Rio+20 Spurs Day of Action Ahead of International Conference
Local Advocates of Public Resources Engage in National Day of Action and Prepare to Fight the Financialization of Nature
Washington, D.C. — Today, citizens around the country united in a national day of action, sending a message to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the critical issues global leaders will discuss when they meet later this month in Brazil for the Rio+20 United Nations Conference of Sustainable Development.
“Private interests have already been positioning themselves to profit from control of resources that should remain in the public realm,” said local Food & Water Watch Organizer Miranda Carter. “We want to send a strong message to Secretary Clinton that the key to successful, sustainable development throughout the world includes buy-in from local communities and serves the public interests, not just multinational corporations.”
Citizens united today in cities including Albuquerque, Cincinnati, Denver, Detroit, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., to tell the U.S. negotiators that nature and people should come before corporate profits. Participants created their own version of the MasterCard “priceless” ads outside the U.S. Department of State, calling on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to defend our water and food.
There were more than a dozen events hosted throughout the country, including an action outside of the Department of State in Washington, D.C., and outside the United Nations in New York.
“People around the country are telling Secretary of State Clinton that they want a truly green economy, not a greenwashed economy—one that supports communities and upholds our common resources as a public trust and water as a human right,” said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. “We cannot leave our resources susceptible to privatization schemes. We must protect them from exploitation for profit and stop treating nature as another market commodity.”
The Rio+20 coalition includes: 350.org, Center for International Environmental Law, Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach, Cornell Global Labor Institute, Corporate Accountability International, Earth Law Center, Environmental Justice Climate Change Initiative, Foundation Earth, Food & Water Watch, Food First, Friends of the Earth U.S., Global Alliance for Rights of Nature, Global Exchange, Indigenous Environmental Network, Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy, Institute for Policy Studies, Local to Global Advocates for Justice, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, National Family Farm Coalition, Nourish 9 Billion, On the Commons, Our Water Commons, Public Citizen, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – Institute Justice Team, WhyHunger, and the Women’s Earth & Climate Caucus.
CONTACT:
Rich Bindell, [email protected], 202-683-2457