Approaching Rio+20: the global context. Globalization in the era of environmental crisis

The green economy, within the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, is one of the two themes of the 2012 Conference on Sustainable Development, to be held in Rio de Janeiro. It encompasses some of the most important challenges we face today: eradicating poverty, improving our relationship with the environment, addressing the potential negative impacts of global climate change, and creating a new path for sustainable development. In a world dominated by human activity, how can we ensure sustainability when economic growth is a given in the developed and a necessity in the developing world? Jeffrey Sachs offers two approaches. One involves stabilizing population, with the concomitant need to improve survival rates to ensure access to contraception and empower women and girls. For the other, Sachs calls for a systemic approach to new technology supported by an economic strategy “where markets and society make choices together”. Furthermore, he emphasizes “we don’t need global negotiations, we need global brainstorming and global problem solving”.