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...

-The Business Standard At Rio, the stakes for India are high There will be some high-profile absentees, but 120 heads of government are still turning up at Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20. Their task is so daunting that they are practically set up to fail: to chalk out a strategy for earth-friendly economic development, focused at eradicating poverty and hunger and meeting basic needs...

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...

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...

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...