Rio+20 Summit Condemned as Sell Out of People and the Planet - Friends of the Earth International Media Advisory
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRAZIL), June 22, 2012-- Friends of the Earth International
today strongly condemned world leaders for selling out people and the planet
in their Rio+20 declaration which falls way short of the action needed to
tackle the planetary crisis we face, and does not include any of the real
solutions demanded by the people at the alternative Peoples Summit. [1]
According to Friends of the Earth International, the lack of political will
from governments is rooted in the undue influence of corporations over
governments and UN institutions. But pressure from civil society groups and
movements and developing countries prevented world leaders from agreeing an
even worse Rio+20 declaration that would have taken the world further
backwards than we were twenty years ago.
"Once again corporate polluters have held UN decision-making hostage to
furthering their economic interests, at the expense of peoples wellbeing and
the planet. But real solutions to the crises exist and were presented by the
alternative Peoples Summit. They include economic justice, climate justice,
and food sovereignty," said Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth
International.
Friends of the Earth International has been a key player in the People's
Summit – an alternative space independent from the UN Summit supported by
over 200 civil society groupings who have worked together over the past
nine days to generate ideas for the change needed to tackle the crisis we
face.
"Friends of the Earth International and our allied social movements will
keep fighting the corporate capture of the UN which is stopping our
governments from listening to the voices of the 99 percent of the people. These voices include not only the Peoples Summit voices here in Rio but also the voices of the Occupy and Indignados movements around the world,"
said Lucia Ortiz, Economic Justice International Program Coordinator at Friends of the Earth International.
"Peoples power is the solution to the crises we are facing. The alternative
Peoples Summit in Rio was an example of peoples voices uniting to demand
real solutions. We need to build on our strengths and organise ourselves to
resist corporate power, false solutions, and reclaim our democracies and UN
decision-making" said Isaac Rojas, Friends of the Earth International
coordinator of the Forest and Biodiversity Program.
Friends of the Earth International's analsyis of key issues on the table in
Rio:
GREEN ECONOMY
The European Union block tried to impose in Rio the corporate-driven green
economy agenda --which is a front for our broken and unfair economic system
and for selling out nature—as the main tool for achieving sustainable
development. Civil society and developing countries managed to prevent this
agenda from being adopted and partially stopped its imposition in the Rio
declaration, allowing, for now, individual countries to continue define
their own vision of what a truly fair and sustainable economy might look
like.
Unfortunately the declaration still recognizes the green economy as an
important tool and does not include any recognition that developed
countries, whose unsustainable consumption patterns caused the bulk of our
environmental problems, should take the lead on sustainable consumption and
production. The Rio+20 declaration also fails to recognise that
multinational corporations are a main cause of the multiple crises the world
is facing.
THE RIO PRINCIPLES
The Rio+20 declaration reaffirms the so-called 'Rio Principles' first agreed
at the 1992 Earth Summit but does not go any further.
The Rio+20 declaration ignores the need of the industrialised world to repay
its ecological debt through provision of new and additional public finance
and through technology transfer.
The Rio+20 declaration does not tackle the need to phase out fossil fuels
through a just transition to clean and affordable community-controlled
energy.
CORPORATE CAPTURE OF THE UN
The Rio+20 declaration includes a voluntary approach to sustainability
reporting – something that was on the table 10 years ago and is wholly
insufficient to address corporate abuses and crimes.
The Rio+20 declaration unfortunately states that governments should support
initiatives including "promoting the contribution of the private sector" and
the only reference to mobilizing public finance was made in connection to
public-private partnerships.
The Rio+20 declaration does not include any of the steps raised in a
statement issued on June 4 by Friends of the Earth International and other
organisations and signed by more than 400 organisations.
The steps that should be taken include:
Limiting the privileged status that business currently has in official UN
negotiations and policy-making;
limits on the role of the business and
industry" major group;
disclosure of existing relations and links between
the UN with the private sector;
a code of conduct for UN officials;
a review
of existing partnerships with corporates and trade associations, and a halt
to entering into any new such partnerships; increased transparency around
lobbying;
and the establishment of a legally binding framework to hold
companies accountable to environmental, human rights and labour rights law.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International:
+234 803 727 4395 Nigerian cell), or email Nnimmo@eraction.org
Lucia Ortiz, Economic Justice International Program Coordinator, Friends of
the Earth International (in Brazil) Tel: + 55 51 98 41 87 07 or +55 21
6968 7826 or email lucia@natbrasil.org.br
Isaac Rojas, Friends of the Earth International coordinator of the
Forest and Biodiversity Program, (+55 21) 6968 7885 or email isaac@coecoceiba.org
Paul de Clerck, Corporates Campaign Coordinator, Friends of the Earth
International Tel:+ 32 494 38 09 59 or email paul@milieudefensie.nl
NOTES TO EDITORS
[1] The solutions promoted at the Peoples Summit include:
- Small scale and local renewable energy production
- Investing in energy efficiency
- Shifting from export oriented large scale food production to food
sovereignty to serve local food needs
- Implementing a global financial transaction tax
- Implementing internationally binding rules for companies and sanctions if
they violate them
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Niccolo' Sarno MOBILE +55 21 6927 3059 ( JUNE 18-28 IN RIO DE JANEIRO)
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Media Coordinator - Friends of the Earth International
Email: media@foei.org - http://www.foei.org/media
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Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is the world's largest grassroots
environmental federation with 76 national member groups in 76 countries and
2 million members and supporters
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