Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development

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  • by Anup Shah
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  1. Introduction
  2. News stories from IPS

Introduction

Twenty years ago at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, countries adopted Agenda 21 — a blueprint to rethink economic growth, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection.

Marking the 20th anniversary of that conference (and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg), this June sees the UN organizing another Conference on Sustainable Development and is bringing together thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, to agree on a range of measures to reduce poverty, promoting decent jobs, clean energy and a more sustainable and fair use of resources.

The Rio+20 Conference will include Heads of State and Government or other representatives hoping to get an agreed and focused political document.

Unsurprisingly getting governments to agree on this kind of thing is full of challenges to say the least, as many vested interests are involved.

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News stories from IPS

Below is a list of stories from Inter Press Service related to the conference

  1. Forty-Five Years Since Stockholm, Twenty-Five Years Since the Earth Summit and Five Years Since Rio+20

    - Inter Press Service

    UNITED NATIONS, May 30 (IPS) - Over the past five years, I have written with a number of co-authors the history of the sustainable development movement at the global level prior to the first UN Conference on Human Environment held in 1972 through the 1992 Earth Summit and Rio+20 to the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. I like to think of these books as the ‘Vienna Café Trilogy' after the café in the basement of the United Nations headquarters in New York, where many deals are done over coffee. Also, with deference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts, this trilogy may also have future books.

  2. Climate-Battered South Asia Looks to Rio+20 Formula

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    NEW DELHI, Aug 03 (IPS) - Far-flung South Asian communities, from the high Himalayan slopes to the Indian Ocean coasts, united in the face of extreme and uncertain weather, continue to hold on to the hope that the Rio+20 focus on disaster risk reduction (DRR) will positively influence national policies.

  3. Brazilian Environmental Activists Killed in Shadow of Rio+20

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 07 (IPS) - Far from the plush surroundings which hosted Rio+20the most ambitious global conference on the environment of the past two decades, events in a fishing village in the state of Rio de Janeiro show the cost of fighting environmental crime can be as high as life itself.

  4. Indigenous Message to Rio+20: Leave Everything Beneath Mother Earth

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    Indigenous leaders from all over South America are making their way by foot, canoe and eventually on buses to be part of the Kari-Oca Caravan to Rio de Janeiro, to talk to world leaders at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20.

  5. RIO+20: Transforming Political Platitudes into Economic Realities

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    When world leaders endorse the final plan of action, titled 'The Future We Want, at the Rio+20 summit in Brazil next week, a lingering question may remain unanswered: how best can the United Nations transform political platitudes into economic realities?

  6. World Faces Stark Choice at Rio+20, UN Report Warns

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    Irreversible environmental damage threatens to destabilise the world's life-support systems unless urgent action is taken, according to the latest Global Environment Report (GEO-5) which looks to the Rio+20 summit as a crucial opportunity to halt this decline.

  7. Ahead of Rio+20, 'The Economy is Already Turning Green'

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    While governments make a last desperate attempt to agree on a plan of action for next week's Rio+20 summit on sustainable development — including plans on the transition to a green economy and a set of sustainable development goals — the real economy is already turning green, according to Italy’s minister of environment, Corrado Clini.

  8. The Goals of Rio+20

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development will be held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, from Jun. 20-22, twenty years after the first great Earth Summit in 1992. Dubbed Rio+20, the conference will draw more than 80 heads of state. Discussion will focus on two main themes: the "green economy" in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and the institutional context of sustainable development, writes Ignacio Ramonet, editor of Le Monde diplomatique en Espanol.

  9. Activists Call for Creation of High Commissioner for Future Generations at Rio+20

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    The theme of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) is 'The Future We Want', but there is no official role for youth nor a spokesperson for future generations who will inherit that future.

  10. RIO+20: A Stalemated U.N. in Do-or-Die Session on Action Plan

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    After weeklong negotiations, a meeting of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) to finalise a plan of action titled 'The Future We Want' for next week's Rio+20 summit has failed to reach agreement - and deferred a decision to a final three-day session in Brazil.

  11. OP-ED: Rio+20 is Everyone's Conference

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, otherwise known as Rio+20, is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

  12. Will Rio+20 Spark a Green Revolution?

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    Think of Rio+20 as the hothouse to grow the green ideas and values humanity needs to thrive in the 21st century.

  13. Green Groups Urge Obama to Attend Rio+20

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    With a month to go before the United Nations Conference on Sustainability in Rio de Janeiro, nearly two dozen NGOs are calling on President Barack Obama to confirm his attendance at the event, known as Rio+20.

  14. Rio+20: European Parliament Absent in Sustainability Summit

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    The decision by the European Parliament (EP), to renounce its participation in the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development next month on the grounds that hotel costs are exorbitant, has provoked sharp criticism from civil society organisations.

  15. Brazilian Government Sets Guidelines for Success at Rio+20

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    As the host of Rio+20, the Brazilian government has defined guidelines for achieving success at the upcoming world summit, whose aim is to assess and strengthen what has been done since the 1992 Earth Summit, the first global meeting on sustainable development.

  16. The real challenge for Rio+20

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, known as Rio+20, will be held in Rio de Janeiro from June 20-22 to assess the implementation of the resolutions of the Earth Summit of 1992, writes Don de Silva, a journalist, environmentalist, and communications specialist.

  17. Struggles over Land Rights Fall Under the Rio+20 Radar

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    Land is the missing element at next month's big U.N. sustainable development summit known as Rio+20, where nations of the world will meet Jun. 20-22 with the goal of setting a new course to ensure the survival and flourishing of humanity.

  18. Small Island States Combining Forces In Preparation for Rio+20

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    By the time small island developing states (SIDS) arrive at the Rio+20 conference in Brazil in June, they will have worked hard to co-ordinate their message to the rest of the world about the importance of sustainable development for their countries.

  19. Q&A: Reviving the Spirit of Rio+20

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    In the weeks and months leading up to the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development, groups spanning a wide spectrum of interests are doing everything in their power to ensure that the outcomes of the summit are actually carried out.

  20. AGRICULTURE: Farm Animals Join Rio+20 Agenda

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    Human development and biodiversity will not be the only focus of the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June, for which representatives of hundreds of states and non- governmental organisations (NGOs) will gather to discuss sustainable development.

  21. U.N. in Last Ditch Bid to Finalise Rio+20 Action Plan

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    The Rio+20 sustainable development summit, scheduled to take place in Brazil in June, is billed as a key meeting of world leaders who are expected to renew their political commitment and approve a wide-ranging plan for a greener future.

  22. Caribbean to Take Strong Stance at Rio+20 Summit

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    The mandate will be very clear. Caribbean Community (CARICOM) delegates are going to Brazil in June for the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development determined to show that it will not be business as usual.

  23. Brazil Defends Credentials as Rio+20 Host

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    The government of Brazil, which will host the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June, defended itself from ecologists who lambasted its performance on the environmental front.

  24. More Ecology, Less Economy for Rio+20

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    Hundreds of non-governmental organisations and social movements from around the world hope to counter the failure of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which they consider inevitable, with the success of the alternative People’s Summit.

  25. More Ecology, Less Economy for Rio+20

    - Inter Press Service

    A story from Inter Press Service, an international news agency

    Hundreds of non-governmental organisations and social movements from around the world hope to counter the failure of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which they consider inevitable, with the success of the alternative People’s Summit.

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Author and Page Information

  • by Anup Shah
  • Created:

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