Envi groups slam Rio+20’s ‘green economy’
In a show of protest against “financialization of nature”, a group of environmental activists on Wednesday held a rally in Manila, Philippines to mark the first day of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), known as Rio+20, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Rio+20 is a two-decade follow-up to the Earth Summit in Rio, where world leaders drafted ‘green’ reforms that intersect policies on environmental protection and various economic sectors such as energy and tourism.
Philippine environmental group Kalikasan Partylist slammed the Rio+20 negotiations on the ‘green economy’, saying it will extend the commodification of environmental services for the benefit of the corporate sector.
“[The ‘green economy’] will further perpetuate the plunder of the world’s remaining natural wealth and the privatization of critical services, technologies and products through Public-Private Partnerships and similar market-driven mechanisms,” said Kalikasan Secretary-General Frances Quimpo.
Sustainable development
After the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, the concept of sustainable development gained massive recognition, influencing national policies across the globe.
“Governments are expected to adopt clear and focused practical measures for implementing sustainable development, based on the many examples of success we have seen over the last 20 years”, said UNCSD in its website.
According to Kalikasan, the introduction of sustainable development in the Philippines supported the implementation of energy laws that removed state regulations, and the Mining Act of 1995, which caused the displacement of many indigenous communities in the country.#
Report by Richard Dy/ Asian Center for Journalism
The odd one
Pictures are my life right now, and it does seem interesting to have a photographer describe the first image in his childhood that has affected him somehow.
With photos, I remember being extremely fascinated by the photos of my mom exploring Europe in her quarter-life. There was this striking photo of herself and the Colosseum in Rome and another one with the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Seeing those images had me wanting to explore the world too and have great adventures in life, cliched as that may sound.
But the image I remember the most from my childhood is not a photograph. And before I talk about it, one should know that I come from a family of medical professionals, science and English teachers, and engineers, and I got very little exposure to the arts, which may be the reason behind my fondness now for anything artsy.
In my aunt’s house, there was a painting of two gaunt-looking women holding big clay pots while sitting by the river. Even as a kid, I noticed the dark and muddy shades in the painting. The image was very murky and gloomy, but not in a bad way visually. Given my little knowledge about paintings and other visual works of art then, I should have found it unpleasant. But for me, it was a beautiful thing.
The image was not a colorful portrait of a flower. It was not Jesus with his disciples printed in a carpet and hung on a wall. It was something different. And that made me appreciate it.
June 12 | During Philippine Independence Day on June 12, various groups led by militant farmers marched to Mendiola and near the United States Embassy in Manila to call for a genuine land reform to end the landlessness of peasant families.
A brief scuffle ensued as police forces block the protesters trying to get closer to the US Embassy.
Before marching to the US Embassy, the group burned a giant effigy depicting Philippine President Benigno Aquino III as a snail, considered as pest plaguing farm lands in the country.
“As long as vast tract of lands are owned and controlled by big landlords and foreign agribusiness, there is no genuine freedom and democracy,” said Peasant Movement of the Philippines Deputy Secretary General Willy Marbella in a press release.
“The intensifying US economic, political, cultural and military intervention, coupled with [President] Aquino’s rabid puppetry is the biggest slap to Philippine independence,” he added.
June 12 was declared a national holiday to commemorate the symbolic proclamation of the country’s sovereignty from more than 300 years of Spanish rule.
