At Rio summit, African delegates are skeptical of the benefits
With current trends leading the earth to disaster, world leaders and some 40,000 people converged on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June in the hope of charting a path towards a better, more sustainable future for everyone that many are calling the “green economy.” Underlining the urgency, Sha Zukang, secretary-general of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, said more than a year before the summit began: “If we continue on our current path, we will bequeath material and environmental poverty, not prosperity, to our children and grandchildren.”
However, sharp tensions and distrust between countries of the North and South and between civil society and governments — amidst general global economic uncertainty — ultimately resulted in vague agreements that left few satisfied. “It could have been worse” was a common sentiment at the conclusion of the summit, known as Rio+20 after the first Earth Summit in the same city two decades ago.
See full Press Release: http://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/august-2012/%E2%80%98green-economy%E2%80%99-empty-rhetoric-or-pathway-future
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