-The Economic Times The largest United Nations conference in history is happening now in Brazil. Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, is assembling over 50,000 people and more than 130 heads of state and government. Beyond the politicalcommitments world leaders are promising to make by the end of the summit, how can Rio+20 help us promote actual changes in policymaking towards socio-environmental synergies? The two main themes of Rio+20 - the...

-The Hindu Developed countries pledge no funds; EU feels it was a waste of time Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jayanti Natarajan smiles when she says India’s known stand on climate change mitigation has been accepted. But the smile is replaced by a frown when someone asks if the developed countries have pledged any money to help the developing countries. No, she says, adding valiantly that India does not want to commodify...

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...

India won the day, with the 192 countries gathered at Rio de Janeiro agreeing that eradicating poverty should be given the highest priority, overriding all other concerns to achieve sustainable development.  After a bitter fight with the developed countries, who wanted the objective of poverty eradication be made subservient to creating a 'green economy', India's demand to put the goal of removing poverty above all other objectives in the final Rio+20...

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...