-The Hindu Commodification, commercialisation and financialisation of nature will produce a greedy, not green, economy Over 100 world leaders will meet in Rio de Janeiro this week for the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, popularly referred to as Rio+20 Global Earth Summit. It is being held amidst “‘a world running low on drinking water and productive land’ and set against the backdrop of accelerating global warming, climate change, chemical contamination of air, land...

Indian officials are unconcerned about loud complaints by the European Union and Western-backed nongovernmental organisations about the "weak text" of the final declaration of the Rio+20 summit.   India is satisfied, having already fended off earlier attempts to remove two key principles. The first is the concept of "common but differentiated responsibilities" - namely, that rich and poor countries cannot be expected to equally bear the costs of green policies . The second...

In just over a week, world leaders will gather in Brazil for the Rio +20 Summit to decide what kind of future we want. Twenty years after the original earth summit, the theme is the green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.  Why is the conference important and why the aspirations for a 'green economy'? A green economy is one that results in improved human well-being and...

John Vidal, who was in Rio for the '92 Earth summit, looks back at that momentous event, and how the 2012 version compares Helicopters thundered up and down the chic Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. Tanks guarded the bridges and tunnels. The favelas were in lockdown, schools closed and supermarkets stood empty. Unexpectedly, George H W Bush, the 41st US president, flush with success at the collapse of communism, had arrived in...

-The Times of India The draft declaration for theRio+20 summit, with India's demands of reasserting equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) finding place in the text was accepted by the negotiators from more than 180 countries a day ahead of the meeting of the heads of states on Wednesday. With the negotiators of influential countries and blocks not pushing for more changes, sources in the Indian delegation suggested,...