Co-operatives made history as nations from across the world acknowledged co-operatives as important for agricultural development, jobs and poverty reduction at the Rio+20 Conference. Rio+20 is the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), 20 years after the original 1992 ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Co-operatives were included in the outcome document for the conference three times and have been called an ‘important milestone’ by the International Co-operative Alliance. Dame Pauline Green, the President of the ICA said: “Members and supporters of co-operatives have long known - co-ops help lift people out of poverty, advance gender equality, give back to the community and address head on the critical issues of sustainable development. What nations did in Rio today was to state that case in writing.” Besty Dribben, the ICA Director of Policy, has been involved in the negotiations for the document since January 2012, she said many ministers and ambassadors told her that in their countries — rich or poor — co-operatives were important. She admitted that the negotiations had been slow and often frustrating, however, she added, at the end of the day they could all agree ‘that co-operatives build a better world’. “Just as we’ve been saying over and over again in this UN International Year of Co-operatives - this values based business model can really make good things happen. Now country leaders at the Rio signing have made it clear ‘they finally get it.’” Co-operatives received major support from the Brazillian Government and the Canadian delegation which began the negotiations in January at the UN in New York City by asking that support for agricultural co-operatives. Ms Dribben continued: “We’re grateful that even when the going got tough Brazil stood tall on pressing colleague countries to keep co-operatives wording in the text.” The document was signed off by nations’ on Friday 22 June, over 190 countries attended the event.
