Under the rain at the Athlete Park

Luisa Massarani
Latin America regional coordinator, SciDev.Net

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It probably wasn’t the best day for visiting Athlete Park, in front of Riocentro, where the UN Summit is being held: I arrived there soaking wet.

The site is home to pavilions and tents where government and intergovernmental organisations publicise their programmes and products related to sustainable development.

Brazil, of course, has a strong presence , with it’s own national pavilion plus other spaces occupied by public (or private) companies. Furthermore, the Amazon states joined efforts to show more about the local culture and biodiversity.

Other countries are also present including Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom.

Many of the stands followed the traditional approach of distributing leaflets, pens and edible treats such as delicious banana chips.

Others employed alternative strategies to attracting visitors. The Rio de Janeiro stand, for example, calls attention by using wooden boxes, plants and images and an exhibition with beautiful images. It includes a google map to allow visitors to virtually visit the city, including an exciting view of Corcovado (the famous statue of Christ).

The project for natural colored cotton, presented as an agricultural innovation, shows giants balls of – now rain-soaked – cotton.

Furnas, an energy company linked to the Ministry of Energy, exhibited a 5D movie on sustainable development – which proved to be a bit of a weird experience!

A series of debates and side events are also being held on a wide range of topics from the impact of climate change on hill mountains to country collaboration agreements, and renewable energy.

This blog post is part of our coverage of Rio+20: United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. To read news and analysis on Science at Rio+20 please visit our website.