By: Bridget Burns, WEDO Project and Communications Coordinator

For the past few days, WEDO team members have been actively (and eagerly!) participating in the 12th Forum of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) in Istanbul,Turkey. A gathering of thousands of feminist activists from around the world, the AWID Forum is a space for engaging in transformative dialogue on progress, challenges, opportunities and next steps for the women’s movement.

On Earth Day, WEDO is proud to take to the streets with our fellow feminists for a march in Istanbul, led by a number of Turkish women’s organizations who have hosted us in their beautiful country. We will be marching with signs calling for a “just and sustainable world” a “peaceful and healthy planet” and honoring  women’s leadership for environment!

WEDO is a women’s global advocacy organization working to ensure that sustainable development policies, programs and funds include women’s rights and perspectives and aim to advance gender equality. But a sustainable world – one that includes equitable and just allocation, management of and control over resources – is in jeopardy; destructive global production and consumption cycles and unfulfilled rights are part of the reason. This Earth Day, as we approach Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, WEDO recognizes that our efforts to achieve sustainable development will be futile if the conference does not uphold the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and if it allows shifting blame or diverting attention from those most responsible for environmental damage and therefore those most obligated to act. On the road from Earth Day 2012 to the Earth Summit 2012, let’s ensure that equity and human rights remain central to any and all outcomes at Rio+20.