Rio+20

The World Congress on Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability was held in Brazil, from 17-20 June 2012, with the aim to contribute to the support of Chief Justices, Attorneys General, Auditors Generals and other legal experts to the achievement of sustainable development and to provide inputs to the United Nations Rio +20 Conference on Sustainable Development.

INECE Managing Director Ken Markowitz will participate on a panel on Citizen Participation in Law Development, Implementation, and Enforcement during The Access Initiative's "Choosing our Future" event which will be among the most important events at Rio+20 on environmental governance.

Date and Time: 19 June, 8:00am - 6:00pm

Location: Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Praia de Botafogo, 190, Rio

Register: http://www.accessinitiative.org/choosefuture

The Rio+20 Colloquium on Environmental Law & Justice will feature expert panels on comparative environmental law, MEA challenges and prospects, the role of public participation in environmental compliance and enforcement, the role of courts, and the principle of non-regression. INECE Managing Director Ken Markowitz will speak on the panel on the role of public participation in environmental compliance and enforcement.

Date and Time: 16 June, 9:00 - 16:50

Location: State Supreme Court of Rio de Janeiro

Register: Open to the public; No registration required

 As part of the preparatory process for the forthcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (dubbed Rio+20) to be held in Rio de Janeiro in mid-2012, over 600 organizations have made submissions for inclusion in the "compilation document" which will be used to draft the final "outcome document".  The second intersessional being held in New York, during December 2011, will review the compilation document and agree on the outline of the draft outcome document.

The Importance of Environmental Compliance and Enforcement for Sustainable Development for the Rio+20 Conference Submitted by The International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE)

Summary

Robust national environmental compliance and enforcement systems for environmental and energy laws are critical parts of an effective overall governance strategy to meet green economy, poverty eradication, and sustainable development objectives. Multidisciplinary approaches to capacity building for parliamentarians, inspectors, prosecutors, and judges are keys to this process.

 Over the past month or so I have attended a number of meetings or conferences where the forthcoming World Conference on Sustainable Development (dubbed Rio+20) in June 2012 has been a high priority item on the agenda.  To some, it is an opportunity to reflect on the various successes and failures since the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972 (hence Stockholm+40)—and yes there are still some people actively engaged who remember this event.  To others, it