Rio+20, the Green Economy and Re-Orienting Sustainable Development

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This article looks at the role played by the green economy approach to sustainable development in the run-up to and aftermath of the UNCSD 2012 (the Rio+20 Earth Summit). It examines the inherent tensions that have become increasingly apparent within the sustainable development paradigm and considers the impact of the green economy approach as espoused in the Rio+20 process on sustainability. The positions adopted by major actors (comprising institutions, states and major groups) towards the green economy in the Rio+20 process and its outcome document The Future We Want are discussed. The article reflects on the particular manifestation of the perennial North/South tensions that permeate international environmental law and governance that have been prompted by the green economy debate. It also considers new fractures in the South grouping prompted by the increasing influence calls for a less materialistic, more holistic basis for human/ environment relations. Thus, contrary to the economics-dominated agenda espoused in the Rio+20 process, the Mother Earth Rights/Pachamama approach that is being promoted by a number of South American states emerged (albeit as a minor strand) in the outcome document. The article contemplates both the disappointment of the Rio+20 process and outcome and the seeds for a more creative future that may have been sown in them.