Rio Conference: Parties, Photo-ops, Press Conferences and Protests

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D.

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 20 (C-FAM) The final negotiations on the outcome document of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development ended just yesterday with a whopping 283-point declaration that will likely be immediately forgotten. Now it is time for the official party to begin.

It appears not to take much to get Brazilians to dance. Rio is humming with news cameras, journalists, delegates, and people scrambling to and fro.

The bad news is the conference has been nowhere near the success expected by organizers. Global leaders Barack Obama, David Cameron and Angela Merkel, will not attend the conference. Nevertheless, a final outcome document has been agreed, and all that remains for political leaders to do is smile for cameras and make bland statements about sustainable development.

The Brazil government, official host of the conference, has gone all out to ensure a memorable conference. The streets around the hotels where delegates are lodged and the famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema are being patrolled day and night by military personnel. Buses shuttle people to and from the beaches and conference center throughout the night. The number of people who are attending the conference is said to be close to 50,000.

The good news for pro-lifers is that population control is not part of the final outcome document. Twenty years ago, when the Earth Summit took place in the very same conference center, population control was unashamedly one of the primary focuses. Fast-forward twenty years, though population concerns were voiced in negotiations they got shot down quickly. Similarly, few side events were devoted to that topic, and instead focused on the “green economy.”

The organizers have spared no expense and the final cost estimates run up to half a billion dollars. The five air-conditioned pavilions at the main site of the conference measure over five football fields and are powered by 20% biodiesel Brazilian fuel. Everything is biodegradable. The list of side events for each day is printed on one piece of recycled paper at each help desk, making the conference paper smart.

Not everyone is happy with the conference’s emphasis on the green economy though. Most lament another weak outcome document that fails to take concrete action against climate change. Environmental NGOs believe that twenty years after the first Rio Conference there has been little progress on charting what they consider to be a greener future. These groups complained about their lack of access at the negotiating conference itself.

Still other groups complained about what they see as an outsized focus on the green economy, and have organized a parallel event called the “People’s Summit” focusing on the “rights of people.” The People’s Summit in downtown Rio is like a time-warp. People lying down in the streets, half-naked, obviously un-bathed and sporting dread locks, sing Bob Dylan songs. Others similarly clad, march down the main street of the city center shouting eco-Marxist slogans and beating drums. Others still, gather in large tents to listen to their leaders preach a new Marxist gospel of climate change.

Concerns that the green economy is just a new form of western market dominance may not be entirely unfounded. The pavilions at the conference displaying green cars, gadgets, energy solutions, and new programs, are indistinguishable from efforts of multinational companies at a marketing fair.

The hard work of the conference ended for delegates yesterday when they agreed to a 283-point text that will likely be completely ignored in the weeks and years to come. The rest of the week is now given over to parties, photo-ops, press conferences and protests.

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