Holy See Sponsors Rio +20 Side Event on Agriculture and Sustainable Societies

June 09, 2012: On Tuesday, June 19, the Holy See and its co-sponsors - CARITAS Internationalis, Franciscans International and the Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité (CIDSE) - will host a parallel event on the occasion of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development called Rio+20. The theme of the event is Agriculture and Sustainable Societies: Food Security, Land and Solidarity and will be held at the Rio Conference center in Rio de Janeiro, a press release revealed on Saturday.
The event seeks to provide ethical, practical and tangible solutions for promoting integral human development as promoted by Pope Benedict XVI in his Encyclical Caritas in Veritate. A thematic discussion of food security and sustainable agriculture practices by organizations, inspired by their faith, will highlight the long history of working and living with communities most impacted by the lack of sufficient, safe and nutritious foods. The event hopes to cultivate public conscience to the global moral and social responsibilities we have to each other and how, through the involvement of local communities and the support of the international community, we can realize the universal right of all human beings, without distinction or discrimination, to the right to food and water.