IfE’s top priorities right now are the global Equity Treaty and the local Equity & Sustainability Field Hearings. The Equity Treaty, convened by IfE and involving organizations from each continent, will facilitate a broad-based civil society dialogue on how equity should be incorporated into multilateral agreements to promote sustainability. The Equity Treaty will be presented at the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June 2012, and will also constitute an action plan for supporting organizations after Rio.
The Field Hearings (interviews, focus groups and public meetings), conducted by 38 academic and civil society partners, are gathering the views of those who are unable to submit input via internet or travel to Rio. Responses will be compiled and taken to Rio in June. Your input is essential to develop meaningful language for this Equity Treaty, to help negotiate the difficult tradeoffs among different parts of the world, and to build the momentum for groups and communities to sign on.