SPECIAL FOLDER: Rio +20 - As Rio gets ready to host the UNCSD, civil society embarks on a campaign of mobilisation

The city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is hosting the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as "Rio +20" or the Earth Summit.

The Conference is taking place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, where they drew up guidelines for sustainable societies for the 21st century, expressed as Agenda 21.In addition it also marks the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.

The conference has two main themes: sustainable societies and the abolition of poverty. Rio +20 aims seek to secure renewed political commitment to sustainable development, assessing the progress and implementation gaps in meeting already agreed commitments, and addressing new and emerging challenges.

Update - NGO Statements and Declarations:

• Declaration of Social Movements Assembly during the 2012 Thematic Social Forum
• ACP-EU Council of Ministers Joint Declaration on Rio +20
• Global Alliance for Rights of Nature Submission for Rio +20
• International Viewpoint - "The issues in Rio +20: Policy statement of the organization committee of the People's Summit"
• Alternatives International - "The Green Economy and Corporate Concerns in Rio +20"
• Declaration by the AMARC - "Rio +20 Summit: the right to communicate is a necessary condition for sustainable development"

Youth Participation and Presence:

• Canada World Youth: has joined the Global Movement that seeks to have youth voices heard at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development: Rio+20.
• Road to Rio+20: A global youth-led movement seeking to realize the potential of the Earth Summit 2012.

Women’s Participation and Presence:

• YWCA Australia: women-led organisation that achieves positive change by providing advocacy, programs and services for women, families and communities Climate change: Making Rio + 20 count for rural women.
• Articulação de Mulheres Brasileiras: Women’s Strategies for Rio + 12, Thematic Social Forum, Porto Alegre, 27-28 January 2012:Report- Women's strategies for Rio+20 - POA - January 2012.pdf

Environment NGOs -Participation and Presence:

• Rio+20 Friends of the Ocean: Policy Brief on The Public Trust Doctrine and Rio+20 Turnipseed, M. et al., February 2012:The Public Trust Doctrine and Rio +20.pdf
• Alternatives: is a coalition of non-profit organisations, who together are working towards social justice. In run up to Rio +20 they have launched a campaign “Change the System, not the climate!”.

Trade Unions-Participation and Presence:

• International Trade Union Confederation: Rio+20 represents a major moment for trade unions to ensure that demands are heard by governments, to mobilise workers and trade unions around sustainable development and to work with others in building an alternative economic model that benefits the working people and protects the environment.

Press Releases:

• UNRISD prepares for Rio+20: Social Dimensions of Green Economy and Sustainable Development.
• Inter Press Service: Stephen Leahy - Rio+20 Summit: A Moment That Must Be Seized.
• Open Democracy: Kathambi Kinoti, 10 February 2012 - Land grabs: the threat to African women’s livelihoods.
• Social Watch: NGO Network for Development: 22 November 2011 - Rio 2012 through the lens of the Arab Spring.

• United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa: Ad Hoc Experts Meeting - Rio+20: Progress and issues for North Africa, Rabat, Morocco,March 7, 2012:NB-EGMRio+20 - March 7- 2012.pdf
• United Nations Economic Commission for Africa: Press Release, World Conference Rio +20 - North Africa is Getting Ready, Rabat, February 29, 2012:Press release - EGM Rio+20 - February 29- 2012.pdf
• United Nations Economic Commission for Africa: Press Release, North Africa can contribute to making the African continent become a pole of growth, Rabat, February 28 2012:Press release - North Africa - February 28 - 2012.pdf