Side Event at Rio+20 // "Rio+20 <<-->> A Call to Action"

This year the world is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit. In 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, it was agreed that social progress for all could be achieved within the planet's environmental limits if we collectively took charge of the change. The world's governments recognized that great challenges lay before us and they realized the power of concerted global action.

Today more than yesterday

Rio+20 should mark the moment that governments become sufficiently realistic and practical to carry out the profound changes needed to ensure dignified survival for all. Changes should distribute the social and environmental costs of economic activities, efficiently regulate markets and natural wealth, and rebalance capital and labour. The economy has to be redirected democratically, social and environmental protection systems set into motion to build resilient societies, and to create decent jobs for all, while keeping in mind resource limitations.

Linking Environment and Labour

It is of extreme importance for us that decent work and social inclusion form a fundamental part of governments' agreements in Rio+20. Unemployment affects some 200 million people, but about 1.4 billion people are unemployed or live in poverty. At the same time, creating employment should not be used as an alibi for destroying our natural heritage, stripping future generations of basic resources, clashing workers from polluting industries against polluted communities, and continuing to benefit only very few. We want green and decent jobs. But it si not just about creating new green jobs, it is also greening existing ones. And it is encouraging to see how many workers are committed to this task. We have supported demands from agricultural workers in the cotton and sugar sectors in West Africa who wished to make more sound use of pesticides. Ugandan truck drivers are learning about mitigating climate change and saving money through more efficient driving, alongside learning and teaching their colleagues how to transport harzardous substances and improve waste management. In Uruguay, waste collectors are coming out of marginalization and asking for decent, green jobs while working hard to involve their fellow citizens in the reduction, separation and recovery of waste. In Nepal, timber workers are committed to fighting climate change by taking care of their forests.

Sharing the commons to advance socio-environmental protection

In addition to the fundamental aspect of employment, Rio+20 should advance on agreements regarding social inclusion and equity. Unfortunately, the most alarming indicators from the previous 20 years, together with those showing rapid destruction of the environment, are the ones relating to the constant increase of inequality between the richest and the poorest. To reverse this dangerous trend, we must strengthen existing social protection systems and urgently establish social protection floors, as contributing to social cohesion is one of the main ways to distribute wealth. In regard to the ecological crisis, social protection is needed more than ever. Increasingly, climate change, depletion of commons and collapse of biodiversity push more people to migrate.. Finally, by providing the poorest communities with protected income and the capacity to have more sustainable livelihoods, social protection systems could reduce the environmental pressure poor families place on natural resources.

We are committed

At rio+20, unions expect these democratic principles to be a reality. They want their demands heard and governments to commit to concrete outcomes in decent and green job creation and social protection. But they also want to lead by example and renew their commitment to sustainability; they will be gathering prior to Rio+20 in a global trade unions assembly, to do just that.