The Stockholm+40 conference before Rio 2012

Musical demonstration outside the Stockholm+40 conference.

Stockholm+40 was a summit before the UNSCD in Rio de Janeiro 2012. Experts, organizations and "youth" were invited to discuss certain issues like
- innovation
- sustainable production, and
- sustainable consumption.

Comparisons to earlier conferences are instructive for the government spirit of 2012.

At UNCHE 1972 the government expressedly opposed a ”fair” where businesses and organizations could show their suggestions; instead they invited the public, including all associations and several environment activists from the South to a free debate at Environmental Forum. Even to the follow up in Rio 1992 a reasonable budget for movement participation was offered.

No such things at Stockholm+40. At Stockholm+40 only a few handpicked organizations were invited, together with businesspeople, and their role was fixed to giving advice to government and business.

The Stockholm + 40 conference wass a crucial legitimation of the new Swedish strategy to exclude popular participation and instead promote so-called ”green economy” as the solution to the global social and environmental crisis, where emissions trading and the cultivation of biofuels by large companies are seen as the patent solution to most problems.

So the environmental movement organized its own events which were deemed to be small and cheap:

- A Forum for global justice in Skärholmen, a Stockholm suburb

- Protests at the official Stockholm+40 conference combined with protests against a huge motorway project in Stockholm

- A social movement conference in Göteborg on conversion to an environmentally just society.