An innovative platform marked the discussion on sustainable development at Rio +20. With the Dialogues for Sustainable Development, a participatory and inclusive process for representatives of civil society to make recommendations to the High Level Segment of the Conference took place for the first time in a UN conference.

The dialogues consisted of ten rounds of discussion, with ten participants in each, which addressed priority issues on the international agenda of sustainability. They were carried out during the Rio+20 Conference, at Riocentro, between June 16 and 19.

The Dialogues had an average audience of 1.300 people and its debates were broadcast live at the UN’s website.

In each round, three proposals were chosen, one by the speakers, one by the participants of a session and one by Internet users. In the end, the thirty most voted suggestions were taken directly to the Heads of States and Governments attending the Conference.

The most interesting thing is that the topics discussed in each panel were chosen by people from different parts of the world. The process started in April and involved some 30 representatives from universities and research centers in the world who coordinated open discussions on the internet. The proposals could be voted online and more than 63.000 people from 193 countries have cast about 1.4 million votes.

The topics discussed were 

(1) Unemployment, decent work and migrations, 

(2) Sustainable development as an answer to economic and financial crises,

(3) Sustainable development for poverty alleviation, 

(4) The economics of sustainable development, including sustainable production and consumption standards, 

(5) Forests, 

(6) Food and nutrition security, 

(7) Sustainable energy for all; 

(8) Water 

(9) Sustainable cities and innovation; 

(10) Oceans.

It is expected that the Heads of States and Governments, and other members of the Roundtable, would take note of the set of 30 recommendations and would consider ways to continue the experience of the Dialogues.