The Canadian Earth Summit Coalition

The Canadian Earth Summit Coalition submitted an input to the Zero Draft for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, most popularly known as Earth Summit 2012 or Rio+20.

Thousands of organisations around the world were racing to meet the deadline of November 1^st. Preceded by meetings conducted at almost every level including provincial, national, regional and global level we can only hope that civil society is ready for the negotiations at Earth Summit 2012. The pressure on this conference is even greater after the unsuccessful negotiations of the Commission on Sustainable Development 19 in New York, this May.

In the last year the Canadian Earth Summit Coalition has been working to revitalize the Canadian leadership spirit and remind us of our own legacy. Over 20 research, academic, non-government organisations, as well as experts and people across Canada, led by One Earth Initiative Society and 40 young volunteers, kept on raising the questions: What could be Canada's role at the Earth Summit 2012?

In the discussions three Canadian priorities that relate to the topics of the Earth Summit 2012 were identified: green economy in context of sustainable development and poverty eradication and institutional framework for sustainable development. In short, the Coalition calls for three policies:

• the adoption of new measures of progress and well-being to measure social and ecological progress towards sustainability

• the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies and putting a price on carbon

• the implementation of national sustainable procurement policies that includes sourcing products bearing the Fairtrade Certified Mark

The full submission can be downloaded here.

As Canadians, we have a legacy at the Earth Summit. Looking back at the 1972 Stockholm Conference on Human Environment, the Canadian Maurice Strong, first executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, opened up the conference with the following statement: "Man is unlikely to succeed in managing his relationship with nature unless in the course of it he learns to manage better the relations between man and man."

Twenty years after Stockholm, in 1992 in Rio De Janeiro, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was held, and became known as the first Earth Summit. It was the only place where social, environmental and economic justice was discussed as integral parts of a wholesome approach to resolving our problems. People around the world will remember the Rio Earth Summit by one more Canadian. She was 12 years old and spoke before heads of state and became known as the girl who silenced the world for six minutes, Severn Cullis-Suzuki. Today, this speech is part of the program of many elementary and high schools, and remains to echo around the world as the voice of the people.

Another 20 years have passed since, and here we are, six months away from the Earth Summit 2012.

The Coalition has been bringing these ideas and raising the profile of the Earth Summit 2012 through its public campaign, We Canada. We Canada aims to engage Canadians in supporting progressive sustainable policies and demanding Canadian political actors take on a leadership role at the Earth Summit 2012 by attending the Summit.