By RTCC Staff
George Bush Sr, then President of the US, adresses the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 (Source: UN/Michos Tzovaras)
The Rio+20 summit will focus on sustainable development as a framework for progress rather than climate change, which has been deemed as too divisive.
Andre Correa do Lago, lead Brazilian negotiator for Rio+20’s outcome document said that climate change was too controversial and that sustainable development offered more international solutions to multiple global issues.
“Climate change has very strong resistance from sectors that are going to be substantially altered, like the oil industry,” said Correa do Lago. “Sustainable development is something that is as simple as looking at how we would like to be in 10 or 20 years.”
Do Lago highlighted the resistance to the Kyoto Protocol, designed to reduce international greenhouse gas emissions and the absence of climate change on the US political agenda as further examples of the controversy surrounding climate change.
“We know we have an environmental crisis, we have a financial crisis, we have a job crisis, we have many crises at the same time now, in some countries many of these crises together and the fact is that sustainable development is the answer to that,” he added.
The Rio+20 event will mark the twentieth anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit.
A draft outcome document obtained by The Guardian, suggests the summit will look to agree a new deal on ocean protection as well as increased action on food security, green job creation and the establishment of a ‘Sustainable Energy for All’ programme.