Rio Summit

Alternative Conference for the Rio Summit

This post comes to you from Cultura21

Taking place on June 16th and 17th, 2012 in London, UK.  At the central London Universities – SOAS, the Institute of Education (IOE) and University College London (UCL).

Organised by the Campaign against Climate Change with the School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Department for Development Studies. Opening plenary in IOE, Thornhaugh Street off Russell Square, Russell Square Tube.

 Rio to Rio: 20 wasted years?

  •  Between 1992 and 2012:
  • The global surface temperature has risen by 0.38C.
  • The Arctic sea ice has decreased by 2.94 million square kilometres.
  • The CO2 in the atmosphere has risen by 35.19 PPM.
  • 30 661 900 hectares of Brazilian forest have been lost.
  • More than 431,215.08 million tonnes of CO2 have been emitted.
  • The amount of CO2 emitted per year has risen from 21,421.45 to 30,398.42 million tonnes.

A wide range of workshops and seminars – and an exciting main plenary – are planned. Titles include :

  • “Food Security how can we stop a tragedy unfolding?”
  • “Green Energy versus ‘Extreme’ Energy”
  • “One Million Climate Jobs”
  • “Inequity is not only bad for society but a barrier to dealing effectively with the ecological crisis”
  • “Renewing Political Commitment to win the global battle against eco-calamity: a lost cause or is there a way forward?”
  • “We will not achieve environmental justice without a fundamental shift in values”
  • “New legal frameworks for a new era of environmental progress and justice”
  • “Can London lead the way in the fight against climate meltdown?”

and more workshops on: Green growth vs De-growth; bioenergy and land grabs; forests and biodiversity; aviation; geo-engineering; oceans; Zero Carbon Britain by 2030; arctic methane time bomb; generational justice; climate refugees;civil disobedience; “fracking”; population, gender and climate change; false solutions; TREC: energy from the deserts…and more.

To register a place at the conference click here.

This is a free event but donations to help the campaign would be appreciated.

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

Rio+20: Ideas for culture

This post comes to you from Cultura21

From the 4th until the 6th of June 2012 the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development or Rio+20 will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It has been 20 years since the first Earth Summit took place and the international community’s attention towards the Rio+20 Summit is growing steadily.
In order to influence the documents for the negotiations, activists and stakeholders have the possibility to participate and send proposals to an „idea box“ that the Secretariat of the Rio+20 Conference has established. The deadline for these submissions is the 1st of November.
Then the Secretariat will elaborate a compilation of the proposals that will be the basis for the zero draft in the negotiations at the Rio+20 Conference.
UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments), the world organization of cities, is preparing a contributions document, which will include (among other issues) the idea of making culture the fourth pillar of sustainable development. The Committee on Culture has been invited to participate in internal meetings to prepare UCLG’s document. The Agenda 21 for culture (2004) and the Policy Statement of Mexico on “Culture: the Fourth Pillar of Sustainable Development” (2010) build the basis for this process.

In order reinforce the message of the UCLG’s Committee on culture, cultural activists, networks and stakeholders on the relation between culture and sustainable development are encouraged to send a message with their ideas to the Secretariat too. The UCLG offers a document that can be used or can give ideas for preparing such a submission. This document can be found here: http://www.agenda21culture.net/docs_circulars/Ideas%20for%20Rio+20%20-%20ENG.pdf
Ideas can be submitted to the Secretariat of the Rio20+ Conference here:
http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.php?menu=83

For further information see
http://www.bcncultura.com/agenda21cultura/circular/circular54.html or contact the Secretariat of the Committee on culture: agenda21cultura [at] bcn [dot] cat and +34 933 161 009

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

Local and Regional Governments towards RIO+20

This post comes to you from Cultura21

A briefing on preparations for the Rio +20 Summit is available from the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), focusing on culture as key element of sustainability: “We believe that the paradigm of sustainable development needs a cultural pillar, and its implementation deserves cultural content. The Agenda 21 for culture (2004), the Policy Statement of Mexico on “Culture: the Fourth Pillar of Sustainable Development” (2010) and the local actions undertaken by our members and partners are the best evidence of progress.

UCLG is preparing its strategy for the Rio+20 Summit. The key messages put forward by UCLG are:

  • Making Culture as fourth pillar of sustainable development
  • Tackling climate change
  • Contributing to international governance in sustainable development field
  • Making cities resilient”

To read the briefing (PDF file): Click here

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)

– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)

– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)

– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21