Each Friday, through the Brazil Portal feature “The Week in Review”, the Brazil Institute will highlight Brazil’s news topics in one concise summary.
The nation was abuzz this week with news from Rio +20, the UN’s Conference on Sustainable Development. Among the 50,000 attendees, there was some optimism about the conference’s potential to impact change, however the general mood seemed to be one of pessimism and disappointment, especially from NGO delegations. Many of the complaints were about the weakness and ambiguity of the conference’s Final Document. However, despite many deeming the conference a failure, the delegates did bring many hot-button issues to the table, including the importance of women’s rights to the environmental movement and the promotion of corporate social responsibility. For all the news on Rio +20, check the Wilson’s Center’s Rio +20 page or follow the Brazil Portal’s Rio +20 Category.
Outside of the UN Conference, this week President Dilma Rousseff and other world leaders convened at the G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico. For Brazil, the summit was evidence of the nation’s growing commitment to global concerns, as they and other developing nations stepped up to help the troubled Eurozone. In national news, a new and controversial Freedom of Information Law has been passed that President Rousseff hopes will increase transparency and cut down on corruption.
[...] also pointing to the economic implications of sustainable development. While the Conference’s outcome was met with mixed feelings, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered optimistic remarks on various international [...]