potpourii: July 2012

We all take big seminars, conferences and table talks as a platform where they want themselves to sound as big as and as heavy as possible. Take a burning question in a hand make a cheap discussion out of them that is all they do.

Recently Rio+20, the most celebrated and batedly waited summit which was a cynosure for whole world convened at Rio de Janerio, Brazil. Developed countries like US, Canada, UK etc had a nice time to to deliver some catchy talks while developing nations from Africa and Asia were watching them agape with so much hope in their heart. Amid demonstration, the largest UN summit kick started, an estimated 20,000 to 50,000 persons demonstrated on the streets outside.

Goals of Rio+20:

to reduce poverty,

address world hunger,

advance social inequity,

ensure that the rights of indigenous peoples are secured and

prevent climate change.

Attendance of 50,000, the three-day conference brought together heads of states and delegates, business leaders and the private sector, the scientific community, civil society, NGOs and media where the PM of Nepal along with his team was also present. Lets us forget for time being that the visit of Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai, caretaker Prime Minister of Nepal was controversial.

Here is a small cornucopia of what "big" delegates had to say!

#Quotes:

Without poverty reduction, forests cannot be green and without a green economy, poverty cannot be reduced.

Ghanshyam Pandey, the Global Alliance of Community Forestry in Nepal

It sounds lovely, doesn’t it? It could be illustrated with rainbows and psychedelic unicorns and stuck on the door of your toilet. But without any proposed means of implementation, it might just as well be deployed for a different function in the same room.

George Monbiot, The Guardian

Between now and 2050 we need to produce as much food as we did in the last 8000 years.

Paul Polman, CEO Unilever

Just investing in women in agriculture alone has led to a 30% increase in yield.

Paul Polman, CEO Unilever

Although we need money to live, we shouldn’t live for money.

Jane Goodall, Primatologist

I just came back from the Global Compact Conference with the CEO of Unilever. Normally conservationists didn’t sit with private sector representatives but now we sit together as human beings with the same values.

Julia Marton Lefevre, Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

In Africa 50 years ago, our first priority was to fight disease, poverty and ignorance… The challenges ahead include environmental degradation and climate change.

Freddie Kwesiga, African Development Bank

I’m frankly losing my patience. We have perfected the literature. We have perfected the speeches. We have perfected the speaking points. That is not what it is about anymore. Unless we actually are having an effect on the ground, we are not doing anything.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

The world today needs plenty of “do the right thing”. And the choices are not so easy. Looking at the global landscape, anyone can see the glass as half full – OR half empty. But for all of us in this room, we do not have that luxury to see the glass as half empty. The world looks to us to find solutions which they may benefit from. Our job here is to find an answer in every problem, not find a problem in every answer.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia

This urbanisation trend is one of the defining trends of the century that we live in, so we can only expect that these commercial pressures are going to get more and more, as forest become the last frontier for agricultural expansion.

Ruth DeFries, Columbia University

Are you here to save face, or are you here to save us?

The Huffington Post: UK Edition