Rio+20

The Council of Canadians will intervene at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) – more commonly referred to as Rio+20 – set to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 20-22, 2012.

There is already significant concern that the global green economy agenda on water that is now emerging for Rio+20 is backed by big business and includes water privatization, large dams and putting a price tag on nature, while excluding the voices of many and failing to recognize the basic human rights of water and sanitation, as well as the rights of nature.

The Council participated in the ‘Towards People’s Summit of Rio+20′ in Porto Alegre, Brazil from January 24-29, 2012. As noted in their outreach, “The Brazilian Civil Society Facilitating Committee for Rio +20 is calling civil society organizations and social and popular movements from all around the world to a process that will culminate in June 2012 into the autonomous and plural event, provisionally called People’s Summit of the Rio +20 for Social and Environmental Justice, parallel to the official Conference.”

And Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow and water campaigner Meera Karunananthan are currently working on a paper on ‘the green economy and water’, with a scheduled release date of April 2012.

Handout:

• The Road to Rio+20: Why You Should Care and What You Should Do
• El camino a Río+20: Por qué nos debe importar y qué podemos hacer (Léalo en español)

Key blogs:

• UPDATE: The Rio+20 battle continues
• Writing from the UN Rio+20 Negotiations in New York , March 2012
  • Historic Press Conference from the UN in New York – Civil Society joins to denounce ‘Rights at Risk’!
  • Rights at Risk! An Urgent Call to Action
  • Council of Canadians, IBON Foundation and Center for International Law call for the High Commissioner for Human Rights to intervene in Rio+20 negotiations to protect human rights norms!
  • Some thoughts on World Water Day from the UN
  • Yes! EU Backs Down - Special Rapporteur on Water Shames Canada and the UK – says ‘Do Not Betray Your Commitments’
  • Bad Canada! Human Right to Water Under Attack
  • Water, Human Rights and the Future We Want
  • Council of Canadians creates a stir at UN – Denounces threat to Human Right to Water!
  • An Extremely Urgent Appeal – Sign on Letter for The Rio+20 Negotiations!
• NEWS: Canada tries to remove rights language from Rio+20 text
• NEWS: Right to water in Rio+20 text under threat in New York this week
• Putting Canada’s “dirty diplomacy” on the agenda in France
• UPDATE: Marseille was the staging ground for Rio+20
• World Water Forum Paves the Way to Privatize Nature, Undermine Human Right to Water in Rio+20
• Towards People’s Summit of Rio+20 in Porto Alegre, Brazil from January 24-29, 2012:
  • Observações do Brasil
  • Their green economy = water privatization, commodification
  • Civil society issues a challenge for Rio+20
  • A complicated picture emerges for Rio+20 organizing
  • Thematic social forum in Porto Alegre plans for Rio+20
• World Social Forum 2012 - Capitalist Crisis, Social and Environmental Justice
• NEWS: Leaked Rio+20 document outlines 10 sustainable development goals
• The road to Rio+20 is paved with corporate environmentalism
• NEWS: Rio+20 'green economy templates' point to dams, water privatization
• NEWS: Big business backs water agenda at Rio+20
• Rio+20 and water

More blogs:

• For additional Council of Canadians blogs on Rio+20, please go here.
• The official website for Rio+20 is at uncsd2012.org/rio20/.

 

Information