Only Civil Society Can Save Rio+20, Say Activists

Only Civil Society Can Save Rio+20, Say Activists By Mario Osava*

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 24, 2012 (Tierramérica) - Large-scale social mobilisation, including street protests and parallel activities, is the only thing can save the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) from ending in nothing but frustration, according to activists and analysts.

A repeat of the failure of recent conferences to negotiate an international climate change pact seems inevitable, said Cândido Grzybowski, the director general of the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis (IBASE) and one of the founders of the World Social Forum, the largest global civil society gathering.

Grzybowski based his pessimistic outlook on a number of factors. Chief among them is the economic/financial crisis in the wealthy nations, combined with the fact that this a year of elections in many of them, including France and the United States, moving international commitments to the bottom of their leaders’ agendas. He also blamed what he calls the limited convening power of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, particularly when it comes to environmental issues.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106530

Stakeholder Forum publishes synthesis of civil society inputs to Rio+20

10th January 2011: Stakeholder Forum has produced a synthesis of Major Groups inputs to the Secretary General's report for the UNCSD 'Rio+20' Conference. The Major Groups are the 9 groups of civil society as identified by Agenda 21

http://www.earthsummit2012.org/preparatory-process-news/stakeholder-forum-publishes-synthesis-of-civil-society-inputs-to-rio20

Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development(UNCSD)—commonly referred to as Rio+20—is taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012. This important global event is happening 20 years after the original Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

The 1992 Earth Summit was the second major UN environmental summit. One main theme of the event was that environmental protection and economic growth should not be separate, and that both could be achieved simultaneously. At the Summit, a series of agreements were negotiated to ensure sustainable development across the globe, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Statement of Forest Principles. However, perhaps the most notable result of the conference was Agenda 21—a comprehensive document and plan to implement sustainable practices internationally.

http://rcen.ca/rio-20-uncsd