FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: Mr. Lucas SwanepoelOff. 212-370-7885 Ext. 26Cell. 612-669-1079lswanepoel@holyseemission.orgNew York, NY, Jun. 8 – On Tuesday, June 19, 2012 from 13:30-15:00, the Holy See and its co-sponsors, CARITAS Internationalis, Franciscans International and the Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité  (CIDSE) will host a parallel event on the occasion of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20) entitled: Agriculture and Sustainable Societies: Food Security, Land and Solidarityat the RioCentro Conference center in Rio de Janeiro, Conference room T-8.The main presenters will be His Eminence Odilo Pedor Cardinal Scherer, Special Envoy of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and Archbishop of São Paulo, His Excellency Archbishop Paul Yembuado Ouédraogo, CARITAS Internationalis and Archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, Ms. Gisele Henriques, CIDSE Policy and Advocacy Officer on Food, Agriculture and Sustainable Trade, Ms. Maria Cristina Dos Anjos, Secretary General Caritas Brazil, Ms. Maria Elena Aradas, Director of the Franciscan Center for Studies and Regional Development and Fr. Luis Scozzina OFM.The event seeks to provide ethical, practical and tangible solutions for promoting integral human development as promoted by Pope Benedict XVI in his Encyclical Caritas in Veritate. Through a thematic discussion of food security and sustainable agriculture practices by organizations, inspired by their faith, which have a long history of working and living with communities most impacted by the lack of access to sufficient, safe and nutritious foods; the event hopes to cultivate public conscience to the global moral and social responsibilities we have to each other and how, through the involvement of local communities and the support of the international community, we can realize the universal right of all human beings, without distinction or discrimination, to the right to food and water.For more information about the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, please visit the www.holyseemission.org, which contains also links to the Holy See Press Office. To learn more about CIDSE, CARITAS Internationalis and Franciscans International, please visit their respective websites: www.cidse.org, www.caritas.org  and www.franciscansinternational.org.###