H.E. Sha Zukang, Head of the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, to address Eye on Earth Summit

The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, who is also the Secretary-General of the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (“Rio+20”) will address the Eye on Earth Summit on 13 December and speak about “The road to Rio: The importance of information networking.”

Abu Dhabi, December 8, 2011: His Excellency Sha Zukang, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and the Secretary-General of the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, will share his vision regarding “The road to Rio: The importance of information networking” at the Eye on Earth Abu Dhabi 2011 Summit.

“As the world seeks to eradicate poverty, it faces two huge and interlinked challenges: how to reduce the stress the global economy puts on nature and how to put in place solid institutions to shepherd global sustainable development,” H.E. Mr. Sha said. A key question will be how to ensure that people and decision-makers everywhere have access to the data and information they will need to chart a sustainable course in the years ahead.

“I am particularly pleased to attend the Eye on Earth Summit, primarily because I consider it the launch of a historic initiative to bring together the public and private networks of experts working to advance environmental and societal information infrastructure as a new foundation for sustainable development.”

The Summit will convene world experts to facilitate greater access to environmental and societal information, especially for emerging economies.

To be held December 12-15 under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, the Summit is hosted by Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), facilitated by Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) and held in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Eye on Earth Abu Dhabi 2011 Summit will convene world leaders and experts in environmental and societal information networking to reach consensus on solutions to greater data accessibility and to encourage stakeholders to collaborate to either strengthen existing data access initiatives or launch new ones. A key goal of the Summit is the environmental and societal data community’s adoption of the Eye on Earth Abu Dhabi 2011 Summit Declaration – a document that will provide input to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in June 2012 under the leadership of H.E. Mr. Sha.

H.E. Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Secretary General of Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi and Eye on Earth Co-Chair, said: “H.E. Mr. Sha’s participation in the Eye on Earth Abu Dhabi Summit illustrates the importance the work of the international data and information community has for the sustainability of global development and the alleviation of poverty. Coming twenty years after the first global conference devoted to sustainable development, the decisions that will be taken at the Rio+20 conference guided by H.E. Mr. Sha will be crucial to our common future.”

This will be H.E. Sha Zukang’s first visit to Abu Dhabi.

Confirmed attendees of the Eye on Earth Abu Dhabi 2011 Summit include UAE leadership, , Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dame Jane Morris Goodall, Philippe Costeau, Jr. and Lelei Lelaulu, Chairman, Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific International (FSPI).

An Eye on Earth Exhibition will showcase the latest developments in environmental information and technology.

For more information and speaker biographies, please visit www.eyeonearthsummit.org