Food and Climate Justice summaries from Rio+20 (2012)

Food and Environmental Justice Rio+20

Intensive industrial agriculture can undermine human health and the integrity of ecological systems. The historical record suggests that people have traditionally used in the order of 10,000 species of plants for food, which maximizes nutrition. Today, only 20 major crops (primarily wheat, rice and corn) provide 90 percent of the world’s dietary intake (The UN Commission on Sustainable Development, 2008).

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Climate Change and Eco-Justice Rio+20

The earth’s climate has changed throughout history, sometimes drastically. However, the global climate change we are experiencing now has two primary sources, deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels, both resulting in dangerous levels of greenhouse gases. Over 75% of carbon emissions today come from fossil fuels.

The United Nations Foundation has summarized the consequences, unless we take immediate action: the most likely outcome will be rises in the global average surface temperature to dangerous levels (by 0.2 to 0.4 degrees C per decade) throughout the 21st century.

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Water Rio+20

In 1966, the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights established the right to water as a human right in Articles 11 and 12.

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