International Environment Forum

Read on line: Leaves 14(2) February 2012

A new Bahá'í International Community statement on eliminating extremes of wealth and poverty has just been presented to the UN Commission for Social Development, and discussed at a UN panel session on 6 February 2012 (http://bic.org/home-stories/inequality-between-rich-and-poor-highlighted...). The statement provides initial considerations on a theme that should also be considered in the discussions on the green economy at the coming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012.

The UN Secretary-General's High-level Advisory Panel on Global Sustainability (GSP) released it's final report on 30 January with a launch event in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The 99 page report and a 25 page overview of it, along with a press release from the launch event, can be found at: www.un.org/gsp/report. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's statement from the GSP launch event can be found at: http://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=5831.

On 10 January the UNCSD Rio+20 bureau released the zero draft of the outcome document for Rio+20, "The Future We Want": http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.php?page=view&type=12&nr=324&menu=23. This draft is based on hundreds of submissions from governments and civil society, including IEF, compiled at http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.php?menu=115. It will serve as the basis for intergovernmental negotiations leading up to the conference in June, starting in New York on 25-27 January.

The United Nations General Assembly has decided that all organizations that were accredited to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 are automatically accredited to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro next June. The IEF is therefore accredited to the conference and can send its own delegation to Rio.

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT FORUM 15th ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Ethical Responses to Climate Change: Individual, Community, and Institutions

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 10 and 11 December 2011

held at the Bahá’í Centre of Learning for Tasmania, 1 Tasman Highway, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, http://www.tasbcl.com.au

The main sessions were streamed live on the internet, and can now be viewed at http://www.tasbcl.com.au/live.html (see conference report below).

The IEF collaborated with the Baha'i International Community in the launching of action plans on climate change from the major religions at a celebration at Windsor Castle in 2009. One of the outcomes was a proposal from the Mayor of Jerusalem to create a network of pilgrimage cities, and this has now been launched with the aim of making pilgrimage a greener experience.

The Climate Ethics Campaign is aiming for 1,000 endorsements of its new climate change statement by November 30th, the day the campaign plans to officially release and circulate the statement on Capitol Hill.

A representative of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha‘is of the United States recently endorsed the statement, titled “Statement of Our Nation’s Moral Obligation to Address Climate Change”

The Brazilian government and the UN have just announced (4 November) a change of dates for the Rio+20 conference to 20-22 June 2011, with the 3rd PrepCom on 13-15 June. This will be confirmed by the Bureau at the end of November. The dates of the parallel IEF Annual Conference in Rio will be changed accordingly.