UN conference returns to Rio with new emphasis | Sun.Star.

SunStar.com.ph
January 25, 2012

  UNITED NATIONS — Representatives from around the world will be returning to Rio de Janeiro this June — 20 years after the U.N. Earth Summit — but this time the focus will be on sustainable development, not climate change, a Brazilian diplomat said Tuesday.

Andre Correa do Lago, who heads the Brazilian delegation negotiating a draft of the outcome document for “Rio plus 20,” said that climate change was too sensitive an issue for many countries, while sustainable development was something everybody could get behind.

“Climate change has very strong resistance from sectors that are going to be substantially altered, like the oil industry,” Correa do Lago said. “The feeling we have, when we are discussing with such different countries, is that sustainable development is the right answer.”

He said the refusal of many U.S. Republican candidates vying to challenge President Barack Obama in this year’s elections to even acknowledge global warming was a problem highlighted the difficulty of addressing the issue in an international forum.

While the 1992 Earth Summit focussed the world’s attention on the dangers of global warming, this year’s conference takes place in a world where economic concerns overshadow almost every other issue.

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