Public Lecture in preparation of the Rio plus 20 Summit by Dr. Katharina Kummer Peiry, Senior Advisor, International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC), United Environment Programme (UNEP) and Former Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Basel Convention (2007-2012). She is a specialist in international environmental law and policy and considered to be among the top specialists regarding the Basel Convention since the publication of her doctoral thesis with Oxford University Press in in 2000.