On the eve of a key United Nations Summit in Rio De Janeiro, Friends of the Earth International launched a new report exposing the increasing influence of major corporations and business lobby groups within the UN. 'Governmental positions have been increasingly hijacked by narrow corporate interests linked to polluting industries and business sectors seeking to profit from the environment, the climate and the financial crises,' said Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International. The report presents a number of cases that clearly expose how UN policies and agencies have been excessively influenced by the corporate sector.

Zambia's government estimates that some unscrupulous mining companies may owe the country up to $1 billion in unpaid taxes. What difference could that make to Zambia? A staggering one when we consider that Zambia’s external debt in 2011 was $1.6 billion. Countries like Zambia need fairer international tax rules to stop companies from dodging the taxes they owe, says this Christian Aid blog post.

A participant of the UN Summit in Rio de Janeiero was denied entry into Brazil by the Brazilian authorities. Jeremias Vunianhe, a journalist and member of Friends of the Earth Mozambique, was denied entry at the airport of Rio de Janeiro on 13 June. Vunjanhe was expected to expose the negative impacts of Brazilian mining corporation Vale at the Peoples Summit, a parallel event of the UN Rio+20 Summit. Vale is one of the official sponsors of the UN Summit. Friends of the Earth Mozambique supported hundreds of Mozambican families which were resettled by Brazilian company Vale in the Moatize district and carried out demonstrations in recent months to reclaim their rights.

The death toll of campaigners, community leaders and journalists involved in the protection of forests, rivers and land has risen dramatically in the past three years, said Global Witness. Brazil – the host of the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development – has the worst record for danger in a decade that has seen the deaths of more than 737 defenders, said the briefing, which was released on the eve of the high-level segment of the Earth Summit.

Biotech giant Syngenta has been criminally charged with denying knowledge that its genetically modified (GM) Bt corn kills livestock during a civil court case that ended in 2007. Syngenta’s Bt 176 corn variety expresses an insecticidal Bt toxin (Cry1Ab) derived from the bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and a gene conferring resistance to glufosinate herbicides. EU cultivation of Bt 176 was discontinued in 2007. Similar varieties however, including Bt 11 sweet corn are currently cultivated for human and animal consumption in the EU. The charges follow a long struggle for justice by a German farmer whose dairy cattle suffered mysterious illnesses and deaths after eating Bt 176.

Thirty per cent of threatened species are at risk because of consumption in developed world according to research made by University of Sydney. The study mapped the world economy to trace the global trade of goods implicated in biodiversity loss such as coffee, cocoa, and lumber. Years of data collection and thousands of hours on a supercomputer to process, lead to these global supply chains in amazing detail for the first time. The study evaluated over five billion supply chains connecting consumers to over 15,000 commodities produced in 187 countries. This was cross-referenced with a global register of 25,000 endangered and vulnerable species.

The global financial crisis of 2008/09 has not sent migrant workers streaming back home, despite worsening employment prospects and anti-immigration rhetoric in some destination countries, says a new book on migration and remittances, published by the World Bank. In fact, migrants may have mitigated some of the pain of the crisis as they tend to work for lower wages, receive fewer benefits and rely relatively little on the state, says the ‘Migration and Remittances during the Global Financial Crisis and Beyond’ book.

S. Ushakumari is a horticulturist in India who has been working with a public interest research organization, Thanal, for the past 22 years. Part of her life’s work is a movement which is sweeping the globe: zero waste. Instead of seeking to 'manage' waste, this philosophy and campaign aim to eliminate it. Zero waste considers the entire life cycle of material objects - natural resource extraction, processing, production, transportation, consumption, and disposal - which is exhausting the planet’s resources and creating increased pollution. This is part of 'Birthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives'.

The Worldwatch Institute has announced the launch of the much anticipated 2012 REN21 Renewables Global Status Report (GSR). GSR 2012 details worldwide developments in the renewable energy sector through 2011. The report highlights a number of key developments, including market and industry trends, investment flows, the shifting policy landscape, advancements in rural renewable energy deployment, and the evolving synergy between renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Amid continuing instability and bursts of fighting in eastern Congo, civilians keep crossing into Rwanda - where the number of arrivals since late April has passed 10,000 - and south-west Uganda. The 10,000 figure was reached last weekend and the number of Congolese refugees registered at the crowded Nkamira Transit Camp had risen to 11,339. In recent days a daily average of about 230 arrivals have been recorded at Nkamira, which lies some 20 kilometres from the Goma-Gisenyi crossing with Democratic Republic of the Congo's North Kivu province.

Mauritanian salafists cannot agree on whether to follow their Maghreb neighbours into the political arena or reject democracy as an invention of infidels. The issue has led to cracks in the movement, with extreme adherents of the salafist current vowing to mobilise against the proposal from their more moderate peers.

The People’s Summit has brought together civil society organisations from all over the world, and is seeking an alternative to the 'green economy' that will be defined by heads of state and government at the climax of the Rio+20 conference on 20-22 June. 'Native peoples know perfectly well what sustainable development involves. Our harmonious coexistence with nature is a living portrayal of our way of life, which neither destroys nor degrades,' said Sonia Guajajara, a coordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB). Miguel Palacín, a Quechua Indian from Peru and head of the Andean Coordinator of Indigenous Organisations (CAOI), said the green economy 'exists to legitimate and continue to rely on the capitalist system that has put us where we are today'.

The public debt crisis that has crippled the abilities of the Eurozone states is evolving into a banking crisis with negative ramifications worldwide, states this article from 'In such a case, the political turmoil that would ensue - along with the proliferation of conflicts, ethnic animosities and revolts - would potentially bring about the most radical transformation of the established political order that the world has seen since the 1940s. In the case of such a critical circumstances, policy makers would seek out desperate solutions, sacrificing less valuable parts of the system for the survival of the rest, implementing massive debt relief programs and considerable changes in political management practices in the Eurozone as well as globally.'

The latest issue of the South Bulletin focuses on the Rio Plus 20 Summit to be held in 20-22 June in Brazil. The meetings actually begin on 13 June. Twenty years after the Earth Summit the world faces even more serious crises in the environment and the economy. Will Rio+20 do better in rising to the challenge of tackling the global crises?

The fact that China has been given a terminal to buy US debt directly, bypassing Wall Street, must be viewed in the context of the "architecture" of global capitalism which is a product of recent decades of the rise of financial-driven capitalist globalization.

A glimpse of the African side of India shows people with severe psychotic problems apparently related to their poverty and intense subjection to racist contempt.

Armed forces and armed groups that attack schools and teachers should face consequences from the United Nations Security Council, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) said. The UN Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflict, released on June 11, 2012, highlights grave violations against children in 22 countries. Armed forces and groups in four countries were added for the first time to the UN 'list of shame' for attacking schools and hospitals.

The green economy is nothing more than capitalism of nature, states this article from 'The 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which is promoting a green economy, is the next step in the evolution of capitalism. The goal is to implement an alternative to global regimes cashing in on creation by privatizing, commodifying and selling off all forms of life - including air, water and genes, plants, traditional seeds, trees, biological and cultural diversity, ecosystems and even indigenous traditional knowledge.'

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, an independent charity, tracks the social & environmental impacts of 5100 companies worldwide. We seek a highly-motivated person, based in South Africa, to lead our work on Anglophone countries in Southern & Western Africa. NGO experience, excellent English language skills, and the right to work in South Africa are required. Fees: R190,000/year for 3 days per week work. Further details are below. Closing date 3 July.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has called for a shift in the global economic paradigm. Director-General of the global job watch body, Juan Somavia, stressed the need to turn around the current inefficient growth patterns of world economy, for a redefinition of priorities and the political conviction to overcome the dogmas of the past. Somavia said 'there has been too much ideology in defining policies and too little human sensitivity to the individuals, families, communities. Too much financial, too little social.'