Greenpeace is @CallingAllOwls - pls RT and @ it to leaders #RioPlus20 + Zero #deforestation.
As the three days of official Rio+20 talks commenced today, representatives of the major groups addressed the convention, voicing their opposition to the Zero Draft Document, also known as "The Future We Want."
The deeply disappointing final negotiating document, ironically titled ""The Future We Want" has been met with a consensus of anger by civil society, NGOs and major groups, all of whom agree that the text lacks a clear plan of action to monitor or define new goals of sustainable development, nor does it lay out requisite commitments to the design and implementation of a green economy which takes into account both social and environmental issues.
Hopes that the document would set forward a concise timetable and commitments towards "sustainable development goals" focusing on the safety of oceans, food security, renewable energies, employment and gender equity were dashed as the key power brokers - the US, China, the EU and Brazil - muddied the waters sufficiently to ensure no authentic action remained a possibility.
And once again, as is the case in the UNFCCC Climate Negotiations, the rift between the developed (North) and undeveloped (South) reveals a highly flawed, top heavy and economically driven agenda which disenfranchises the poor, the rights of nature itself and threatens the very essence of biodiversity necessary to maintain life on the planet.
A key shortcoming of the text was the failure of negotiators to effectively agree to terms of "common but differentiated responsibility,"Principle 7 of the original Rio Declaration.
The principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR) is one of the cornerstones of sustainable development. It has emerged as a principle of International Environmental Law and has been explicitly formulated in the context of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. It finds its origins in equity considerations and equity principles in international law. It informs in particular the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. Source In today's major news, development banks pledged $175 billion towards building public transport systems to reduce GHGs. The decision, backed by predictions that millions around the globe will be relocating to urban environments over the next few decades, is indicative of a shift in negotiating tactics from the traditional method of working with governments to directly deal with cities themselves in addressing low carbon transportation."Once the shackles of climate change are lifted, we are able to build constructive partnerships. The mayor of Beijing might ask for help with problems on public transport, but it would be hard for him to do that on climate change, Slocat’s Cornie Huizenga told The Guardian.
"The real success story of Rio is bottom-up partnerships to advance sustainability, even though governments can't agree what to do at the top level," Huizenga said. (source)