The Cloud Above Rio +20

Twenty years after the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Heads of States and Government, specialists and representatives of many different businesses and NGO's are meeting again (20-22 June) to speak about the Sustainable Development in the world. Today, on day 3, they will adopt a final text: The Future We Want. The main criticism on the text is that it lacks action to meaningfully address the underlying social, environmental and economical issues that got us in the current "situation". The United Nations Environment Program reported, “The world continues to speed down an unsustainable path despite over 500 internationally agreed goals to protect the environment and improve human well-being in numerous treaties and plans of action.”  Next to the text that will be adopted by the national governments, hundreds of partnerships, networks and initiatives will come together to take action on sustainability challenges. This is probably the more successful part of the summit, with many commitments made by influential stakeholders. And to monitor and follow the made commitments a useful  internet platform has been launched: The Cloud of Commitments.  It is a good initiative and tool to be kept informed on initiatives and achievements. And hopefully it will remind and inspire all of us of the urgent need to change our current behaviour!