In a 2010 study by Accenture and the UN Global Compact, 93% of the 766 CEOs surveyed believed that sustainability will be “important” or “very important” to the future success of their company. Image credit: UN Global Compact

Samuel DiPiazza, Jr., Board Vice Chairman at Citigroup, called the 1992 Rio Summit the “tipping point” for businesses in beginning to embrace sustainability as a strategic issue, and not merely a public relations ploy.

“It is an issue about price, resources, supply chains, it’s an issue about people,” DiPiazza said today at the Foundation for the Global Compact, during a briefing on the role of the private sector at the Rio+20 Summit next month.

DiPiazza’s conversation with Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, focused on how public-private partnerships can address the myriad issues emerging in pre-Rio+20 negotiations.

Over 1000 business people from 130 countries, up to 300 business school deans, and numerous investors are expected to attend the Global Compact’s conference in Rio. The initiative stems from the UN Global Compact’s commitment to helping businesses align their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption.

Kell emphasized the need for incentive structures that encourage sustainability initiatives. “If we are willing to invest in incentives geared to value creation and performance, every single country can successfully and sustainably develop,” he insisted.

Challenges persist, however. North-South differences over how to approach economic growth and development will likely rear their heads at Rio+20. Although these tensions are longstanding, the global financial crises, sovereign debt issues, and the ensuing political instability have exacerbated them.

Taking an optimistic note, DiPiazza perceived an unprecedented opportunity for businesses to help bridge the divide. “Businesses make profit, sometimes a lot of profit, and they can do that responsibly in growing markets,” he said. Where growth potential exists, market incentives will lead businesses to pursue sustainable patterns. In agreement, Kell added, “All Chinese companies want to be the next Siemens and the beauty of competition is that this desire will force them to race to the top.”

Asked what concrete outcomes to expect from Rio+20, DiPiazza related the business community’s desire to see progress in targeting benchmarks in poverty reduction, access to water, and climate change. According to DiPiazza, “Businesses are not going to wait around for governments to act, because they realize the world will change dramatically over the next 20 years and they need to adapt accordingly.”

DiPiazza pointed to many American companies, for example, that have implemented high sustainability standards despite weak carbon emissions regulation. In particular, businesses in consumer products, retail, energy, and cement are collaborating to achieve sustainable consumption and preserve precious resources such as water.

By recognizing that markets will collapse if resources are depleted, these companies view sustainable growth as a strategic issue. This awareness exemplifies the potential for business leaders to spur the momentum of recommendations in the run-up to Rio+20, to yield optimal outcomes for private and public interests alike.

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FIMI works towards MDGs by empowering indigenous women around the world. Photo credit: Bergius

A workshop consisting of officials from the International Indigenous Women’s Foundation (FIMI) and Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Fund met this afternoon at the UN to address the key challenges and issues concerning the implementation of global projects aiming to empower indigenous people.

Addressing indigenous audience members, the panelists remarked that instead of more recommendations, effective monitoring is needed to determine the efficacy of these development strategies and projects.

Pablo Galarza Schoenfeld, Program Adviser at the MDG Fund Secretariat, noted that the Fund promotes a bottom-up approach that works closely with civil society. 

Created in 2006 to accelerate the progress of MDGs, the organization ensures UN funds are used in the most efficient method in 130 joint projects across 50 countries.

Schoenfeld noted that the MDG Fund has had success with advocating for public policies, education, and micro-loans to indigenous women, as well as mapping out the projects that affect indigenous peoples.

“The state does not recognize our existence. We cannot participate in the programs,” stated a Uruguayan woman in the audience.

Echoing her concerns, a Peruvian woman complained that program meetings “happen in the capital, not in the communities,” and that, “we cannot afford to travel for the dialogue.”

With most of the initial MDG Fund projects nearing completion, hopefully these concerns can be resolved so that future projects are implemented with greater success and allow, as one Panamanian woman noted, the “recording of our collective memory and staying alive as a people.”

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Cambodia's forests have become a battle ground between indigenous land rights and private interests. Photo credit: Alex Schwab

Coinciding with the arrival of the Cambodian delegation to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York on 7 May, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a moratorium on granting new economic land concessions in Cambodia and called for a review of all existing ones. According to members of the delegation, who spoke at a UN event entitled “The Impact of Doctrines of Domination on Indigenous Peoples in Cambodia” yesterday, the Prime Minister’s move is a victory in the indigenous communities’ continuing struggle for recognition and legal rights.

“The land concessions given by the Cambodian authorities to corporations, local and international, are mostly located in the territories lived in by the indigenous peoples. Some companies have received tacit agreements or accords from the government, some have not,” said Vothy Samoeun of the organization Indigenous Rights Active Members (IRAM). As a result, “indigenous people have mostly lost the freedom and the liberty they have enjoyed for generations.”

Economic land concessions in Cambodia have been granted to corporations since the late 1990s, often to agribusiness and mining companies working in the eastern and northeastern regions where most of the nation’s estimated 200,000 indigenous persons reside. Indigenous community organizations and human rights groups have blamed these concessions for opening the door to illegal logging and mining, the eviction of thousands of farmers from their lands, and the economic and social dispossession of Cambodia’s indigenous peoples.

Meanwhile, since 1970, Cambodia has seen its forest cover decrease from 70 percent of all land area to a mere 3 percent. Showing aerial photographs of multi-thousand hectare tracts where trees of the Prey Lang forest used to stand, Phouk Hong of the Prey Lang Network said, “In Cambodia we call it, ‘the mountain has become bald.’”

The moratorium victory is significant but bittersweet, particularly in light of the intimidation that indigenous rights activists face. Just last month, well-known Cambodian environmental activist Chut Wutty was shot and killed by a military police officer. The incident happened in Koh Kong Province in southwestern Cambodia, while Wutty was investigating illegal logging with two journalists.

“The indigenous people are faced with a threat, physical as well as military,” said Samoeun.

Speaking to MediaGlobal, Neal Keating, a professor of anthropology at SUNY Brockport, explained, “In terms of the techniques of intimidation that are used, these vary quite a bit. There is a certain invisibility that is used as a force of intimidation for local peoples.” This invisibility manifests in a lack of transparency in the law regarding how economic concessions are granted and to whom.

“The use of security forces is also ubiquitous and there too, it’s not transparent that the security forces are members of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, or if they’re local police, or if they’re just simply hired security guards,” Keating continued.

According to the delegation, intimidation tactics have also included arrests, expulsion of community leaders, information blockades, as well as legal and military confrontations. Despite this, the indigenous activists have clear demands – including obtaining legal recognition of their communities, a cessation of illegal deforestation, and the right to participate in the management of the forests – and continue to organize around them.

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Brazilian indigenous populations have grown, especially along the coastal regions, where they once thrived before colonization. Photo credit: Rodrigo Soldon

Specialists on indigenous issues and land demarcation met yesterday to discuss the protection of indigenous territories in Brazil. It was one of many discussions during the Eleventh Annual Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in New York.

Sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN, the panelists argued that land ownership is a basis for social and economic rights. They showed how in 1988, the Brazilian constitution’s focus on the importance of the indigenous populations has since ensured original indigenous landownership. Consequently, there has been a dramatic resurgence of indigenous populations throughout the country.

“Right now there are 22 groups and 128 languages responsible for social diversity,” noted Erika Yamada of FUNAI, the National Indian Foundation of Brazil that is dedicated to mapping and protecting traditional indigenous lands.  With these legal measures, over 13 percent of land is now owned by indigenous groups.

While there are no indigenous members in the Brazilian government, Brazilian Congresswoman Dalva Figueiredo noted that projects are being implemented to ensure they can live autonomously. These projects include furthering economic security by assisting with exploration of mineral resources, ensuring protection of indigenous land rights through constitutional amendments, and allowing isolated people to live without external contact or interference.

Additionally, Figueiredo mentioned possible dialogue with multiple Brazilian ministries on a “Programa de Protecao de Fronteras.” This would call for “the protection of communities, border areas, and also biodiversity and the environment,” Minister Counselor Mario Teresa Mesquita Pessoa tells MediaGlobal. These programs, though, have yet to be implemented.

Border issues appear to be a politically sensitive issue, however. Yamada notes that while Brazil offers protective legislation to indigenous individuals, Brazilian citizens favor offering these benefits to only those residing in Brazil rather than including those in neighboring countries. Recognizing that indigenous people are not exclusive to a specific country, a continued emphasis will need to be placed on dialogue between all countries of South America to ensure the protection of these peoples’ rights.

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Todadaho Sid Hill, Chief of the Onondaga Nation, delivers the ceremonial welcome at the opening of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)’s eleventh session. Photo credit: UN/Devra Berkowitz

Monday marked the opening of the Eleventh Session of the UN Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), an annual gathering of representatives and experts on matters relating to native, first, and aboriginal peoples around the world (collectively known as “indigenous peoples”).

This year, the forum centers on the enduring impact of the “Doctrine of Discovery,” which is the historical practice by courts to justify annexation of indigenous lands. Accordingly, the right to redress is among the topics to be discussed throughout the forum and myriad side events taking place at UN headquarters through 18 May.

Formed in 2000, UNPFII comprises a 16-member committee of experts appointed by Member States and indigenous organizations. They serve as an advisory body to the UN’s Economic and Social Council.

According to UN statistics, there are approximately 370 million indigenous people living in 70 countries. Nearly five years after the General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, many of their longstanding grievances have yet to be addressed.

In advance of next month’s Rio+20 Summit, one side event yesterday focused on indigenous peoples’ hopes and recommendations for sustainable development. Representatives from three indigenous organizations – Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education); Mainyoito Pastoralists Integrated Development Organization (Kenya), and Asian Indigenous Women’s Network (AIWN) – outlined their recommendations for Rio+20. Their primary demand was that sustainable development frameworks proposed at Rio must follow a human rights-based approach to ensure food security, access to land, and preservation of cultural heritage of indigenous peoples.

Chief Oren Lyons of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga and Seneca Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, recalled feeling disappointed by the standoff between indigenous activists and the powerful corporate coalition at the Earth Summit of 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa (Rio+10). Yet, “I am still enthusiastic,” he insists. He called upon those attending Rio to learn from the laudatory practices he witnessed at the pre-Summit gathering hosted by the native peoples of Brazil 10 years ago. “It was invigorating because, despite tensions, everyone was judicious, calm, and deliberate; they thought carefully and spoke slowly and took their time making decisions on how to go about addressing human rights violations.”

Reminding the audience that indigenous peoples managed to secure a place on the agenda and receive mention in the outcome last time, Lyons expressed hope that advocates will achieve even more this time at the pre-Summit conference in Rio.

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“They’ve turned us into squatters on our own lands,” said Windel Bolinget, Chairperson of the Cordillera People’s Alliance, at yesterday’s presentation on “Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries” at the UN. Bolinget was referring to the laws and legal framework, which he also called “colonial doctrine,” currently infringing upon the rights of indigenous peoples across Southeast Asia.

Joan Carling, Secretary General of Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), began the presentation by framing the threats facing indigenous peoples within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Founded in 1967, ASEAN is primarily devoted to fostering economic cooperation between the countries of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Some 85 million indigenous peoples live throughout these nations, but they are seldom recognized legally.

Currently, the bulk of ASEAN’s economic partn­ership and development is devoted to rampant resource extraction. Carling pointed out that ASEAN’s vision for 2020 “is full of rhetoric of sustainable development, high quality of life, and environmental action.” She added, however, “If we look at the investment plan you can see how the approach is really for setting up extractive industries.” The land conceded to the transnational companies pursuing these extractive industries is most often land belonging to indigenous groups.

Most ASEAN countries, except the Philippines, fail to recognize indigenous peoples as such. Instead, in Laos, for example, indigenous peoples are called “ethnic minorities,” in Thailand they are called “hill tribes,” and in Myanmar, where indigenous peoples make up 40 percent of the population, they are called “national minorities.” By failing to recognize indigenous peoples, these countries can ignore the rights afforded to them under the 2006 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. According to Carling, “Since indigenous peoples are not recognized with their collective rights they do not have any entitlement to their lands, territories, and resources.” As a result, they are often evicted, without any voice or compensation.

Rukka Sombolinggi, of the Indonesian Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara group, added that while Indonesia has made progress in honoring indigenous rights, it still faces a significant roadblock. “When it comes to mining,” said Sombolinggi, “I haven’t seen any light.” For her, widespread mining projects have carved up the country “like cake.”

All three panelists identified foreign investments as one of their main threats, as funding bodies typically fail to take indigenous rights into account. Carling named the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank as key culprits. Carling also targeted the growing influence of Chinese investments, which are not screened for human rights violations. “There are no policies that guide their investments,” she said.

Yet for Sombolinggi, foreign companies would not have nearly as much access to lands or power if not for government bodies that continue to usher them in. “The biggest sinner in Indonesia is the Forestry Department,” said Sombolinggi. “They are the ones that sell the licenses for mining, for plantations, for everything.”

Bolinget added that, “As we resist these mining companies to defend our existent territories and resources, the usual response of the state is to militarize,” leading to extensive human rights violations. Bolinget pointed out that this reaction was far from democratic.

The panelists made a united call for all parties involved in plundering resources in the region, including local government officials, national government bodies, and international funding schemes, to be held accountable. Perhaps most crucially, they demanded the right to self-determination and development defined by the people.

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Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! speaking on the panel for World Press Freedom Day. Photo credit: UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz

On World Press Freedom Day, it is necessary to ask once again how freedom of expression can be protected. Last Thursday at United Nations headquarters in New York, in a two-session panel discussion entitled, “New Voices: Media Freedom Helping to Transform Societies,” speakers reflected on the current state of press freedom and on the role new media technologies are playing in democratization movements worldwide.

UN and country representatives offered opening remarks, and afterward, Ian Bassin of Avaaz, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, Delphine Halgand of Reporters Without Borders, and Ahmed Shihab-Eldin of the Huffington Post, with Mogens Schmidt of UNESCO moderating, brought their experiences in independent, social, and grassroots media to bear on the evolving political and media landscapes of 2012.

In the struggles for democracy that erupted in 2011 and continue today – those in the Middle East and North Africa predominantly, but also those in the United States, Greece, Spain, and dozens of other countries – new technologies have transformed the means of communication and revolutionized participatory politics. These new technologies, particularly in the form of portable devices and social media, have given agency to millions. As Mogens Schmidt stated, “People, and especially young people, have found a voice where there was none before.”

However, as many speakers noted, authoritarian governments have harnessed these technologies to crack down on democratic movements. Internet shutdowns and slowdowns, digital surveillance and tracking, along with the harassment, detention, and murder of both professional and citizen journalists, have been employed by authorities to control the flow of information and quell these nascent movements.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cited that more than 60 journalists were killed since the beginning of last year and many more injured. According to a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists, 179 journalists were in detention as of December 2011 – the highest since the mid-1990s.

Those representatives that were present to give opening remarks spoke of the importance of ensuring press freedom, of bringing to justice those who target journalists, and of celebrating the technologies that have allowed people to express their will to their governments. They included Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President of Ireland Michael Higgins, Ambassador of Qatar and Chef de Cabinet of the President of the General Assembly Mutlaq Al-Qahtani, Ambassador of Costa Rica Eduardo Ulibarri-Bilbao, and President of the UN Correspondent’s Association Giampaolo Pioli.

The morning event was followed in the afternoon by an interactive panel, “Protecting Journalists: Lessons Learned and Prospects, 5 Years after Resolution 1738.” This resolution was adopted in 2006 and aimed to increase the safety of journalists in conflict situations. Currently, a follow-up resolution, the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, is in the process of being finalized.

World Press Freedom Day was commemorated worldwide, while the main celebration – the ceremony of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize 2012 – was staged in Tunis.

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Stevie Wonder performs at the International Jazz Day Concert. Photo credit: UN/JC McIlwaine

“What is jazz?” asked legendary trumpeter Quincy Jones at Monday night’s all-star concert in the General Assembly Hall of the UN. The occasion marked the first annual International Jazz Day designated by UNESCO, and conceived by it its newest Goodwill Ambassador, Herbie Hancock, in collaboration with the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz.

Every dignitary and music and film-world luminary present –including co-hosts Morgan Freeman and Herbie Hancock, Tony Bennett, Michael Douglas, Robert DeNiro, Thelonius Monk Jr., and more — had their own answer for Jones, because jazz penetrates the human spirit and resonates in one’s core. It is this quality that earns jazz its reputation for bringing people together, making it an art form worthy of UN recognition as a vehicle for promoting peace and tolerance.

Morgan Freeman co-hosts the first annual International Jazz Day Concert. Photo credit: UN/Paulo Filgueiras

Sharing his own reflections, Jones described jazz as “a beautiful mistress who makes you do whatever you have to do to be with her!” On a more serious note, he added, “I’ve seen her power first hand – the power to make men forget their differences and come together…From the bottom of my heart I say jazz is the personification of transforming overwhelmingly negative circumstances into freedom, friendship, hope, and dignity.”

Jazz’s association with freedom ironically stems from its dark origins in the period following the American Civil War. “It was a marriage of two seemingly different cultures thrust together by the laws of Jim Crow,” Jones explained. The African vocal power and drum beats retained by the newly freed slaves, fused with European sounds coming from the mixed-race house servants, who introduced them to saxophones, clarinets, trumpets, and trombones. Thus born in the context of oppression, jazz transcended barriers of race and geography, not only becoming a universal language, but playing a role in various human rights struggles around the world.

Susan Tedeschi, Chaka Khan, Esperanza Spalding, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Robert Cray perform together. Photo credit: UN/JC McIlwaine

As Herbie Hancock noted, “Gathering in this esteemed hall, where countries put aside their differences and unite for the betterment of humankind, symbolizes the power of all music to cross boundaries, making our world more equitable, secure, and peaceful.”

Delivering the opening remarks, Ambassador Susan Rice commented on jazz’s quintessentially American origins and early development. Whenever the U.S. wanted to show its best face abroad, it sent jazz musicians as cultural ambassadors, and jazz has since been adopted by all cultures. “Like democracy itself, jazz has structure, but within it you can say almost anything,” she added.

The global reach of jazz was reflected in the line-up of musicians, such as Hugh Masekala, known for his protest music against South Africa’s apartheid regime, and Hiromi Uehara from Japan, who was so engrossed in playing the piano that she was jumping up and down while her fingers never missed a beat on the keys. Grammy award winners hailing from Australia, Benin, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Cuba, India, Japan, and the Netherlands played alongside Stevie Wonder, Wynton Marsalis, and other American masters.

Percussionist Sheila E. (centre); Grammy Award-winning guitarist Robert Cray (left); and Derek Trucks of the award-winning Derek Trucks Band perform. Photo credit: UN/JC McIlwaine

During an earlier panel discussion on the theme “Unlearning Intolerance: Jazz as a Force for Education and Dialogue,” young musicians recounted personal stories about growing up listening to jazz with their foreign-born parents. “When I was three, my father would play Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald for me and take me to jazz clubs in Chicago to hear the same jazz tunes he had loved listening to growing up in Iraq,” explained Amir ElSaffar, an Iraqi-American who plays the trumpet and an ancient Babylonian instrument.

Following the discussion, a screening of the film “Finding Carlton” by the Indian filmmaker Susheel Kurien, chronicled the little-known history of Calcutta’s (and to a lesser extent Bombay’s) swinging jazz scene. Catching on while American soldiers were stationed in India during the First World War, jazz became the cultural epicenter of India’s English-speaking population. Eventually it spawned great Indian jazz musicians, some of whom uncannily captured the sounds of American legends, and some of whom fused it with traditional Indian sounds. This too, exemplifies the universality of jazz.

Stevie Wonder may have aroused the loudest applause of the night, but it was the enthusiasm of the Beninoise singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo that got the audience up dancing and singing (in an African dialect, no less). “Jazz has its roots in Africa… and tonight we are all Africans,” she told the audience to thunderous applause.

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“I thought, I’m going to sell ice cream. I’m going to sell happiness and joy.” Kiki Katese, a Rwandan theater director featured in the documentary film “Sweet Dreams,” was looking for a way to revitalize the women of Rwanda. “I can’t build a school, I can’t rebuild a country, I can’t do big things, but there are simple things that I can do,” says Katese. Under Katese’s leadership, those “simple things” became visionary strides.

“Sweet Dreams” follows the story of Rwandan women empowering themselves, forming a female drumming troupe and an ice cream business–both previously unheard of in Rwanda. What is perhaps most unusual about this documentary is its focus upon the hopes and struggles of a post-conflict society, still recovering from a genocidal civil war.

Filmmaker Rob Fruchtman, who co-directed “Sweet Dreams” with his sister Lisa Fruchtman after she discovered the story, explains, “We think of post-conflict societies and we think: okay are they at peace? They’re not killing each other, they have enough to eat, and we sort of stop there. And our point was that no, it doesn’t stop there. They have the same need and desire that we do to have meaningful happy lives, and they should. So we have to think beyond the basics.”

International aid, attention, and concern are frequently, and justifiably, directed at issues that clearly threaten human life. Such a focus, however, risks creating an unevenly distributed understanding of rights and priorities. Fruchtman stresses that, “We can’t ignore the fact that people have the right to be happy.” On the “Sweet Dreams” website, Kiki comments that “people are not like roads and buildings.” They cannot recover so easily. The central question driving Kiki’s efforts has been, “How do we rebuild a human being?”

“On the surface people seemed easy; there was laughter, and there was ease,” Fruchtman told MediaGlobal. “But if you scratched it a little bit you saw something else.” Each year in April, Rwanda commits a month to mourning in memory of the genocide. “I’ve never seen a country change in its personality and its demeanor so abruptly and so extremely,” says Fruchtman. But he stresses that the pain and sorrow of April is there all year. Additionally, with Rwanda’s dense population, sons and daughters of victims, killers, and victims themselves literally live on top of one another. “And that creates tension, says Fruchtman. “That creates friction. And they have to find a way to get along.”

“It’s not about ice cream,” Katese adds. “It’s not about ice cream at all. That’s just a pretext.” It is about women, all devastated by the genocide, reclaiming their lives. It is a movement to elevate quality of life. Sweet Dreams underlines everyone’s need to be alive, not just living.

For more information, check out sweetdreamsrwanda.com and sign on to their mailing list.

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Paragraph 24 will call upon corporations to report on, or explain the lack of, meeting sustainability criteria. Photo credit: Ken Teegardin

Paragraph 24 of the Zero Draft document for Rio+20 was discussed yesterday to inform delegates, companies, and stakeholders of its implications. Acknowledging the beneficial impacts that corporate transparency has on investment growth, the paragraph calls for a global policy framework requiring public and private companies to publish sustainability reports.

Sponsored by the Stakeholder Forum, the session, entitled “Moving towards Meaningful Private Sector Contribution to Sustainable Development,” hosted various investment experts to answer the what, why, and how questions associated with Paragraph 24. Conclusively, the panelist’s answers stressed the critical need to have measurement standards for corporate sustainability.

There is hesitation among least developed countries (LDCs) though, who are concerned about not only a loss of sovereignty, but also a lack of national capacity to implement these measures.

“There are a few misunderstandings,” stated Teresa Fogelberg, Deputy Chief Execute of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Addressing concerns of state sovereignty, she noted that Paragraph 24 relates to private sector reporting, not national accounting. Additionally, she stressed that the reporting would be very flexible and not mandatory.

Highlighting the need to monitor resources and labor use to ensure sustainability in developing countries, Fogelberg noted that, “It would solve accountability issues and give them tools to understand what companies are doing in their countries.”

She recognized that LDCs, which already have so many other development challenges, will require assistance to ensure accurate reporting.

GRI currently has 70 certified professionals in over 100 countries training local businesses in how sustainability reporting can improve competitiveness and increase opportunities for international investments.

“Through the report we have a hook to talk to the company, to negotiate with the company. That capability to dialogue between companies and local communities, the capacity lacks in the poorest countries,” Fogelberg tells MediaGlobal.

With Rio+20 in just a few weeks, panelists agreed that it would be detrimental not to call for a convention on this topic.

“We get what we measure,” noted David Pitt-Watson, chairmen of UNEP’s financial initiative. “If we do not measure sustainability, then the road to a sustainable planet will be much harder and much longer than this low cost proposal.”

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