UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday echoed calls for a nontreaty approach during sustainable development talks next month in Brazil.

In a press roundtable with a handful of reporters, Ban acknowledged that negotiations leading up to the conference in Rio de Janeiro have been "painfully slow," but he nevertheless sees an opportunity to advance an ambitious agenda there.

Ban identified areas of concern that have caused negotiators headaches during attempts to draft an official agenda for the conference. What he underlined several times was that unlike at past U.N.-brokered gatherings, this time the goal will be a broad mobilization of green economies rather than hard directives on how to create them.

Ban said past environmental conferences in Mexico, South Africa and Denmark emerged with treaties that have not necessarily delivered in full. So he wants Rio to focus on filling out the shell and engaging nations on how to meet previous commitments.

"This is not a treaty negotiation," he said of the conference known as Rio+20. "This is a political commitment."

Ban's comments sounded a lot like those of Columbia University's Jeffrey Sachs, who this week addressed the U.N General Assembly. Sachs slammed international environmental treaties as ineffective and urged Rio delegates to sharpen their expectations with sustainable development goals after 2015 that would form core organizing principles much like the Millennium Development Goals (ClimateWire, May 23).

Shrinking 'outcome' goals

Ban said negotiators have come up with 26 sustainable development goals (SDGs) so far on topics from climate change to oceans to poverty to water scarcity. He urged delegates to narrow that list as part of the proposed "outcome document" for Rio, which has lately shrunk from more than 200 pages to about 80.

Millennium Development Goals, he argued, have helped defeat poverty and increase access to clean drinking water worldwide since they were first approved in 2000. Ban is hoping the SDGs will do the same when the MDGs expire in 2015.

Robert Orr, who oversees strategic planning for the secretary-general, underlined the same point during the press briefing.

"I think everyone recognizes that focus matters," he said, "[and] that mobilization really does matter for civil society."

Orr added: "MDGs have produced significantly better outcomes than if we had none."

The MDGs are eight goals agreed to by the General Assembly. They include eradicating poverty, combating HIV/AIDS, reducing child mortality and ensuring environmental sustainability. Whether they have been successful is a question, as critics have said the MDGs have failed to live up to their promise because of inadequate funding from wealthy nations to help poor nations attain them.

Defending Brazil

The officials also addressed criticism of host country Brazil, which is thought to be disengaged and unwilling to spend much political capital on Rio's outcome.

Susana Malcorra, the chef de Cabinet for the U.N. Executive Office, just returned from a trip to Rio that was intended to make sure the country is prepared for the conference. Logistically speaking, she said, all systems are working at "full speed" in Rio.

As for whether Brazil has been ignoring the conference, Malcorra insisted this is not the case. She said the country is respectful of the multilateral negotiation process to shape the agenda and is more content to work behind closed doors.

"What they're trying to do is play it a little bit behind the scenes," she said.

Still, the exclusive press briefing itself seemed to be evidence that U.N. officials are worried and have been doing some damage control. Ban and Orr both said Rio is a different brand of U.N. conference, with more than 2,000 CEOs from all over the globe expected to attend and about 600 side events that will focus on private industry and forming public-private investment partnerships.

Climate change, for instance, is not high on the agenda after approval of the Durban Platform in South Africa.

"I don't think it will be the subject of heavy negotiations," Ban said of global warming.

Ban added that he is hopeful President Obama will attend and that he asked him to do so recently in Chicago. Still, he has received no confirmation from the White House that the president plans to go to Rio after the Group of 20 summit in Mexico next month.

"I'll have to continue to talk" to Obama, Ban said. "I sincerely hope that President Obama will be able to participate."

Sullivan is based in New York.