Fair ideas highlights: Sharing solutions for a sustainable planet

Against today’s backdrop of dwindling resources, changing climates, gross inequality and financial crisis, the need for sustainable development — development that delivers for people, planet and profit — has never been greater. Governments, businesses, researchers and civil society organisations all agree that ‘business as usual’ cannot overcome the challenges we face and that maintaining the status quo is not an option. But how do we shift course? What must be done to secure a fairer, more sustainable planet? During two days of discussion and debate, a diverse range of sustainable development actors have explored effective solutions to pressing social, environmental and economic challenges, and considered the barriers to adopting these approaches more widely. From providing glimpses of a green economy to sharing innovative approaches to urban growth, and from reflecting on alternative business models to presenting tried and tested policies that reduce inequality, participants at the IIED-led Fair ideas conference in Rio de Janeiro shared solutions for a sustainable planet and signalled the way forward.