Greeny News

Development Minister attend the Rio summit says the world needs to define how to share global resources

French President François Hollande, one of the few major Western leaders to participate in the Earth Summit Rio +20, this week, argues that sustainable development and the fight against poverty must be united in the agenda.

In an interview with the Guardian, Canfin, Pascal, French Minister of this new development that prepares French negotiations in Rio de Janeiro, said: "We want a single agenda to integrate sustainable development in the Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty. This does not mean that we will replace the MDGs with sustainable development goals.

"I know there are concerns about it. Say is that in today's world, where the planet is at the limit of the capacity of its ecosystem, the fight against poverty must take into account environmental issues such as water, energy, urban development. "

While David Cameron and Angela Merkel send deputies and Barack Obama has not yet confirmed, Holland will be in Rio on Wednesday junction of two French ministers. Asked if France is trying to take the initiative, while other Western powers back, Canfin, said: "France is not to take someone else's place or speak on their behalf, but just to make it a success we will be in Rio de Janeiro. because we want to work. "

Holland, who warned against the risk of failure to Rio and "words that are not satisfied by shares", is under pressure to demonstrate their environmental qualities of France and show that economic crisis has not beaten the environment and development.

French presidents are famous for their soundbites conferences on the environment - Jacques Chirac impassioned speech in Johannesburg: "Our house is on fire, but we are looking for another" still plays in a loop in the French television in the preparations for Rio +20. Holland former partner, then Minister of the Environment Ségolène Royal, has attended the last Earth Summit in Rio, eight months pregnant with her fourth child, because, he said, was too important to lose.

But environmental groups warn that the French government should move forward with concrete policies at home. Next month, the Netherlands, which has been criticized by some environmentalists for the "lack of ambition" in environmental issues in his campaign, will launch a major conference on the environment in France promising new laws. Similar environmental conference Nicolas Sarkozy was seen as cement production shortly after the first ex-president has promised to try to "save the human race", with a carbon tax then abandoned the idea.

Canfin, 37, is one of the two figures of the Green Party Holland brought the firm to its socialist party. An MEP who has founded an NGO, Finance Watch to counteract the weight of the financial lobby in the preparation of laws and regulations.

France is pushing hard on the idea of ??a green economy, arguing that the economic crisis reinvent the financial model is the only way out of the trap of austerity. Canfin denied that the green economy is a Trojan for the free market and large companies. But he said businesses should be at the center of the new technology while working within the framework of the reduction of inequalities. "We need two dimensions Those who swear by the green economy as a business and technology simply great evil, do not see the bigger picture. Likewise those who see only the concept of struggle against poverty and social dimension has been constructed historically have not understood the new order. This is why we promote the two elements together. "