13 June 2012: The Rio Conventions Pavilion (RCP) opened on 13 June 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in parallel with the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20). The Pavilion began with an event presented by the International Institute for Sustainable Development Reporting Services (IISD RS) on “Roads from Rio,” followed with a reception sponsored by the Rio Conventions (the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

During the opening event, Pamela Chasek, Executive Editor of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB), IISD RS, and co-editor (with Lynn Wagner) of “The Roads from Rio: Lessons Learned from Twenty Years of Multilateral Environmental Negotiations,” highlighted developments with regard to the evolution of the process, the actors and the issues tackled in the negotiations. She noted that the initial optimism about the promise of multilateral environment governance in shaping a post-cold war world had largely dissipated with the growing awareness of the complexity of multilateral environmental agreement (MEA) diplomacy. However, she suggested, Rio+20 could help bring forward the MEA discourse by offering greater “policy space and political will” to integrate environmental issues with development and trade imperatives.

The event also marked the official launch of ENB Mobile, an smartphone application providing real time updates on the Rio+20 negotiations, side events and the Rio Conventions Pavilion. [IISD RS Coverage of the Rio Conventions Pavilion, 13 June]