Vladimir Platonow      Reporter Agência Brasil

Rio de Janeiro – The former minister of Environment and former presidential candidate (who got 19 million votes in the first round against Dilma Rousseff and Jose Serra in 2010), Marina Silva, speaking at the Summit of Indigenous Peoples at the Rio+20 United Nations Sustainable Devlopment Conference declared that there is still time to salvage the event. Participating in a public act against the new Land Use Law (“Código Florestal” – “Comitê em Defesa das Florestas e Desenvolvimento Sustentável contra o Código Florestal”) Ms Silva said that the fate of the conference is in the hands of world leaders, but that Brazil has an important role to play.

“The economic crisis cannot push the environmental crisis aside. Brazil has the prerogative to make decisions. It is a grand opportunity to reexamine commitments and correct our course. The responsibility is not ours alone, but as the host of Rio+20 we have a greater responsibility,” she declared. 

Silva called on Brazil to lead by example. “That is what the country has to do. We did it in Copenhagen. We embarrassed others who wanted to do less by making a commitment to establish goals for carbon reduction.”

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Ainda há tempo para salvar a Rio+20, diz Marina Silva na Cúpula dos Povos