I have recently had quite a few discussions about Rio+20, which commemorated the ground-breaking environmental and development conference in 1992 in Rio, Brazil. I was able to attend the Stockholm+40 event, which celebrated the conference from 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden. Unfortunately, this time around, both conferences have been widely criticized as a major failure of global governance.
Philip Sutton of Greenleap wrote ... "Have we reached our alcoholics anonymous moment with sustainability? The Rio+20 conference was a fiasco, the international climate negotiations are getting nowhere fast and the political setting in Australia for environmental progress is going backwards at a terrifying rate. The purpose of pointing this out is not to engage in self-flagelation or 'dark-siding'. It is simply to see if, at last, we can admit, like a new member of an alcoholics anonymous self-help group, that the methods we have been collectively applying to sustainability campaigning are simply not working and to continue with the same approach is futile. From that point of recognition it might be possible to build up a new, effective approach."
On a positive side, there was significant acknowledgment of the role of cities and local governments in bringing about sustainability (a theme I will return to later). Overall, there is still much to learn about what happened before, during, and after Rio+20 and what went so wrong? There are a huge number of sources and analyses to better understand what the Rio+20 outcomes mean ...
Philip Sutton of Greenleap wrote ... "Have we reached our alcoholics anonymous moment with sustainability? The Rio+20 conference was a fiasco, the international climate negotiations are getting nowhere fast and the political setting in Australia for environmental progress is going backwards at a terrifying rate. The purpose of pointing this out is not to engage in self-flagelation or 'dark-siding'. It is simply to see if, at last, we can admit, like a new member of an alcoholics anonymous self-help group, that the methods we have been collectively applying to sustainability campaigning are simply not working and to continue with the same approach is futile. From that point of recognition it might be possible to build up a new, effective approach."
On a positive side, there was significant acknowledgment of the role of cities and local governments in bringing about sustainability (a theme I will return to later). Overall, there is still much to learn about what happened before, during, and after Rio+20 and what went so wrong? There are a huge number of sources and analyses to better understand what the Rio+20 outcomes mean ...
Chasek/IISD http://www.iisd.ca/uncsd/rio20/enb/
Pearce/Yale e360 http://e360.yale.edu/feature/beyond_rios_disappointment_finding_a_path_to_the_future/2547/
James et al./CAP http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/06/rio_text.html
Dalkmann/WRI http://insights.wri.org/news/2012/06/rio20-rear-view-whats-road-ahead-sustainable-transportation
Meynen et al./EJOLT http://www.ejolt.org/section/blog/
Worth/Major Groups (video statement) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQbo9fPqZbs&feature=player_embedded
Greenpeace (press statement) http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/press/releases/Greenpeace-Press-Statement-Rio20-Earth-Summit-a-failure-of-epic-proportions/
Mittler/Greenpeace http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/beyond-rio20-lets-mobilize-for-a-better-world/blog/41095/
Birdlife International http://www.birdlife.org/community/2012/06/reflections-rio-reaffirming-renewing-rhetoric-anything-really-changed/
Lieberman/Pew (txt + video statement) http://www.pewenvironment.org/news-room/press-releases/some-progress-at-rio-but-no-time-to-waste-85899400661
Wagner/Linkages Update (IISD) http://www.iisd.ca/linkages-update/191/
Sanwal/SD List (developing country perspective) http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/blogs/rio20-begining-global-transformation-and-new-multilateralism
Norden (Nordic region) http://www.norden.org/en/news-and-events/news/rio-20-big-step-forward-on-sustainable-consumption-and-production
Watts & Ford/The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/23/rio-20-earth-summit-document
Romero & Broder/New York Times http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/23/rio-20-earth-summit-document
Monbiot/The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/25/rio-governments-will-not-save-planet
Beinecke & Van Noppen/New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/23/opinion/after-rio20-we-have-to-solve-the-earths-problems.html
Vidal/The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/jun/27/rio20-reasons-cheerful
Chatterjee/CorpWatch http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15746
Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/06/23/world/americas/ap-lt-brazil-rio20-outcome.html
Griffin/Bloomberg http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-26/rio-20-on-the-same-planet-but-not-the-same-page.html
Deen/Inter Press Service http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/06/rio20-promised-green-economy-was-a-fake-say-activists/
Marshall/Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-marshall/rio-20-point-of-no-return_b_1620596.html
Boykoff & Osnes http://www.insidethegreenhouse.net
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