Rio+20

“Rio+20” is the short name for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012 – twenty years after the landmark 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. Rio+20 is also an opportunity to look ahead to the world we want in 20 years.

At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet.

The official discussions will focus on two main themes: how to build a green economy to achieve sustainable development and lift people out of poverty; and how to improve international coordination for sustainable development.

This space provides information on Mozambique and Rio +20. It features preparatory debates, speeches, interviews with key stakeholders, reports, among others. It will also avail post Rio+20 outcomes and outcomes relevant o Mozambique situation.

Maputo stopped to discuss a secular problem which solution is slow to come. The goal is further and further away from countries, particularly the developed countries. The Mozambican government wants to develop a green economy which is less polluting to the environment. The question is: would have the will enough?

The Executive says that the environment is on the agenda of government andd efends the need of changing production and consumption patterns. Other conference participants say it is necessary to invest in human resources and set the strategy for exploitation of mineral resources.

In an interview with "O País" Newspaper, the UN Resident Coordinator in Mozambique, Jennifer Topping, said that the Rio + 20 Conference, to be held from 20 to 22 June this year, is an event that will overcome the barriers of funding from international financing institutions. The Government in partnership with the UN and other institutions organized a Rio +20 preparatory round table in Maputo, on Sustainable Development (SD).

Over 300 people participated on June 7 in Maputo, a round table debate on United Nations Sustainable Development conference. It was a heated debate where participants urged the government to take a firm position, pressing the most polluting countries to reduce the emission levels of toxic gases.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Henrique Banze, told the newspaper "O Pais" that Mozambique and other countries in Southern Africa are finalizing consultations on the position to be taken at the conference on sustainable development to be held in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.