Continuing our reports from the UN Rio +20 sustainable development summit last week…
Dr. Miguel Altieri, Professor of Agroecology at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, speaks on agroecology, hunger, global action, and social movements at the Rio+20 Earth Summit. Dr. Altieri is a leading scholar of ecological agriculture or “agroecology,” conducting and writing landmark studies and reports demonstrating how biodiverse agriculture systems are better for the health and culture of people and the environment. Cultivating biodiversity, Altieri argues, is the core of traditional forms of agriculture which, more than ever, need to be respected, practiced, studied, and spread in the 21st century.
Christine von Weizsacker, one of the foremost leaders in Europe on sustainability, and President of the board of both Women of Europe for a Common Future and European Network on Ecological Reflection, discusses the Rio+20 Earth Summit, gives insight into the future of sustainable development, and provides a call to action for citizens and activists to act for the future.