Worldwatch Institute
European Environment Agency
Possibly others

This event explores the road towards sustainable prosperity by various means. Voices from Europe will debate and present research results on green economy and policy advices for Rio+20. These voices represent businesses, NGOs and intellectuals from Europe. To reach a broad audience, the advices from Europe will be communicated using different media, including scientific presentations, video, art and music that will be integral to the event supporting and strengthen key policy advices.

Thematic focus:
Creating a new architecture for sustainable prosperity. During the seminar, research conducted by Worldwatch Institute within the framework of the project "Build a Living Economy", will be disseminated and debated. This will be supported by the European Environment Agency's messages from Europe and policy advices.

The research highlights issues that are to be discussed at the Rio+20 Conference, and proposes principles for a greening of the economy that are durable. The focus of the messages from European businesses, NGOs and intellectuals will highlight the cultural and societal aspects that are integral for a green economy.

Speakers:
Presentations of messages for Rio+20: European Director of Worldwatch Institute, Bo Normander; President of Worldwatch Institute, Robert Engelman; Director of European Environment Agency, Jacqueline McGlade.

Panel Debate: Speakers as listed above; Executive Director of Nature Conservancy in Europe, Sascha Mueller-Kraenner; Sustainability Manager of IKEA (tbc) and a representative of UNEP (tbc).

The seminar will be accompanied by a video presentation with music and art.

Potential contribution to UNCSD/Rio+20:
A multidisciplinary approach to tackle environmental issues can be more fruitful. It is therefore that the event will use a multi-dimentional communication platform that connects science, visual arts and music. This will facilitate the exploration of the thematic focus by individuals of diverse cultures and backgrounds; thus contributing to the understanding of the issues being tackled at UNCSD/Rio+20.

The event forms part of an ongoing process under the "Build a Living Economy" project. During the days of conference and events, interviews will be conducted in order to back up the Rio+20 messages and carry these messages from Rio back to Europe.