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June 25, 2012

Activists Criticize Rio+20 Declaration at Summit's Close 
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The U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, has concluded in
Brazil. Over the weekend, negotiators unveiled an agreement that sets
new development goals and lays the groundwork for future talks. Rio+20
Secretary-General Sha Zukang hailed the pact as a success.

Sha Zukang: "You laid out the groundbreaking guidelines for applying
green economy policies as a useful tool in advancing sustainable
development and ending poverty. You agreed to strengthen the
environmental pillar of sustainable development by enhancing UNEP. You
decided that we need a high-level political forum to address the three
pillars of sustainable development in an integrated way."

Many groups working on environmental and poverty issues have criticized
the Rio+20 agreement for being too weak. Iain Keith of AVAAZ and Kumi
Naidoo of Greenpeace International had harsh criticism of the summit as
it came to a close.

Iain Keith: "What has happened in Rio is weak language with no timelines
for these polluter payments. We are here today demonstrating the fact
that the wealth and the power of big oil, coal and gas speaks louder
than people here at the Rio summit."

Kumi Naidoo: "I think that it is criminal that we have close to a
hundred heads of state who have come here and do not spend even one hour
in negotiations with each other. That the whole process was left to
civil servants and diplomats to actually negotiate an agreement with no
effort by heads of state to actually say, 'It is not good enough, we
need more ambition and so.'"

 

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