Initiating public hearings

The World Sustainability Hearings is a collective effort of dozens of environmental and social justice organizations around the world to give a voice to people not usually represented at high-level UN negotiations. Convening at a citizens' court, the hearings present the real-life experiences of communities with "sustainable development" and the promise of the 1992 Rio conventions that equitable economic growth and an ecologically sustainable livelihood could be achieved jointly. Together with panels of scientific, religious, civic, business and political leaders, participants in the Hearings will make their own assessment of the 10-year history since the Earth Summit in Rio, alongside and in conversation with the official UN assessment down the road. In addition to organizing and coordinating the hearings at the Johannesburg Earth Summit, the project will act as a clearinghouse for follow-up activities, materials and events. These form the basis for the project's ongoing programmatic work in providing marginalized people and communities with technical capacity and logistical support for engaging in sustainability-related policy processes.