Inside Story reports on the “lack of vision” at Rio+20. Guests: Rick Piltz, Nnimmo Bassey, Daniel Morris. Video: Al Jazeera

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By the PMC news desk

Environmentalists have dubbed the Rio+20 conference as “embarrassing and meaningless” – with the leaders of the United States, Britain and Germany snubbing the summit, reports Al Jazeera’s Inside Story.

In contrast, multinational corporations have been well represented, leading some commentators to wonder whether in the push to attract so-called corporate stakeholders to the environmental cause, the UN summit became less about the future of the planet than about the future of corporate profits.

In the Pacific, several non-government organisations have also condemned the conference as a failure.

The conference was attended by thousands of leaders from around the world but Effrey Dademo from the Papua New Guinea NGO Act Now, says from a Pacific point of view there was little value in the meeting.

She says from a PNG perspective the discussion on mining was disappointing, with the focus squarely on the benefits of mining rather than acknowledging its destructive nature.

She says the multinationals were the winners.

“The mining text was extremely weak and mainly because of support from countries like Australia and Canada who are very much for mining, and supported by our own Pacific island countries who see mining as a key economic activity,” she told Radio New Zealand.

Inside Story sums up Rio+20
Pacific Rio+20 blog