The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is being held in Brazil on June 20-22 at the Riocentro Convention Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. World leaders, NGOs, government ministers, the private sector, scientists, and other interest groups will meet to discuss social equity, poverty, global governance and environmental protection.
Rio+20 will see more than 190 countries and 130 leaders take part in formal sessions. Some 50,000 participants from grassroots organisations, business groups and other members of civil society will meet and participate in side events.
Why is there another conference?
News that makes sense
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• According to a report by WWF, demand for natural resources had doubled since 1966 and we are now using the equivalent of 1.5 planets to support our activities. If the planet continues along this path, we need the equivalent of two planets by 2030.
• Biodiversity has also declined, carbon emissions have increased by 40 per cent in past two decades and the World Food Programme reports that one in seven people are undernourished.
• This is all set to worsen with the global population predicted to rise from 7 billion to 9 billion by 2050.
• The first conference of this kind happened 20 years ago. The landmark 1992 Earth Summit in Rio awakened the world to environmental issues such as climate change, the loss of species diversity and rainforest destruction.
• This time round, it is reported that organisers are less ambitious and are not expecting concrete outcomes. Rather, they hope that countries would at least agree on common principals, goals and what it means to be sustainable.
• "This was never going to be a conference that solved everything,” Jim Leape, director of WWF International told BBC News, “but it still can be a conference that puts the world on a different path.”
Ecological Footprint Index (WWF)
