Programs Home | Climate Energy | Asia-Pacific | Plutonomy | Silos | False Solutions | Population | Post Capitalism| Technology | Archive Programs

PREPARATIONS FOR RIO +20

Rio: The original Rio summit nineteen years ago promised “sustainable development” involving transformations of global production and consumption patterns, and the achievement of global equity. These efforts begun in Rio have effectively failed. Meanwhile, the rise of the WTO greatly empowered global corporations, sustaining only the rights of capital over all other concerns. Our goal is to reveal the inherent problems of today’s resource-intensive economic model, and set an agenda for economic transformation. Another important goal is to give support to the global justice movement, and bring their concerns from “outside” the process to “inside.”

IFG is well known in South America because of numerous engagements there over 18 years.  Brazilian civil society organizations are actively seeking IFG’s full involvement in unifying opposition movements, shaping the debate, offering analyses and confronting what can only be called a capitalist agenda to maximize business opportunities in a world of increasing scarcity. IFG board and staff are already participating in the United Nations’ Environment Program’s (UNEP) North American consultation process, its Commission on Sustainable Development, and its High-Level Panel on Sustainability, all aimed at Rio. The Rio + 20 process provides an excellent opportunity to expose the false paradigms of global corporate economics, and to help build civil society and social movements towards truly transformative agendas.