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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – This morning, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) kicked off in Brazil.

From June 20-22, 2012, the conference brings together around 50,000 persons: heads of states and delegates, business leaders and the private sector, NGOs, journalists, environmentalists, activists, indigenous groups and civil society, as they seek to eradicate poverty, world hunger, social inequity and climate change.

The original 1992 Earth Summit (also held in Rio, hence Rio+20) sought to put the issue of sustainable development at the forefront of the United Nations’ work.

The 20-year anniversary of the original 1992 Earth Summit takes place amidst two of the greatest challenges facing the international community: the greatest economic downturn in modern history and an environmental tipping point, climate change.

A new study published recently in the journal Nature warns that we are fast approaching irreversible climate change.