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	Defenders working on land and environmental issues targeted by Global Witness, Greenpeace   The struggle for the world"s remaining natural resources is becoming more murderous, according to a new report that reveals that environmental activists were killed at the rate of more than two a week in 2011.   The death toll of campaigners, community leaders and journalists involved in the protection of forests, rivers and land has risen dramatically in the past three years, said Global Witness.   Brazil – the host of the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development – has the worst record for danger in a decade that has seen the deaths of more than 737 defenders, said the briefing, which was released on the eve of the high-level segment of the Earth Summit.   The group called on the leaders at Rio to set up systems to monitor and counter the rising violence, which in many cases involves governments and foreign corporations, and to reduce the consumption pressures that are driving development into remote areas.   "This trend points to the increasingly fierce global battle for resources, and represents the sharpest of wake-up calls for delegates in Rio," said Billy Kyte, campaigner at Global Witness.   The group acknowledges that their results are incomplete and skewed towards certain countries because information is fragmented and often missing. This means the toll is likely to be higher than their findings, which did not include deaths related to cross-border conflicts prompted by competition for natural resources, and fighting over gas and oil.   Brazil recorded almost half of the killings worldwide, the majority of which were connected to illegal forest clearance by loggers and farmers in the Amazon and other remote areas, often described as the "wild west".   Among the recent high-profile cases were the murders last year of two high-profile Amazon activists, José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espirito Santo. Such are the risks that dozens of other activists and informers are now under state protection.   Unlike most countries on the list, however, the number of killings in Brazil declined slightly last year, perhaps because the government is making a greater effort to intervene in deforestation cases.   The reverse trend is apparent in the Philippines, where four activists were killed last month, prompting the Kalikasan People"s Network for Environment to talk of "bloody May".   Though Brazil, Peru and Colombia have reported high rates of killing in the past 10 years, this is partly because they are relatively transparent about the problem thanks to strong civil society groups, media organisations and church groups – notably the Catholic Land Commission in Brazil – which can monitor such crimes.   Under-reporting is thought likely in China and Central Asia, which have more closed systems, said the report. The full picture has still to emerge.   Last December, the UN special rapporteur on human rights noted: "Defenders working on land and environmental issues in connection with extractive industries and construction and development projects in the Americas … face the highest risk of death as result of their human rights activities."   Global Witness Report: A Hidden Crisis:   http://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/library/A_hidden_crisis-FINAL%20190612%20v2.pdf   Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya:   http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session19/A-HRC-19-55_en.pdf   June 2012   Towards an environment of gender balance, by Kumi Naidoo.   I was recently humbled to accept an invitation from UN Women Executive Director, Michelle Bachelet to join her Global Civil Society Advisory Group.   I believe Gender Equality is not only a basic human right, and that its achievement has enormous positive ramifications, but also it is women who suffer most from environmental injustices.   I believe that all of us have to commit to end the ongoing discrimination and marginalisation of women, and acknowledge how gender injustice is a prominent factor in the world and power relations of our contemporary societies. It may surprise you to consider that climate change, for instance, is not an equal opportunity phenomena. By this I mean that women are affected to a much greater degree by climate change and the socioeconomic and environmental disasters it brings. To be sure, climate change is a development challenge, and inequality and poverty strongly influence how much people suffer from climate change. Seventy percent of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty worldwide are women, and they bear the brunt of the impacts wreaked by climate change, be it drought or flood, but especially rain-fed agriculture (which it undermines tremendously).   Although women comprise 50-80% of the world’s food producers, they in fact own less that 10% of land worldwide. Once again, when it comes to environmental change, catastrophic or otherwise, it is their livelihoods that are compromised most. Furthermore, as food production is seen as the responsibility of women, there is evidence that domestic violence increases when food is scarce. It is not unheard of that such women become enslaved in prostitution rackets in a desperate bid to feed their families or to pay off debts.   In terms of energy, it´s the same story. Two billion people in the world do not have access to sustainable energy sources and in rural contexts, women are generally tasked with collecting firewood. They spend between two and nine hours a day doing so. Close to 80% of rural women in Asia, 60% in Africa and 40% in Latin America are affected by firewood shortages. Worldwide, pollution in homes caused by the smoke from burning firewood kills about two million women and children a year. Miscarriage in Uttarachal, a rural area in India, is 30% higher than the national average due to the very heavy weights women are burdened to carry as they collect water and firewood. It’s time to connect the dots, and take action.
	We must work harder to promote a greater sense of shared responsibility by The Elders+Youngers dialogue   21 June 2012   Today The Elders said that the declaration of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) is not the response we need to safeguard people and the planet.   Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and Chair of the UN commission that brought the concept of sustainable development to global attention 25 years ago, said:   “The Rio+20 declaration does not do enough to set humanity on a sustainable path, decades after it was agreed that this is essential for both people and the planet. I understand the frustration in Rio today.   “We can no longer assume that our collective actions will not trigger tipping points, as environmental thresholds are breached, risking irreversible damage to both ecosystems and human communities. These are the facts – but they have been lost in the final document.   “Also regrettable is the omission of reproductive rights – which is a step backwards from previous agreements. However – with this imperfect text, we have to move forward. There is no alternative. The most important message as we leave Rio is that the collective task of making the three pillars of sustainable development a reality must continue – and we don’t have any time to lose.”   In assessing the Rio+20 declaration, The Elders welcome provisions for the drafting of global Sustainable Development Goals, although they are concerned that the process for doing so is unclear.   The Elders also welcome commitments made on women’s equality and empowerment, but object to the omission of specific language on reproductive rights from both the Rio+20 declaration, and the ‘Call To Action’ signed today at the UN Women “Summit of Women World Leaders” at Rio+20.   Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said:   “This is a ‘once in a generation’ moment when the world needs vision, commitment and above all, leadership. Sadly, the current document is a failure of leadership. It sets some processes in train and we will have to work with them, but we should also expect and encourage new constituencies to emerge, demanding new thinking and change from the grassroots to the top.   “I had also hoped for greater progress on creating institutions to hold governments accountable – such as a Sustainable Development Council – or a new mechanism to represent the interests of young people and future generations at the UN.   “The challenge now is to mobilise a wider community of civil society, trade unions, business and other major groups represented at the UN to create the pressure needed for a new paradigm of sustainable development.”   Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of Brazil, said:   “I am concerned that the final declaration does not give the same weight to environmental protection as it does to human development and growth. This old division between environment and development is not the way we are going to solve the problems that we are creating for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.   “We have to accept that the solutions to poverty and inequality lie in sustainable growth, not growth at all costs. The challenge is to move our governments and institutions towards this kind of thinking.   “What is even more important than the Rio+20 Declaration is the mobilisation of people around this issue. Let us continue to demand more from our governments, and work to get effective international mechanisms to monitor progress on sustainability. Civil society must keep pushing for these changes – governments need it.”   May 12   For the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development, we are hosting an online discussion to ask what our shared future should look like and explore how we get there.   Desmond Tutu, Gro Brundtland, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Mary Robinson join four young activists - Marvin, Esther, Pedro and Sara - to find new ways of thinking on the most urgent issues facing our world today.   We have always been impatient, but change is now urgent   Gro Brundtland: “Economies are stalling. Ecosystems are under siege. Inequality – within and between countries – is soaring. I will make the point I always make: these afflictions are clearly rooted in political short-sightedness, where narrow interests triumph over common interests, common responsibilities – and common sense.”   I have the honour of kicking off this global discussion. I know that you are four leading young activists. We Elders have been working on many of the issues that you care about for a long time. We hope that together, by questioning, by encouraging and by occasionally challenging each other, we might identify the actions and solutions we all know are needed; the challenges are too important and urgent not to.   But let me first say this: I am sure you are impatient for change, and you are right to be.   Our debate will lead up to a major meeting of world leaders in Rio this June. I know first-hand just how important it is that we seize this opportunity: business, investors, activists - none of us alone can change the way we use energy, nor can we pull a blueprint for a sustainable planet out of thin air.   We need governments for that – and we need political will. That is why our voices are so important. But let me tell you something else: your impatience is not new.   A similar global feeling of impatience was precisely the context when – as you may know – the United Nations asked me to lead a totally new body, the World Commission on Environment and Development, back in the 80s.   Its mandate seemed impossible and enormous. We were expected to address a series of pressing global challenges: threats to the environment and natural resources, increased population pressures, poverty and lack of development.   I have a feeling they will sound familiar to you. They were the order of the day then; they still are today.   We wrote the report Our Common Future and put our new, main concept, sustainable development, on the urgent to-do list of world leaders.   Five years later, as we suggested, we had a famous conference in Rio in 1992 – that is precisely 20 years ago. You know all about it, of course. The world came together to look at the big picture, and made pledges to live together in a fairer, better, more sustainable way.   It frustrates me to say that 20 years later, we have not succeeded in changing our ways very much.   And these last two decades have given us even clearer confirmation of the threats we face. What is more: the threats are coming closer.   Economies are stalling. Ecosystems are under siege. Inequality – within and between countries – is soaring.   Some progress has been made – fewer people are living in poverty. We have protected the ozone layer. Let us acknowledge such achievements: they show what can be done when we put our minds to the task.   But the overall picture is gloomier than ever because we still struggle, as a global community, to govern ourselves in the ways that matter most.   That is why Rio matters, and that is why we must all do our utmost to address the threats we face, as citizens, in the companies or NGOs we work for, in schools and universities. It is not just about political leaders: political will is a force that goes far beyond them. It is about all of us.   Our dialogue should reflect this and show how all of us, young and old – and anyone else who wishes to join us – must work harder to promote a greater sense of shared responsibility, not just as citizens of our respective countries but as equal members of an increasingly interconnected global community. Visit the related web page
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