Indigenous rights groups in Brazil challenge colonial, corporate agenda of UN’s Rio+20 conference

In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, activists, indigenous groups and social movements are gathering for the opening of the People’s Summit for Environmental and Social Justice. They’ve organized their conference in direct opposition to the Rio +20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Groups accuse the UN conference of promoting the destruction of ecosystems and communities under a green façade. For more, we spoke to Alberto Saldamando, an Indigenous Zapoteka Chicano and a Human Rights lawyer working with the Global Alliance of Indigenous and Local Communities On Climate Change and Against REDDs. Saldamando joined us by phone between sessions of the People’s Summit in Rio.