Rio+20 (15/06/2012) – Donald Sawyer, Lemann Visiting Scholar, Harvard University calls for countries to move from rhetoric to reality.

He says that while in the 90s it was easy to establish ambitious goals, they have turned out to be more rhetoric than reality and while it would be great to see ambitious and binding goals set in Rio, it is increasingly difficult with divisions between parties, economic problems around the world and a general resistance from the rich countries of the north to address problems of unsustainable production and consumption.

He talks of the important improvement that have been made in Brazil since the 1980s to protect nature and the environment but also of the step backs which have been seen in the recent changes to the countries Forest Code.