Olivier De Schutter delivers the keynote speech at the annual meeting of the German Council for Sustainable Development, on the theme of human rights and sustainable development.

The German Council for Sustainable Development is an independent advisory body to the Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel. Its task is to provide advice and to raise public awareness for sustainability issues. Volker Hauff, a former Federal Minister and a Member of the the Brundtland Commission, and Klaus Töpfer, a former Federal Minister and UNEP Exec.Director, are chairing the Council with its 15 Members. The Members are ad-personam appointed by the Federal Chancellor and are representing civil society and major NGOs, the private sector, the academia, local communities, trade unions, and the media.

The 2010 annual conference is being hosted under the motto: “Resetting the clock: 2050”. The conference aims to take on considerations of the peer review on Germany’s sustainability policies, precisely on thinking beyond 2020. Important and prevailing decisions, be it on climate change prevention, infrastructure investments, demographic change or intergenerational equity and fiscal sustainability, should be taken in view of the year 2050.

See for the description : http://www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de/konferenz