 It wasn’t until arriving in Rio de Janeiro (1) that participants to Rio + 20, United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, could see the effect this event was having on the lives of local Cariocas and their city. Even though the main venue of the conference, Rio Centro, was about 60 minutes northwest of downtown Rio, dozens of related events were scattered all over the city, including at the legendary Copacabana beach in the Bay of Guanabara, overshadowed by the iconic Corcovado statue. Near the affluent Lagoa neighborhood, youth groups distributed information about sustainability topics, and across the city large numbers of Cariocas queued up in long lines, sometimes 400 yards long, to get into venues such as the “Humanidade Pavillion” that were not restricted to accredited participants. |
| Local media provided constant coverage of the negotiations between the countries’ representatives at Rio Centro. On the streets, environmental groups provided their own commentary on the negotiations, handing out flyers that were mostly critical of the outcome document “The Future We Want”. This document, theoretically, should move the international environmental agenda forward, seeing nations make concrete commitments to sustainability. After all in this city 20 years earlier, the United Nations held the historic “Earth Summit,” a landmark event in international environmental policy-making that paved the way for one of the first comprehensive agreements on environmental policy.(2) The Conference sparked Agenda 21, a local plan for sustainability; the Convention on Biological Diversity, which prioritizes the protection of endangered habitats; and the Framework Convention on Climate Change, which itself led to the Kyoto Protocol. The ten-year follow-up in Johannesburg, South Africa, saw world leaders again promising to take stronger actions to eradicate poverty while also protecting the environment. |
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 But this year, two decades after the first Conference in Rio, many groups expressed their frustration with the slow pace of translating promises into action on environmental issues, raising their voices and marching in protest through the streets of Rio. In essence they claimed that the conference document lacks depth and specific commitments by nations to take drastic actions towards sustainable development. Although many issues were raised, the absence of an international agenda to curb the use of fossil fuels – which are the greatest contributors of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere – proved a particular point of contention. At the end of the week, civil society organizations released a strong objection to the final document entitled The Future We Don’t Want. |
 "NGOs reject Rio+20 final document" |
 Many civil society organizations took advantage of the global audience to stage protests on a wide variety of environmental and social issues |
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While negotiations among Presidents, Secretaries of State, Prime Ministers and other high-level officials took place in Rio Centro, other venues offered side events. These events encompassed informational and interactive panels and courses organized by themes of interest and directed at global, regional and local levels. The Conference discussed a variety of issues related to sustainable development, such as Energy; Cities; Food; Water; Oceans; and Disasters. A few examples of panels and educational modules include: At a global level, a panel presented and discussed indicators of climate change and measures for sustainability. The International Network for Gender and Sustainable Energy offered a series of activities including a panel of energy and gender. This discussion touched on women in the formal and informal job arena and argued for women as a primary end user of energy.  Honorees of the Huairou Commission |
 At the local level, a session on sustainability for cities brought together
technicians, NGO’s and public officials to discuss and learn about local management tools. There was also a series of activities dedicated to financing and partnerships. In another, the oldest Israeli environmental NGO shared techniques, tools and policies from its experience with water harvesting in semi-deserted areas. On gender issues, The Huairou Commission, a grassroots women organization in more than 50 countries, participated in panels advancing pro-poor, gender-equitable programs and policies at a local level.
Finally, a panel demonstrating that “location matters” couldn’t have been more accurate in summarizing one of the main concerns of climate change and sustainability. The dominant, ongoing dialogue still suffers from a major gap in linkage between the global and local arenas. |
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To put this challenge in perspective, it is well documented that the urban population will almost duplicate by 2050 (4), and growth will be seen mainly in developing countries such as in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Furthermore the persistent challenge to house and foster social inclusion for low-income populations in primary and, more recently, in secondary cities is also well documented. Many of these low-income informal settlements tend to locate themselves in areas prone to risk. While topics such as local vulnerability and risk analysis had limited presence at Rio + 20, challenges such as low income population adaptation and resilience were even more underrepresented as discussion topics. The “think global, act local” phrase was originally attributed to Patrick Geddes 1915, and subsequently in an environmental context to David Ross Brower, founder of Sierra Club. However this action is still not happening as massively as needed. In Rio + 20, there were panels, round tables and groups for global thinking but far fewer for those acting locally, especially for those facing the challenge of poverty, resilience and adaptation to climate change. This challenge is not yet embedded enough in the planning-environmentalist mindset. Hopefully, the World Urban Forum in September 2012 in Naples, Italy will address these challenges in a comprehensive manner by linking microclimate change, adaptation and resilience with local policies while fostering sustainability from a local perspective and sharing specific ideas and tools that can inspire planners, government officials, NGO’s and especially communities from around the world. After all, while climate change touches all communities in all countries, it is the poor who will suffer first and most.Alejandra Mortarini attended the Rio + 20, United Nations Conference for Sustainability, Rio de Janeiro, from 19 June through 22 June.
Endnotes: [1] With a population of more than 6,000,000, it was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries until Brasilia was constructed. Rio has been a laboratory for innovative and diverse housing policies, strategies and tools, due to a historical abundance of extensive informal settlements called Favelas. [2] agreement on what sustainability meaning “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. [3] Between 2011 and 2050, the world population is expected to increase by 2.3 billion, passing from 7.0 billion to 9.3 billion (United Nations, 2011).At the same time, the population living in urban areas is projected to gain 2.6 billion, passing from 3.6 billion in 2011 to 6.3 billion 2050. Thus, the urban areas of the world are expected to absorb all the population growth expected over the next four decades while at the same time drawing in some of the rural population. As a result, the world rural population is projected to start decreasing in about a decade and there will likely be 0.3 billion fewer rural inhabitants in 2050 than today. Furthermore, most of the population growth expected in urban areas will be concentrated in the cities and towns of the less developed regions. Asia, in particular, is projected to see its urban population increase by 1.4 billion, Africa by 0.9 billion, and Latin America and the Caribbean by 0.2 billion. Population growth is therefore becoming largely an urban phenomenon concentrated in the developing world (David Satterthwaite, 2007). |