Rio de Janeiro: Nobel Laureates, members of the UN Secretary General's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability and members of The Elders, are coming together at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to deliver a powerful message to world leaders: The time to act is now; nations urgently need to shift to a sustainable path.
The call to action came on June 18, the second day of a high-level dialogue, with eminent political, scientific, and civil society figures hosted by the organizers of the Nobel Symposium series, the UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability, and the Fundação Brasileira para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável.
The day-long event followed private meetings on 17 June, which resulted in an agreed Declaration. After a keynote statement by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, the organizers presented the Declaration to the public and handed it over to Brice Lalonde, Executive Coordinator of Rio+20.