Article | 14 Aoû, 2012

ICCA Consortium at Rio+20: time to learn, time to think strategy...

We were a relatively small group1 from the ICCA Consortium to attend Rio+20, this last June. We organized and held our events, met colleagues, discussed issues to the point of losing our voice, attended gathering, events and protest marches, did some strategic thinking and planning and went back home... all with hardly a glance at the gathering of the State parties that embarked on the long and painful effort you all know about, generally described as worthless by most of the reports and the media.

Photo: Christian Chatelain, Ashish and Grazia

Compared to the close attention and energy we are used to place into official wording at gatherings such as CBD’s COPs or IUCN World Conservation Congresses, it did feel strange indeed.

Everyone is now nodding that the UN Rio+20 Conference Outcome, despite years of preparatory meetings and months of crafting in its final stages, falls short of expectations:

The “green economy” is the main solution pushed forward to “eradicate poverty” and generate sustainable development, but very few actually agree on what it means, and even the outcome document falls short of defining it. The impression and fear is that it may only mean “more of the same” and no departure at all from the structural conditions that generated the avoidable problems of today.

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