Engage with Rio+20, says J&P Network

The National Justice and Peace Network of England and Wales (NJPN) is calling for stronger action to tackle climate change, illegal logging and access to clean water at next month's Earth Summit in Brazil. It urges the Rio+20 gathering of world leaders to come up with a programme of transition towards more sustainable development, particularly in the area of food and agriculture. It also calls for the implementation of an international Financial Transactions Tax or ‘Robin Hood’ Tax which could potentially raise millions of dollars for countering climate change and poverty
 
Governments from around the world will gather in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 20-22 June to commemorate 20 years of the ‘Earth Summit’, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development that first established a global agenda for ‘sustainable development’. The NJPN, inspired by Catholic Social Teaching, has been incorporating Care for Creation into its agenda for the past two decades. Environmental concerns, particularly the issue of Food, have been the focus of two of its recent annual conferences.
 
The Network will join a public debate at Westminster Central Hall this Wednesday, 23 May, with Rt Hon Caroline Spelman, who is the Secretary of State for the Environment and will be representing the British Government at the Rio+20 Summit.
 
The NJPN has also produced a fuller Briefing on Rio+20, containing action suggestions for engaging with Rio+20: www.justice-and-peace.org.uk/documents/Rio20BriefingFINAL21May_002.pdf

and a Rio+20 Statement: www.justice-and-peace.org.uk/documents/Rio20StatementFINAL21May_000.pdf