Elisara was in Honiara for the 11th Pacific Arts Festival to present his paper on Pacific Island leaders' failure to address sustainable development. Speaking to the Solomon Star, Elisara said Rio plus 20 was a disappointment. He said since the first meeting in 1992, there were promises that were never delivered.

"It should be called Rio minus 20 because we have gone back another 20 years. The political will was never delivered since 1992," he said.

O le Siosiomaga Society a Samoan non-government organization established in 1990. It has represented the Pacific in a number of global conferences.

OLSSI aims to monitor the state of the environment in Samoa, with particular emphasis on human induced impacts on land, fresh water, mangroves, lagoons, reef, ocean and air as well as promoting only those policies and practices which have positive impacts.

Source

• PINA
• O Le Siosiomaga Society
• Image: State of the Planets

For the past six months, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) along with Norway and Iceland, and Catholics for Choice and the International Planned Parenthood Federation, have worked feverishly to take advantage of the Rio +20 conference on sustainable development in order to promote both an international right to abortion and population control. Continue reading (News release)

"We think it's an important event, and an important opportunity, but more to try and put poverty reduction and poor people's livelihood at the center of the debate about greening development, about moving to more sustainable development models," said Sarah Wykes, CAFOD's lead analyst on environment and climate change.

"The hottest topic for discussion for both summits will be how to build a 'green economy' to help achieve sustainable development. But we are concerned that the green economy needs to also be fair and help lift millions of people out of poverty."

"We strongly believe that money will not change life on the planet," said Mario Nicacio from the Indigenous Council of Roraima, Brazil.

"To me, the phrase 'green economy' means a bag full of money ready to be used to transform the forest into a place without fresh air. If I had one minute to speak to all the world leaders, I would tell them that using a lot of money to preserve the Amazon is not enough, they must educate the world's population."

CAFOD, via a press statement, is concerned about the current vision for a 'green economy', saying it focuses too much on the economy, the economic interests of the rich and industrialised countries and not enough on the 'green' sustainable development in poor countries.

Sources

• Vatican Radio
• CAFOD
• Image: Relacoes Internacionais

One step they have taken is a letter-writing campaign to governments and proposed attendees to RIO+20, from countries where Mercy sisters work.

The Mercy letter calls on the government leaders and personnel to include ethical considerations when they are negotiating at the Rio Conference.

The letter also asks the delegates to "affirm a strong definition of sustainable development and a shared vision of ethical and spiritual values that would inspire and guide cooperative action for change."

Source

• Mercy International Association
• Image: Human Impact Institute