Fabiana Frayssinet

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 22 (TerraViva) – The downpour that fell Friday in this Brazilian city was nature’s warning to the heads of state meeting at the Rio+20 summit. The generation of Noe (Noah), an environmentalist’s son who will be born a month from now, will have to save biodiversity that is more complex than that of his Biblical namesake.

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By Claudia Ciobanu

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 22 (TerraViva) “With volunteers, we will drive sustainable development forward.” These were the words of Helen Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, at the close of Rio+20 on Jun 22. Continue Reading

Fabiola Ortiz

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 22 (TerraViva) – The countries of the Amazon river basin are pursuing definite goals for the region, such as zero deforestation by 2020, even though the Rio+20 conference’s outcome document does not include “sustainable development goals”.

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Fabíola Ortiz

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 22 (TerraViva) The continued exodus of Somalis to Kenya and Ethiopia has fuelled the debate on a new issue of global concern: climate refugees, driven from their homes and across borders by extreme weather events.

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Claudia Ciobanu interviews DACIAN CIOLOS, EU Commissioner for Agriculture

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 22 (TerraViva) The EU’s “agriculture minister” tells TerraViva that in Europe, the push for food security made at Rio+20 will be continued with a future European development policy centred on this issue. Continue Reading

By Thalif Deen

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 22 (TerraViva) When the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development ended Friday, there were winners and losers – mostly losers. Continue Reading

By Don de Silva*

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 22 (TerraViva) I disagree with the branding of Rio+20 as an abject “failure”. As a returnee from the 1992 Earth Summit, I have mixed views about the conference, some positive. Continue Reading

By Darryl D’Monte

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 22 (TerraViva) “Thousands of farmers are waiting on the side of the road for land reform,” Milton Rondo Filho, Brazil’s minister for international cooperation for tackling hunger, told a meeting organised by Oxfam on “Inequalities and Sustainable Development – a BRICS Perspective” here this week. Continue Reading

By Julio Godoy

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 22 (TerraViva) A new study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) presented at Rio+20 shows that overconsumption of food and the obesity it causes, especially in the industrialised countries, threaten not only individual health but the very sustainability of our planet. Continue Reading

At the demonstrations in the streets of Rio de Janeiro and the colourful People’s Summit, civil society activists brainstormed together, chanted slogans and railed against nearly everything. Continue Reading