“Young people have shown great leadership by walking out of the Rio+20 Summit today. The future belongs to them and today we share their outrage. Their voices must be heard. World leaders should not trash their future,”
These are the words of Nnimmo Bassey from Friends of the Earth International, after protests yesterday at the Rio+20 summit. The protests were led by a group of young people and civil society organisations, denouncing world leaders failure to tackle the planetary crisis at the UN summit.
Hundreds of people condemned the failed Rio+20 Summit process as “the future corporations bought”, first sitting down at the entrance of the Rio+20 Summit and then tearing up copies of the Ri-20 Summit text. They later walked out of the conference centre, handing in their badges, and chanting ‘the future we want is not here’.
Protestors said that the voices of people and in particular the young people are being ignored at this UN Summit in the interest of corporations that continue to promote a business-as-usual model based upon dirty fossil fuels, and social and environmental exploitation.
“The solutions to the planetary crisis are well known and are being promoted by communities across the world. They are on the table at the alternative Peoples Summit in Rio. What is lacking at this UN Summit is the political will to bring about the solutions the people need,” said Jagoda Munic of Friends of the Earth Croatia, who took part in today’s protest. “Today’s protest sent a strong signal that change will come from the people and not from this Rio+20 Summit where world leaders are rubber stamping a document that will be viewed by future generations as a suicide note for the planet”.