France for 
an organization focusing just on environment.  Odenbreit added that 
Brazil's idea is not to create much new bureaucracy, but rather to 
have something akin to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development 
(CSD).  Further, he noted that there was not yet a convergence of 
ideas on international governance and was unsure what to expect to 
come out of Rio-plus 20. 
 
- Challenges of Implementation:  The conference would look at the 
challenges to implementing the goals from Rio 1992, WSSD and the 
Millennium Development Goals. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Odenbreit said that Brazil was not seeking to interfere 
with, substitute, or impede the CSD's program of work or the work of 
any other fora.  The Rio-plus 20 would be a separate and independent 
event.  He stressed that it would add value by drawing high-level, 
political attention to the environment field. 
 
SOBEL