This issue of the South Bulletin focuses on the Rio Plus 20 Summit to be held in 20-22 June in Brazil.  The meetings actually begin on 13 June.

Twenty years after the Earth Summit the world faces even more serious crises in the environment and the economy.  Will Rio+20 do better in rising to the challenge of tackling the global crises?

After two years of negotiations, the Summit meetings are now underway.  But the outcome of the Summit is still far from decided. There are still many issues that are not settled and the delegations will be working frantically to try to complete the Declaration or Plan of Action before the political leaders arrive.

This issue of the Bulletin analyses the key issues to be decided at Rio, including reaffirming the Rio commitments, the Green Economy, sustainable development goals, finance and technology.

The prospects are not too good at the moment, as many developed countries seem reluctant to renew their Rio commitments.

Besides the Rio+20 summit, the Bulletin also reports on important events and negotiations of recent weeks:

• The UN General Assembly dialogue on the global economy and financial crisis, which was attended by some political leaders, and where South Centre made a speech
• The UNFCCC climate talks at Bonn, the first one since the Durban conference of parties.  The progress was slow and the Parties fought over what the decisions in Durban really mean.   This shows how difficult will be the road ahead in the climate negotiations.  We also report on the Equity issue which has emerged as an important topic in the climate talks.