Rio+20 Conference Opens in Brazil

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon confers with colleagues just prior to the opening of the first plenary session of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, dubbed Rio+20. To either side of Mr. Ban is Yoon Yeocheol (left), UN Chief of Protocol and Muhammad Shaaban, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly Affairs and Conference Management.
The summit comes twenty years after Rio hosted the UN's landmark 1992 Conference on Environment and Development and emphasizes global policies for poverty reduction, social equity and environmental protection. World leaders are gathered for the culminating segment in an effort to produce a comprehensive political document based on sustainable development pillars.