On 10 January the UNCSD Rio+20 bureau released the zero draft of the outcome document for Rio+20, "The Future We Want": http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.php?page=view&type=12&nr=324&menu=…. This draft is based on hundreds of submissions from governments and civil society, including IEF, compiled at http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.php?menu=115. It will serve as the basis for intergovernmental negotiations leading up to the conference in June, starting in New York on 25-27 January.

The IEF collaborated with the Baha'i International Community in the launching of action plans on climate change from the major religions at a celebration at Windsor Castle in 2009. One of the outcomes was a proposal from the Mayor of Jerusalem to create a network of pilgrimage cities, and this has now been launched with the aim of making pilgrimage a greener experience.

The Climate Ethics Campaign is aiming for 1,000 endorsements of its new climate change statement by November 30th, the day the campaign plans to officially release and circulate the statement on Capitol Hill.

A representative of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha‘is of the United States recently endorsed the statement, titled “Statement of Our Nation’s Moral Obligation to Address Climate Change”

The Brazilian government and the UN have just announced (4 November) a change of dates for the Rio+20 conference to 20-22 June 2011, with the 3rd PrepCom on 13-15 June. This will be confirmed by the Bureau at the end of November. The dates of the parallel IEF Annual Conference in Rio will be changed accordingly.

Ottawa, 27 October 2011 — The Bahá’í Community of Canada has joined dozens of other faith communities and leaders in calling for new approaches to address the challenge of climate change. This initiative is among the first to bring together such a large and diverse number of religious leaders to speak with one voice to an issue of social concern.

Wilmette Institute Course
Sustainable Development and the Prosperity of Humankind

Lead Faculty: Arthur Lyon Dahl, Faculty: Karryn Olson-Ramanujan, Melinda Salazar, Carole Flood
Duration of course: Three months, Thursday, September 15, 2011 - Thursday, December 15, 2011
http://www.wilmetteinstitute.us.bahai.org/Courses.aspx
Co-sponsored by the International Environment Forum

The International Environment Forum is now a partner of the Global Ethics Forum, a project of the Geneva-based Foundation Globethics.net and its global digital ethics library. As partners we would like to invite you as members of IEF to participate in the forthcoming Conference of the Global Ethics Forum taking place in Geneva, Switzerland from 30 June to 1 July 2011.