RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – This morning, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) kicked off in Brazil.
Activists march in protest during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo: AAP) From June 20-22, 2012, the conference brings together around 50,000 persons: heads of states and delegates, business leaders and the private sector, NGOs, journalists, environmentalists, activists, indigenous groups and civil society, as they seek to eradicate poverty, world hunger, social inequity and climate change.
The original 1992 Earth Summit (also held in Rio, hence Rio+20) sought to put the issue of sustainable development at the forefront of the United Nations’ work.
The 20-year anniversary of the original 1992 Earth Summit takes place amidst two of the greatest challenges facing the international community: the greatest economic downturn in modern history and an environmental tipping point, climate change.
A new study published recently in the journal Nature warns that we are fast approaching irreversible climate change.
FutureJustice0 #rioplus20 was pretty manic before ministers and leaders arrived. Now you could make a fortune selling access to power points. #rioplus20 29 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite
earthinstitute Jeff Sachs in panel on economics of sustainable development: public will drive the change not politicians #rioplus20 29 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite
DeenaMsh Rio 20 years later: pollution up, forests down #rioplus20 sacbee.com/2012/06/20/457… 33 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite
rightnowio_feed Well organised. Peaceful protest in Rio #Rioplus20 rightnow.io/breaking-news/… #China #RIORioplus20 via @SavioConnects 36 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite
SavioConnects Well organised. Peaceful protest in Rio #Rioplus20 yfrog.com/kho96zqj 38 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite
5 new tweets
WWFitalia RT @WWFnews: #SecretaryClinton to address #RioPlus20 on Friday. Hope she’s not coming here to sit on the beach. #futurewewant #USRio20 46 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite
SarahBawazir “@CDProject: We need to rethink the path towards sustainable development with finance and clean technology – CDP CEO speaks at #Rioplus20” 49 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite
WorldBank Upping the level of ambition at #Rioplus20 – blog by @rkyte365 bit.ly/M49xB9 58 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite
Jriessman RIO 20: “Backsliding” on women’s rights bit.ly/M5HJtK #Rioplus20 #WomenRio #familyplanning 59 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite
occupyvalpo #endfossilfuelsubsidies why should our tax dollars go to some of the most profitable companies…. fb.me/YqKETix6 about 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite
rmwendwa @UNFPA Re-tweet if you believe in clean rivers, harbours & beaches. #FutureWeWant #RioPlus20 about 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite
6 new tweets
olavkjorven RT @UNDP: RT @HelenClarkUNDP: My speech @ #UNDP event #rioplus20 “Beyond GDP – Measuring the Future We Want” on.undp.org/MgOqI7 about 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite
AidResources Measuring Smallholder Resilience #Rioplus20 dlvr.it/1lF9f4 about 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite
global_water Don’t miss the Global Launch of the US Water Partnership at #Rioplus20. Live stream IN ONE HOUR at 4pm edt: j.mp/Lfnddg about 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite
LizFordGuardian Most people I spoke to were enjoying People’s summit, but some spoke of disconnect with main conf miles away #RioPlus20 #globaldev 2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
opicgov New blog post – Looking to Rio: Connecting the dots between the environment and development opic.gov/blog/?p=1120 #RioPlus20 2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
belindagriswold Live from #rioplus20: favelas and protests as #womenrio make their voices heard ow.ly/bInHG @rhrealitycheck @markhamv 2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
will350 The Rio Earth Summit could end in disaster unless we all speak up together. 350.org/dilma #rioplus20 #EndFossilFuelSubsidies 2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
SuzanneD RT @UN_Rioplus20: Happening now: Opening Plenary marking the formal opening of #Rioplus20 conference and #Futurewewant twitpic.com/9ykd37 3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
mapiscol RT @UNDP_IPC: South-South Cooperation: New ideas for agricultural development in Africa.Check our magazine launched #RioPlus20 bit.ly/MiFpRI @UNDPS 3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
tancopsey We’re at a bit of a low point for international cooperation eh? And yet, the need is more obvious than ever #rioplus20 #nutstoparochialism 3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
JensenMaritime RT @safeseas: Climate change is one of the sternest tests that democracy and global economy have ever faced. Are they up to it? #rioplus20 3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
LizFordGuardian Nawaal Domingo from South Africa,a researcher, was pushing for rights of young to have say in future #RioPlus20 #globaldev 3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
Marleen_Brouwer Want to stop climate change? Stop funding it. Pls RT to join the 24-hour TwitterStorm! endfossilfuelsubsidies.org/twitterstorm #EndFossilFuelSubsidies 3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
j0e_m Nice use of Prezi (what are the chances!) from @commonwealthsec for #rioplus20 prezi.com/tl2ksjrq5xft/r… 3 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
mwt2008 RT @guardianeco: UK failing to tackle new pollutants – study gu.com/p/38eav/tf 4 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
DeenaMsh Rio 20 welcomes heads of state, but change driven at local level – CSMonitor.com: bit.ly/Mh5Lk3 #RioPlus20 4 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
ministres francediplo: RT @UN_Rioplus20: Happening now: Opening Plenary marking the formal opening of #Rioplus20 conference… j.mp/MiV9UA 4 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
FutureJustice0 Not sure what this Ombudsperson for Future Generations that Youth asked for @ #rioplus20 is then watch this 1min vid: bit.ly/Ke9h33 5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
UNDP_IPC Going beyond GDP, @UNDP proposed today a human development measure of sustainability. Learn more: on.undp.org/MLZdIU #RioPlus20 @UNDPS 5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
CDProject We need to rethink the path towards sustainable development with finance and clean technology – CDP CEO speaks at #WGS at #Rioplus20 5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
iConversations RT @ClintonGlobal: At #RioPlus20 – fulfilling their 2011 CGI commitment – @Nature_Org & CEF announced initiatives by 24 companies: bit.ly/NN9lI6 5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
globalkids RT @UN4Youth: Ban Ki-moon says #Rioplus20 is not an end, but a beginning. More on the #FutureWeWant here: bit.ly/yRc8Ga v @UN 5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
LizFordGuardian Regine Marton, activist from Brazil, with feminist group Brazilian Women Articulation, advocating justice for women #RioPlus20 #globaldev 5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
arpatoscana RT @UNEP: MT @aidex2012: Video message on #RioPlus20 from @UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: The #futureiwant bit.ly/Mq9bBo @UNDP 5 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
BillMcKinnon875 RT @DESERTEC: Fund climate solutions, not fossil fuels and climate change goo.gl/9ypWh Pls RT! #EndFossilFuelSubsidies #DESERTEC 6 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
fairsnape From Rio we hear ‘Green Economy’ ‘Natural Capital’ + #EndFossilFuelSubsidies as possible outcomes … #Gvischat 6 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
kaupapa RT @thomwoodroofe: PM of Tuvalu up next at #RioPlus20. Eight speakers in, first non-war criminal or dictator. 6 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
marksinghTO RT @paualvarado Is the Cities Approach to Tackling Climate Change a Viable Alternative to the Global Process bit.ly/Mx4rb9 #RioPlus20 7 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
inurlibrary RT @TreeHugger: Watch 17 year-old @BrttnyTrlfrd address 130 world leaders at the #RioPlus20 Earth Summit. bit.ly/MtMITW 7 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
WEDO_worldwide RT @GGCA_gender: Cate Owren @WEDO_worldwide addresses Network of Women Ministers and Leaders of the Env #Rioplus20 #WomenRio pic.twitter.com/VcEG7kUf 7 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
HungerProject What’s all this talk about #Rioplus20? Find out why you should care & what you could be doing. Pass it on! go.thp.org/KObnlN 7 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
RockefellerFdn RT @tcktcktck: Amazing young women leaders remind us why we’re in Rio: ow.ly/bIlmo @BrttnyTrlfrd #Rioplus20 #DateWithHistory 7 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
UNrightswire #RightsRio: Watch & share video w/ the UN human rights chief’s assessment of #Rioplus20 outcome: bit.ly/N9Lk8g 7 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
alexjamesfarrow Taken a break on live tweeting #RioPlus20. It’s all a bit boring really. Text unlikely to be reopened & looking like we’re done here. 8 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
cubismwonder RT @Egitto3000: #humanrights Govts at #Rioplus20 re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic while 1.4bn ppl struggle… dlvr.it/1lF5fv #Egitto3000 8 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
LizFordGuardian Father Benedict Ayodi from Nairobi was on march to call on leaders to respect God’s creation from destruction #globaldev #RioPlus20 8 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
rorybergin RIO text as of 5:00pm 19th June wp.me/pstGP-hk: not much grit. It reads like a policy document, no action #Rioplus20 8 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
KingIscka RT @UNDP: #Rioplus20 has officially started! Check out our videos around the Earth Summit: on.undp.org/MLQab1 8 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
thewillofWill Ahmadinejad: No one has the right to ruin the env, it belongs to all, attacking it is an attack on the whole community #rioplus20 #UNCSD 8 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
tcktcktck RT @cindybax: Woke in NZ & googled @BrttnyTrlfrd: 2584 news stories-so proud of this Kiwi at #RioPlus20 #futurewewant ow.ly/bIn7i 8 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
mediaconsulta More ambition required here -> RT @guardianeco: Rio+20: Ban Ki-moon urges world leaders to act on sustainability gu.com/p/38eqm/tf #CSR 8 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
florisvc RT @guardianeco: BREAKING: Here’s the draft text that has got everyone so annoyed at #rioplus20: gu.com/p/38e3x/tw (so-called ‘Future we Want’ agreement) 8 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
WEDO_worldwide RT @popact: The Future We Want: Why #Reproductive Health Matters at #RioPlus20 via @HuffingtonPost: huff.to/KTKAEx 9 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
Free_Press RT @TaraEscudero: @Free_Press help a girl out with a RT, we need to #EndFossilFuelSubsidies and we’re already trending #2 in the US! endfossilfuelsubsidies.org 10 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
miniannette Very powerful speech RT @tcktcktck: @BrttnyTrlfrd‘s incredible #DateWithHistory speech to #Rioplus20 world leaders ow.ly/bHRnG w 10 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
MomentumIonE RT @PlanktonMath Rio+20 interactive: is the world getting better or worse? bit.ly/Lf993u (via @MarcGunther) #rioplus20 10 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
Uzu_BRADY_3000 RT @CARE: Save yourself a trip to Brazil & watch @CARE‘s “Where the Rain Falls” video, that’s screening at #Rioplus20, online! bit.ly/MiSpXv 10 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
Oxfam Govts at #Rioplus20 re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic while 1.4bn ppl struggle daily 4 food, water, energy bit.ly/LBGB0B 10 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
wecanada At least let them play in the same game! RT @scaldron: make renewables on a level playing field @wecanada #rioplus20 #endfossilfuelsubsidies 11 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
WildForests #RioPlus20: Why #Brazil is a country of contradictions ▸ gu.com/p/38axz/tw RT @parabolico_bh @urbanofellippe 11 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Environment Program, stated before the conference that “If current patterns of production and consumption of natural resources prevail, then governments will preside over unprecedented levels of damage and degradation.”
This year, over 100 heads of states will attend, including host Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and China’s Premier Wen Jiabao. US President Barack Obama, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.K.’s Prime Minister Cameron will not be in attendance.
What are the Rio+20’s Goals?
Rio+20 seeks to establish an institutional framework for sustainable development and to establish a green economy. While not legally binding, the document that emerges from Rio+20 will serve as a roadmap for sustainable development.
Delegates approved a draft of the document entitled “The Future We Want” (pdf), late Tuesday evening, which will be presented to heads of state to be revised and ratified by the summit’s end on Friday.
Measuring Sustainable Development
Yet how does one measure sustainable development? What marks development? Is it best gauged by economic growth? Or by other factors? And what makes it sustainable?
In Rio, a demand has been put forward to analyze economies not solely on the basis of gross domestic product (GDP).
Earlier this year, in its report Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s High-Level Global Sustainability Panel concluded that “the international community should measure development beyond GDP and develop a new sustainable development index or set of indicators.”
The Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission – based on the work of Nobel Prize laureates in Economics Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, as well as of French economist Jean-Paul Fitoussi – has also called for a broad range of social indicators to complement GDP figures.
At a press conference today, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) responded with a proposal for a “Sustainable Human Development Index.”
NGOs lambasted the draft text for its failure to mention nuclear energy, particularly in light of the Fukushima disaster; and to demand an end to fossil fuel subsidies. “Just to be clear,” they concluded, “NGOs at Rio do not endorse this document.”
It draws on the Human Development Index (HDI), created by the Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and continued by Sen, which measures life expectancy, health, literacy, education and standard of living.
Others, ranging from James Gustave Speth in “Rio+20: Charter for a New Economy” to James Korten in “Rio+20: A Defining Choice” – argue for new economic models.
Thus, while the writing is on the wall with regard to the urgency of climate change, the need for an alternative economic model, one that takes into account the health of both planet and people, is also becoming increasingly clear.
NGOs Respond to the Draft Text
During the opening plenary, NGOs were given the opportunity to respond to the draft text. They criticized that it failed to mention tipping points, planetary boundaries or carrying capacity. (See more information about planetary boundaries here.)
Additionally, NGOs lambasted the draft text for its failure to mention nuclear energy, particularly in light of the Fukushima disaster; and to demand an end to fossil fuel subsidies. “Just to be clear,” they concluded, “NGOs at Rio do not endorse this document.”
People’s Summit
Prior to the Rio+20, a People’s Summit kicked off in Rio on June 15, 2012. This alternative conference brought together people from movements worldwide, seeking to address environmental degradation and social inequity, to reject green speculation and fossil fuel subsidies.
Representatives from over 500 indigenous communities worldwide gathered on Tuesday evening and signed a declaration presented to the opening plenary this morning. Addressing the Rio+20, a representative from the group demanded a focus on sustainable development and on a recognition of their legal rights, and argued against extractivist industries.
Members from Avaaz and 350 unfurl giant trillion dolar bill at Copacabana Beach, calling on world leaders at Rio+20 summit to end fossil fuel subsidies and investing them in clean energy and sustainable development. (Photographer Barbara Veiga taken from Hotel Othon)
Global organizations Avaaz and 350.org protested fossil fuel subsidies by unfurling a trillion dollar bill on the iconic Copacabana beach Sunday afternoon, calling on world leaders at the Rio+20 Summit to end the nearly $1 trillion dollars they hand out in fossil fuel subsidies each year.
Not all are convinced that the Rio+20 negotiations will prove successful. Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace International, criticized the negotiations, stating “Rio+20 has turned into an epic failure. It has failed on equity, failed on ecology and failed on economy.”
Tina Gerhardt is an independent journalist and academic who covers international climate negotiations, domestic energy policy and related direct actions.
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