Global Town Hall at Rio+20, Rio De Janeiro

The objective is to provide a common space for dialogue and interaction, in the middle of the Rio+20 venue. Discussions will address how local governments can best contribute to global targets for protecting global common goods, how to "green" the urban economy and how to improve global and local governance systems. By organizing a Global Town Hall at the central Rio+20 venue we provide local government actors with a forum where they can interact with the national negotiators, debate the conference proceedings with their peers, and demonstrate their commitments and achievements. This will show the variety of exciting initiatives being undertaken at the local level and clearly display the importance of including local action when talking about sustainable development globally. Only by taking the full range of local governments' activities into account can global sustainable development governance be effective and global sustainability goals achieved.