The Brazilian Government will host, with the support of the United Nations, the Dialogues for Sustainable Development, a forum for the civil society that will take place in Riocentro on June 16-19, in the context of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – Rio+20.

In the four days prior to the High Level Segment, chief representatives of the civil society, of NGOs and of the scientific community, among others, will meet at the same venue of the Rio+20 Conference for an open, action-oriented discussion on priority themes linked to sustainable development. There will be no participation by governments or United Nations agencies. The recommendations resulting from the Dialogues will be directly conveyed to the Heads of State and of Government present at the Summit.

The discussions will encompass ten key themes, which have been chosen according to their relevance for deepening the debate on sustainable development: (1) Sustainable Development for combating poverty; (2) Sustainable Development as an answer to the economic and financial crises; (3) Unemployment, decent work and migration; (4) The economics of Sustainable Development, including sustainable standards of production and consumption; (5) Forests; (6) Food and nutritional security; (7) Sustainable energy for all; (8) Water; (9) Sustainable cities and innovation; and (10) Oceans. All discussions will be broadcasted live at the United Nations website.

With the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the initiative of the Dialogues is being launched through a digital platform (www.riodialogues.org) with the aim of creating a broad and interactive space for discussions. The on-line discussions in each one of the ten themes of the Dialogues will be facilitated by researchers of some of the main academic centers of the world. The platform is accessible in four languages (Portuguese, English, French and Spanish), and includes an instant-translation tool of comments for 40 languages. Furthermore, the platform includes a voting system through which the chosen recommendations will be forwarded to the participants of the Dialogues.

By creating this innovative bridge between the civil society and the Heads of State and of Government, the Brazilian expects to contribute to the incorporation and engagement of the interested actors, with the  understanding that public participation is essential for promoting sustainable development as a paradigm for action.