Yearly Archives: 2012

by | 2012-06-18 · 09:00

Civil society activists join forces to protest at Rio+20

From Ibon International

Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, June 17, 2012 – Civil society activists from across the world joined for a protest on Sunday inside the Riocentro convention center to push the messsage: “Our Future, Our Voice.”

The activists, part of the Rights for Sustainability campaign, taped their mouths and held placards before gathered media.

The protest was in reaction to a lack of voice for civil society at Rio+20; back-tracking on the Rio principles established at the 1992 Earth Summit; and the prioritizing of unregulated corporate interests over human rights and equity.

Paul Quintos of IBON International, which coordinates the NGO Cluster on Rights and Equity at Rio+20, and the Rights for Sustainability advocacy platform, said: “Civil society’s ability to promote the voice of the people it represents has been steadily eroded throughout the process leading up to Rio+20.”
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by | 2012-06-17 · 20:58

Rio+20 Peoples’ Summit: Photo of the Day

An Amazonian man enjoys a pipe during the Kari-Oca II gathering outside Rio de Janeiro, a week-long encounter of Indigenous representatives from the Amazon and the world. Photo: Ben Powless.

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by | · 14:30

Audio–Rio+20 Peoples’ Summit: Indigenous peoples speak out against REDD

Audio and photo by Anne Petermann, Global Justice Ecology Project

Marifel, of the Asia-Pacific Indigenous Youth Network speaks. Photo: Petermann/GJEP

Indigenous Peoples held a press conference to denounce the negative impacts of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) during the opening activities of the People’s Summit, Friday, 15 June, 2012. To download or listen to the interview, click on the link below:

Marifel of the Asia-Pacific Indigenous Youth Network Speaks on REDD

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Filed under False Solutions to Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Rights, Resilience, and Restoration, Rio+20

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by | 2012-06-16 · 21:08

Rio+20 Peoples’ Summit: Photo of the Day

Minawa, President of the Federation of the Hunakui People, from Acre, Brazil, at a workshop about REDD at the Peoples Summit Rio+20, Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Berenice Sanchez

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by | · 20:37

Rio+20 Action Alert: “The future we don’t want” e-petition

Today ANPED, the Northern Alliance for Sustainability, with the support of other civil society organizations active in the Rio+20 negotiations, has launched “THE FUTURE WE DONT WANT” e-petition campaign, and they are asking people to sign and share it with others.

The petition was written as “a response to the new negotiating text [for the Rio +20 agreement] presented today by the Brazilian government, and tomorrow we will bring this to the attention of European Commission delegates and the press.  The text does not make a single mention of environmental justice, Principle 10 or a high-level representative for  the future. While efficiency is quoted 14 times and economic growth 20 times, there is not a single quote on sufficiency, planetary boundaries or limits. That does not reflect what the people want.”

This petition urges the Government of Brazil, the UN Sustainable Development Conference Secretary General and all Member States to stop negotiating their short-term national agendas and to urgently agree now on transitional actions for global sustainable progress.

The organizers urge their fellow citizens, the 99% of the world, to stand up for the future we really want, and not this one imposed by a few: the 1% negotiators and their elite constituencies — so that the voices of the majority finally shape the future.

TO SIGN AND SHARE THE “FUTURE WE DONT WANT” E-PETITION

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Filed under Actions / Protest, Ending the Era of Extreme Energy, Rio+20

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by | · 10:30

From the Global Allliance for Incinerator Alternatives: Zero waste for a sustainable future

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 15 – Zero Waste is an achievable goal whose day has come, as communities around the world take action to end waste disposal in incinerators, dumps and landfills. But Rio+20 will show that Zero Waste is also a revolution in the relationship between waste and people.

Before and during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development an international delegation will call for shifts in production, consumption and disposal to address one of the planet’s most serious environmental challenges – the take-make-waste system that is harming the planet, communities and public health.

“Burning and burying our garbage is a primitive technology that has no place in the sustainable economy of the future,” said Mariel Vilella, GAIA’s campaigner.

“Incinerators and dumps emit greenhouse gas emissions, waste valuable resources, endanger our health and threaten communities’ way of life,” she said. “Reusing, repairing, recycling and composting our waste saves money, creates jobs and protects people and the environment from the buildup of hazardous chemicals,” said Silvio Ruiz, from the Global Alliance of Wastepickers.

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Filed under Rights, Resilience, and Restoration, Rio+20, Waste

by | · 10:00

Confronting the Rio+20 “greed economy:” Calls for rights for Mother Earth

“Green economy is about cheating nature while making profit out of it.” – Pablo Solón, Former Bolivian Ambassador to UN, Director Focus on the Global South

With over 50,000 accredited participants registered, Rio+20 is expected to be the largest gathering in the history of the UN.  The Green Economy put forward by the United Nations Environment Program (nicknamed the “Greed Economy” by many) is about promoting the idea that we can only “save” nature by putting a price tag on what nature “does” for us. Proponents call it “ecosystem services” and from forests generating the air we breathe to the decomposition process resulting in the ground we walk upon, everything has its price, and corporate executives are wringing their hands with anticipation of what the Greed Economy could do for profit margins.

The Peoples Summit – hosted by Civil Society Organizations challenging the direction of the UN and its members – will run in parallel in Flamengo Park with the aim of not simply protesting the so-called Green Economy, but presenting viable alternative, sustainable solutions, including recognizing legal rights for nature.  “In 2008, Ecuador led the world by becoming the first country to recognize legal Rights of Nature in its constitution – the right to exist, maintain and restore its vital cycles, and regenerate integrally.  Recognizing Rights of Nature allows us to truly protect ecosystems and sets the stage for a sustainable future.  Rights of Nature gives social movements the opportunity to reunite on what brings us together – Mother Earth.” says Natalia Greene, President CEDENMA, Ecuador.
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by | 2012-06-15 · 19:21

Video: Stop the takeover of nature by financial markets

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