The nine-day event is being held from June 15 to 23 as an alternative to the Rio+20 United Nations sustainable development conference, which is being held in Rio from June 20 to 22.
“Come reinvent the world” is theme of the People’s summit, which two hundred groups, including environmentalists, unions, religious groups, and indigenous tribes, will be attending.
“Native people preserve nature. We know that nobody can live without the oxygen from the trees. But the farmers take our land and start fires in the forest, and the dam builders block our rivers,” said Waratan, a member of the Pataxo tribe from Brazil’s Bahai region. “Native culture needs to be preserved like the environment.”
The organizers of the People’s summit are planning a rally of 50,000 people on June 20, which is the same day that over 110 world leaders will be arriving for the Earth summit, two decades since the original Rio gathering in 1992.
Environmentalists say the lack of action over the past 20 years has accelerated the deterioration of ecosystems all over the world.
About 15,000 people are expected daily at the People’s summit, which is supported by Greenpeace, Oxfam, the Via Campesina international peasant movement as well as Ukrainian green education pioneers, survivors of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, organic food organizations, the 100 Million Trees program, ITPA, a Brazilian conservation group, and many other groups.
JMA/HGL
Related posts:
Views: 0