Rio+20 Takes on the World

by greenspacewriter 06/19/2012

Tomorrow, Wednesday June 20th, marks the beginning of the Rio+20 Conference. This gathering of “world leaders” and representatives from governments, NGOs, private organizations, and other groups will be a 3 day event. Participants will explore potential solutions to the issues that effect mankind on a global scale, including poverty, “social equity,” and environmental conservation. As the world population continues to grow, so too do the problems surrounding such topics become exponentially greater.

Formally entitled the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), the conference will take place from June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - hence the shortened name, Rio+20. This conference not only aims to address these crucial issues, but is also being held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

The two main themes of Rio+20 - green economy and sustainable development - align neatly with the initiatives GreenspaceNYC supports. Indeed, it is intriguing to see how challenges in sustainability transpire on a global versus local level.

In order to make discussion manageable, conference organizers have broken down the larger issues into seven high priority categories: “decent jobs, energy, sustainable cities, food security, and sustainable agriculture, water, oceans and disaster readiness.”

The existence of such an event is incredible in its own right, but the truly important part of this ordeal will be the aftermath. Conference participants will produce some sort of document, chronicling solutions discussed at Rio+20. The results of such a document could mobilize change on an international level.

For now, all we can do is focus on supporting the movement towards greener lifestyles in our own city and hope that our small scale efforts can be replicated on a much broader level.

To learn more about Rio+20, please visit their site: http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/about.html

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