Rio+20 Kicks Off

by Tina Gerhardt
Submitted by the author to Portside

The Progressive
June 20, 2012

www.progressive.org/rio_20_kicks_off.html

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - On Wednesday morning, the United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) kicked
off in Brazil.

The three-day conference brings together around 50,000
persons: heads of states and delegates, business leaders and
the private sector, the scientific community, NGOs,
journalists, environmentalists, activists, children and youth,
farmers, indigenous peoples, local authorities, women, and
trade unions, as they seek to reduce poverty, address world
hunger, advance social inequity and prevent 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 summit takes place amidst two of the
greatest challenges facing the international community: the
biggest 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.

Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Environment
Programme, stated in a press 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, more than 100 heads of states will attend,
including host Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, India's
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, China's Premier Wen Jiabao,
Russia's President Vladimir Putin, France's newly elected
President François Hollande and Australia's Prime Minister
Julia Gillard.

U.S. President Barack Obama, Germany's Chancellor Angela
Merkel, and 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. 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," 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 Wednesday, the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) responded with a proposal for a
"Sustainable Human Development Index."

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 faulted it for failing to
mention tipping points, planetary boundaries or carrying
capacity. (For more information about planetary boundaries,
see
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7263/full/461472a.html)

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 extractive industries.

On Sunday afternoon, global organizations Avaaz and 350.org
protested fossil fuel subsidies by unfurling a trillion dollar
bill on the iconic Copacabana beach, 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.

On Tuesday, June 19, 2012, nearly 1500 people used Rio's
Flamengo Beach as a canvas. Their bodies formed the lines of
an enormous image promoting the importance of free-running
rivers, truly clean energy sources like solar power and
including indigenous knowledge as part of the solution to
climate issues. The activity was led by Brazil's many
indigenous peoples organized under the umbrella of the
Articulation of Brazilian Indigenous Peoples. cSpectral
Q/Chico/Paulo

Not all are convinced that the Rio+20 negotiations will prove
successful. Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace
International, criticized the negotiations.

"Rio+20 has turned into an epic failure," warned Naidoo. "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. Her work has appeared in
Alternet, Grist, The Progressive, The Nation and the Wall
Street Journal.

She has appeared on the Laura Flanders' Show on GRIT tv;
Pacifica radio stations KPFA's Against the Grain and WBAI's
Wake Up Call, as well as the National Radio Project.]

___________________________________________

Portside aims to provide material of interest to people
on the left that will help them to interpret the world
and to change it.

Submit via email: [log in to unmask]

Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3

Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq

Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe

Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive

Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate