Posts Tagged: earth summit

The Rio+20 Conference has drawn to a close. There is unanimous agreement on one thing – the outcome is far from what anyone wanted and fails to measure up to the scale and urgency of the challenge. So as the delegates and media begin to depart – after a day at the beach, perhaps, if [...]

I went to Rio in the spirit of both determination and hope. While all of us were aware of the difficult international politics, exacerbated by global financial crises and the increasing human demands on natural resources, Rio+20 was a moment of opportunity. As Jim Leape, director general of WWF, put it: “A conference about life: [...]

Images from Wednesday’s ‘People’s Summit’ march during the UN Rio+20 conference – more details below. More on the march and the view on the streets – with thanks to WWF’s Franko Petri… Rio has been a bit like a fortress under siege this week – more than 15,000 policemen are here, plus heavily armed soldiers, [...]

While world leaders stood up to deliver their pre-prepared statements at the UN conference in Rio – and in the process failed to step up to meet the sustainable goals of the world’s people – it’s been the side events on the edges of the conference that have provided the real hope and promise for the future.

WWF boss explains our disappointment with developments so far at Rio+20 – and has a stark warning for politicians and negotiators meeting over the next two days.

Rio+20 summit side-events are where people show what they’ve done, present partnerships, say what they want to say – and build political capital. At the Sabah-Acre side event yesterday two states, from Malaysia and Brazil respectively, gave their opinions. Both have committed to holding the line on where the forests should stand in the future. [...]

Some of the language and terminology of UN processes like Rio+20 can be cumbersome, and sometimes belie the subtle, and as often not-so-subtle, realities of wider geopolitics. So in this slightly technical blog post I’ll be exploring, as an example, the differing interpretations of the delightful phrase “common but differentiated responsibilities”… “Common but differentiated responsibilities [...]

International conferences always end up in compromise – that’s inevitable. The Rio+20 conference is no exception. The problem here is the type of compromise. Good compromises involve all sides giving something, and all sides getting something in return. At Rio there is an obvious deal that ought to have been done. Countries with rapidly growing [...]

To send a strong message to world leaders, we inflated a giant hot air balloon with a banner reading “#GetSeRIOus+20″ – so all the attendees and negotiators would see it on their way to the conference. (Being in the middle of a roundabout, the cars and wind can be quite noisy – but it’s worth [...]

The world’s political leaders, the big-hitters, are sitting down today in Rio for the UN conference on sustainable development. Negotiations have been going on for months to get to this point, so what are we likely to see over the next vital couple of days… The process leading up to Rio+20 has been tortuous. For [...]