It is despicably disingenuous that Hillary Clinton came here to be applauded while her negotiators were ordered to object to language that reflected the principles and hope of the first Earth Summit in Rio. No thanks to the US, those principles are preserved in the final outcome here - but so is the attitude of inaction, delay and broken promises; to all of our peril. Meena Raman, a 'negotiation expert' at the Third World Network NGO:
And so Rio+20 is over and the #riofail trend will continue, far beyond ruling the virtual twitterverse but also in the minds, in the souls, of what remains of an informed global population. The broken and visibly blemished UN negotiating process has once again failed to hide behind the wizard's curtain, leaving one to wonder just how long the
Good Ship UNCOP can remain seaworthy.
To my way of looking at it, the key question emerging from #riofail is will the UN be able to catch sufficient wind in its sails, given the anger and disgust of some of the key NGOs, to travel onward to future circuses, propped up by the fanfare and support of hundreds and hundreds of NGOs and environmental nonprofits who share exhibition space with shady carbon traders and entrepreneurial green washers.
After all, since Copenhagen, when rumors first surfaced in the first week of COP15, that the Copenhagen Accords had already been agreed to, it is now impossible for the official negotiators to lay claim to any sense of power in determining outcomes. One would hope their frustration at being mere 'placeholders' or lackeys for the international bankers and corporations who wield the ultimate power would at some point become unbearable.
Penny Williams, Global Ambassador for Women and Girls of the Commonwealth of Australia, who admitted that the future women want is clear but a "little hazy" most certainly did not have the US Secretary of State in mind when she proclaimed yesterday:
"The green economy must wear a woman's face!"
True, Secretary Clinton gave an outstanding speech today outlining the US expanding role in addressing food security and clean energy development. But her true role at Rio was sheer stagecraft.
The heroes of Rio+20 were, without doubt, the youth who organized yesterday's walk out, handing in their official UN badges in disdain, thus relinquishing their access to the inner sanctum. The PR acumen of 350, buoyed by successful #tarsandsaction and #endfossilfuelsubsidies campaigns won the day.
And while mainstream media played its customary in absentia role (congrats to The Guardian for ongoing outstanding comprehensive coverage), the Women of Rio(#womenrio) weren't exactly baking cookies.
Too bad Mrs. Clinton didn't take the opportunity to amplify their messages. She may know a great deal about cookstoves, but she has always made it clear she didn't fancy spending time in the kitchen. And when things got hot, she stood by her man.
Principles, not personalities? I think not.
Women Facts
Women & children are 14 times more likely to die than men during a #disaster #WomenRio #Rioplus20
Women farmers produce more than half of the food grown in the world—and roughly 1.6 billion women depend on agriculture for their livelihoods
Women & Green Economy
IPPF: Rio+20 summit must not ignore rapid population growth Reproduction rights
Kanayo F. Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, writes for This is Africa on the central role of smallholder farmers in the sustainability debates at Rio+20.
Agriculture is where environment, food security and poverty eradication come together. Because of increasing population and changing food consumption patterns, farming must become more productive and less wasteful in order to feed the world and contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction. But at the same time, increasing competition for scarce natural resources and climate change are making investments in agriculture more risky, especially for the 500 million small farms in developing countries. Negotiators at Rio+20 must recognize the importance of small farms and include them in their vision for meeting the world's challenges - feeding 9 billion people by 2050 - while protecting the planet.Africa: Rio+20 - Big Role for Small Farms
Empowering women, young farmers and small scale farmers are solutions to food security - Mary Robinson at #rioplus20.
Live from Rio+20, Day Three: “The Voices of Women”
Esther Kelechi Agbarakwe, a youth peer-advocate from Nigeria, became involved because she wanted to become empowered to do something not only in her own country, but on a global scale. She sees the strong connection between the natural environment and health issues such as reproductive health (RH) and rights, wants to advocate on addressing this connection. She said she was disappointed that RH and rights was not included in the Rio+20 document, and was meeting with country delegates and doing social media around these issues here in Rio. She’s also working with MRFCJ on inter-generational perspectives, bringing home the importance of cross pollination between young and older women, one learning from the other, and working as a team to achieve environmental sustainability and reproductive rights.
She told the BBC yesterday,“We are more impacted than ever by the effects of climate change in all our lives, and as part of this, we also need access to reproductive health and have reproductive rights, because that provides us with choices and opportunities in our lives. It’s all connected.”
Gender and Climate Change Challenges WorldPulse Rio20
Women in rural areas in developing countries are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood because of their responsibility to secure water, food and energy for cooking and heating.
The effects of Climate Change including drought , uncertain rainfall and deforestation make it harder to secure these resource. By comparison with men in poor countries, Women face historical disadvantage, which include limited access to decision making and economic assets that compound the challenge of Climate Change. It is therefore imperative that a gender analysis be applied to all actions on Climate Change and that gender experts are consulted in Climate Change process at all levels, so that Women's and Men's specific needs and priorities are identified and addressed.
In 2002 and 2008 the UN Commission on the Status of Women(CSW) called on mainstreaming a gender perspective into the ongoing research on the impacts and causes of Climate Change and to encourage the application of results of the research in policies and programs.