Professor John Bonine to attend Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development

Law Professor John Bonine will attend the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, joining world leaders who seek innovative solutions to poverty and other societal ills.

The conference gathers together thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups to advance social equity and ensure environmental protection for the future of the planet.

The themes for this year’s conference are “a green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty education” and “the institutional framework for sustainable development.” The conference concludes with the creation of a focused political document.

Bonine, Oregon Law LL.M. program director and Bernard B. Kliks Professor,helped to create or co-found the UO's environmental law clinic – now the Western Environmental Law Center – along with the Public Interest Environmental Law Conferences and the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide.

The United Nations Conference of Sustainable Development is named Rio+20 in honor of the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Environment Development in 1992. The conference is highly regarded due to its attendees, which include heads of state and government as well as other high-ranking officials and representatives.

Participants will discusshow to reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet. The preparations for Rio+20 have highlighted seven areas which need priority attention; these include decent jobs, energy, sustainable cities, food security and sustainable agriculture, water, oceans and disaster readiness.