Rio+20

Analysis and Comment (5)

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Giant fish made with plastic bottles emerge from the sands of Rio during the sustainability conference. AAP/EPA/Antonio Lacerda

Rio+20: Another step on the journey towards sustainability

On the wall along the massive entrance hall to the Rio+20 Sustainable Development conference venue, there was a painting of an African landscape with the simple words “Keep the oil in the soil and the…
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With its natural beauty, Rio provided the ideal backdrop for the earth summit. Anna Magal

Rio+20 and chronic diseases: a glass half-empty or half-full?

Rio provided the ideal backdrop for the Rio+20 “earth summit” – with the jungle at its backdoor, nestled among magnificent jagged mountaintops, bordered by kilometres of white sandy Atlantic beaches, and…
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Rio+20 has backtracked on many intellectual property measures put in place by Agenda 21. David Foote/AAP

Rio+20: who owns the Green Economy?

The Rio+20 summit has raised a number of difficult questions about law and technology: what is the relationship between intellectual property and the environment? What role does intellectual property play…
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More people live in cities than ever before. We can’t solve problems of sustainability and health without fixing them. Bill Hertha

Rio+20: Human health, wellbeing and survival depend on the future of cities

The secretary-general of the United Nations’ (first) Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Maurice Strong, famously declared that if our planet is to remain a hospitable and sustainable home for the human species…
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Queue for iPad 2 in Sydney: green activists targeting companies and governments should realise that those ‘enemies’ reflect the values of the money and consumption-hungry populace. AAP/Tracey Nearmy

Why the global environmental movement is failing

The recent news out of the RIO+20 summit is dire. No collective pre-agreement, no institutional change, no investment. The difference between RIO+20 and Kyoto was that at least Kyoto created an agreement…