A rights based analysis of the zero draft of the Rio+20 document
In preparation for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development or Rio+20, which will take place in June, Both ENDS published a document in February to start the discussion on the progress of events. In this policy note, Both ENDS has made some suggestions to improve "the Future we want" which is the 'zero' draft of the negotiating document, in an effort to maximize the chance of a successful outcome of the conference.
Urgency
Although the global focus on sustainable development has increased significantly since Rio 1992 and has led to international negotiations and national debate, few measures are now legally binding or linked to accountability mechanisms and the Rio agreements have met with very limited implementation. This is alarming because meanwhile ecological degradation and poverty is only expanding. In order to honour the agreements of 1992, the zero draft should be an evaluation of the progress of the agreements until now and monitor which areas require further attention.
Social and cultural value of nature
Although the zero draft refers to the 27 basic principles laid down in Rio '92, it focuses mainly on the Green Economy, the new discourse on sustainable development. It focuses on the link between economic interests and environmental protection and hereby does not acknowledge the social and cultural bond people have with nature: the environment is represented as instrumental to the economic development of people. This instrumentalist approach of the zero draft is insufficient; as agreed in 1992, sustainable development requires an integral approach addressing the ecological, economic and social dimension at the same time. This should be the guiding principle for the Rio +20 negotiations.
Right to sustainability
Since 1992 there have been new insights and developments in the discourse on human rights. The term 'development' is being redefined to a right for every individual person. This redefinition has implications for policies and their implementation: because development is now a general human right, no one can be excluded from policies. All people have the right to sustainable development. Along this line, some remarkable documents have departed from the human right to sustainability. They are based upon extensive consultation and participation from stakeholders. These international documents, such as the Earth Charter, IAASTD and the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams lack formal recognition by the international community. Rio+20 should get these documents out of the policy limbo if they are to play the role they were designed for.
Responsibility
People, the private sector and NGOs should all play a role to achieve sustainability. The global action for the transition towards sustainable development lies with the international community and therefore with the UN and the national governments. However, within the UN there is no central coordination, nor a clear division of roles regarding sustainable development. The clarification of this responsibility is lacking in the current draft. Finally, the Rio+20 conference should conclude with a roadmap that consists of politically binding targets in order to meet global Sustainable Development Goals that reflect an integrated and balanced treatment of the three dimensions of sustainable development.
To read the full policy note click here:
Read more about this subject
-
News / 17 July 2025
Both ENDS Calls on AIIB to Halt Forced Evictions in Mandalika
Together with Indonesian CSOs Both ENDS is calling on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to intervene and direct its client, the Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), and its borrower, the Government of Indonesia, to immediately halt this week's ongoing forced evictions in Tanjung Aan Beach and surrounding areas in Mandalika, Lombok.
-
News / 17 July 2025
Call on the UN to Investigate Serious Human Rights Violations in Mozambique
UN urged to investigate allegations of severe Human Rights violations committed by Mozambique Security Forces at gas site. Local chiefs in Mozambique and international NGOs warn that current inquiries lack independence and fail to guarantee justice and protection for victims. They call for an investigation led by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as the only way to ensure a fair, impartial, safe and victim-centred process. The inquiry should also investigate members of the Joint Task force in charge of protecting the site of TotalEnergies Mozambique LNG Project.
-
Blog / 17 July 2025
A disaster for farmers: here and there
The trade agreement with South America is harmful to farmers, the climate, and biodiversity, on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s time to take this deal off the table once and for all, argues Fernando Hernandez, Senior Policy Officer for Trade and Investment at Both ENDS.
-
News / 16 July 2025
Case Study: Women Advocating for Gender and Climate Justice in Burkina Faso
The Women Environmental Programme Burkina Faso (WEP BF or WEP) is leading the way in gender-just climate solutions, putting the power of advocacy directly into the hands of women farmers. “In Burkina Faso, women play a crucial role in food production and natural resource management, yet they continue to face systemic barriers to land ownership,” explains a WEP team member. “Despite legal provisions, deeply ingrained customary norms remain dominant, restricting women’s access to land as user rights only, which need to be mediated through male family members.” Without secure access to land, they face significant obstacles in sustaining their agricultural activities, improving local food security, and fully participating in their communities.
-
News / 16 July 2025
Case Study: Fighting Environmental Transphobia and Social Fragmentation in Brazil
In the face of environmental transphobia, a form of discrimination where trans and gender-diverse communities are disproportionately impacted by environmental degradation,excluded from climate policies, and often met with stigma and exclusion by environmental justice movements, Grupo Orgulho, Liberdade e Dignidade (GOLD) has emerged as a bold and visionary force for change in Brazil. At the heart of this movement is Débora Sabará ,GOLD’s leader, a travesti activist who has fought tirelessly to place the perspectives andneeds of LGBTIQAPN+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, Queer, Asexual, Pansexual, Nonbinary and other identities), Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian communities at the center of environmental justice conversations.
-
News / 16 July 2025
Case Study: Community Paralegals Defending Land Rights from Extractive Industries and Land Grabs in Mozambique
Across Mozambique, land represents more than just territory. It is the cornerstone of livelihoods, culture, and autonomy for many communities. When companies arrive, claiming large portions for mining, oil exploration or agribusiness, residents face significant challenges in asserting their rights. Mozambique’s Land Law (1997) grants communities user rights, ensuring they can occupy and use land for subsistence and cultural purposes.
-
News / 16 July 2025
The challenges of climate change, gender inequality, and conflict
This FCDO-supported project, part of the GAGGA programme, brought together 6 women-led community-based organisations from around the world to explore how they navigate the combined challenges of climate change, gender inequality, and conflict. Through a Feminist Participatory Action Research approach, the organisations documented strategies ranging from land rights advocacy to climate-resilient agriculture, highlighting how extractive industries, militarisation, and patriarchal systems drive exclusion and insecurity. Their findings are now informing donors and policymakers on the need to support grassroots women’s leadership. In the following interview, the project lead shares more about the research, key insights, and its broader impact.
-
News / 10 July 2025
Both ENDS and Global Witness condemn harassment of anti-reclamation activists in Manila Bay
Global Witness and Both ENDS strongly condemn the reported of harassment and surveillance by the Armed Forces of the Philippines of environmental activists and fishing communities in Navotas, Philippines. Pamalakaya-Pilipinas, a National Federation of Small Fisherfolk Organisation in the Philippines, has received credible reports that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are engaged in “red-tagging” their members.
-
News / 10 July 2025
Shell's Silent Exit: Evading Accountability in the Niger Delta
Following Both ENDS & Kebekatche Women Development & Research Centre participation in Shell’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and a formal follow-up in writing, the response received from Shell plc raises more questions than it answers.
-
News / 2 July 2025
-
Blog / 2 July 2025
Women at the frontlines of climate action: local power for global change
By Tamara MohrLast week, GAGGA, the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action, with Both ENDS as one of the Alliance members, together with FCAM and Mama Cash, organised its Global Meeting in Indonesia. The goal of this meeting was to recognise, celebrate and look ahead at cross-movement and cross-regional connections, to strengthen the collective power of gender, climate and environmental justice movements.
-
Publication / 1 July 2025
-
News / 24 June 2025
Indigenous communities in Panama obtain recognition and partial mitigation measures by Development Banks FMO and DEG in relation to the Barro Blanco dam
Both ENDS and SOMO welcome the signing of the agreement of understanding between four Indigenous Ngäbe communities in Panama and the European development banks FMO and DEG on June 17th 2025. The arrangement includes a community development program that, together with a public statement issued by the banks, aims to recognize and mitigate some of the negative impacts caused by the Barro Blanco hydropower dam. We wish to congratulate the community-based organisation Movimiento 10 de Abril (M10) for its perseverance to seek justice for the affected communities, and we acknowledge the commitment of FMO and DEG to pursue a solution to their long-standing dispute with the communities arising from their partial financing of the hydropower project since 2011.
-
News / 23 June 2025
Who benefits from better protection of our oceans?
The ocean emerged strengthened from the UN Ocean Conference in Nice. More countries are supporting a ban on deep-sea mining, more marine protected areas are being established, and more pledges are being made to fight pollution. The question now is whether countries will follow through on their commitments. Because the ocean movement faces a camp of powerful interests.
This article was originally posted in Dutch on MO*Magazine.
-
article / 13 June 2025
-
News / 6 June 2025
Both ENDS at the UN Ocean Conference: voicing our environmental justice concerns about the “Blue Economy”
Next week, the United Nations Ocean Conference will take place in Nice, France. This conference is focused on the conservation and sustainable use of coasts, seas and marine resources. Both ENDS colleague Murtah Shannon will be attending. We’ve asked him to explain a bit more about his plans.
-
News / 5 June 2025
Op-ed: New trading partners, but not on the same terms
Since President Trump's trade war and tariffs, international trade has once again been thrust into the spotlight. In Europe and the Netherlands, there are growing calls for new free trade agreements to be concluded as quickly as possible, as reflected in recent opinions in FD and de Volkskrant. But that is the wrong reflex, writes our colleague Marius Troost.
-
News / 4 June 2025
Demanding Shell’s Accountability for decades of pollution in Niger Delta
Both ENDS and our Nigerian partner Kebetkache Women Development & Research Centre attended Shell’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), on May 20th, in London, to demand transparency and accountability for Shell Plc’s opaque divesment in the Niger Delta.
-
Blog / 3 June 2025
A food forest as an inspiring oasis between monoculture fields
Recently, we visited food forest Ketelbroek with a group of colleagues. This project was initiated by food forest pioneer Wouter van Eck and our own Pieter Jansen. What a beautiful place! Located between monocrop fields of ryegrass, beetroot and potatoes, the food forest is a green oasis. Birdsong fills the air and there is a constant buzz and fluttering all around. Hares, badgers, foxes and wild boars are regular visitors. And let's not forget the beavers.
-
News / 20 May 2025
Both ENDS and partners demand Shell to clean up the Niger Delta before divesting
At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Shell in London, community leaders from the Niger Delta and international allies, including Both ENDS, are confronting Shell with a clear demand: Shell must take full responsibility for decades of pollution and human suffering in Nigeria’s Niger Delta before divesting from its on-shore oil operations.