I welcome the Rio Dialogues on Sustainable Development, an on-line platform for people across the world to discuss the future we want.

A social networking initiative of the Brazilian Government supported by the United Nations, the dialogues are an attempt to create a bridge between civil society and the official proceedings of the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development.
I am very encouraged that the world's people -- including thousands of participants from non-governmental organizations, academia and government – have used this forum to come up with 100 recommendations in ten critical areas -- water, oceans, food, energy, forests, employment, cities, poverty, economic crises and sustainable production and consumption.

I urge even greater participation in the next phase of this initiative: on-line voting, starting on 5 June, World Environment Day, and continuing for ten days, to determine which of those recommendations will be presented formally to the world leaders who will gather in Rio.  Go to vote.riodialogues.org.  Tell us what you think.   Those votes -- the voices of the people -- can make a difference in building a prosperous, equitable, stable and sustainable world for all.