Earth Summit
Encyclopedia
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
conference held in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
from 3 June to 14 June 1992.
Overview
172 governments participated, with 108 sending their heads of state or government. Some 2,400 representatives of non-governmental organizationNon-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
s (NGOs) attended, with 17,000 people at the parallel NGO "Global Forum" (a.k.a. Forum Global), who had Consultative Status
Consultative Status
Consultative Status is a phrase whose use can be traced to the founding of the United Nations and is used within the UN community to refer to "Non-governmental organizations in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council." Also some international organizations could...
.
The issues addressed included:
- systematic scrutiny of patterns of production — particularly the production of toxic components, such as lead in gasolineGasolineGasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
, or poisonous waste including radioactive chemicals - alternative sources of energy to replace the use of fossil fuelFossil fuelFossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...
s which are linked to global climate changeClimate changeClimate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average... - new reliance on public transportation systems in order to reduce vehicle emissions, congestion in cities and the health problems caused by polluted air and smog
- the growing scarcity of waterWaterWater is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
An important achievement was an agreement on the Climate Change Convention which in turn led to the Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
.
Another agreement was to "not carry out any activities on the lands of indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
that would cause environmental degradation or that would be culturally inappropriate".
The Convention on Biological Diversity
Convention on Biological Diversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity , known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is an international legally binding treaty...
was opened for signature at the Earth Summit, and made a start towards redefinition of measures that did not inherently encourage destruction of natural ecoregion
Ecoregion
An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...
s and so-called uneconomic growth
Uneconomic growth
Uneconomic growth, in human development theory, welfare economics , and some forms of ecological economics, is economic growth that reflects or creates a decline in the quality of life. The concept is attributed to the economist Herman Daly, though other theorists can also be credited for the...
.
Twelve cities were also honoured by the Local Government Honours Award for innovative local environmental programs. These included Sudbury in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
for its ambitious program to rehabilitate environmental damage from the local mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
industry, Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for its green building
Green building
Green building refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition...
strategy, and Kitakyūshū in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
for incorporating an international education and training component into its municipal pollution control program.
The Earth Summit resulted in the following documents:
- Rio Declaration on Environment and DevelopmentRio Declaration on Environment and DevelopmentThe Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, often shortened to Rio Declaration, was a short document produced at the 1992 United Nations "Conference on Environment and Development" , informally known as the Earth Summit...
- Agenda 21Agenda 21Agenda 21 is an action plan of the United Nations related to sustainable development and was an outcome of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992...
- Forest PrinciplesForest PrinciplesThe Forest Principles is the informal name given to the "Non-Legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests," a document produced at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment...
Moreover, two important legally binding agreements were opened for signature:
- Convention on Biological DiversityConvention on Biological DiversityThe Convention on Biological Diversity , known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is an international legally binding treaty...
- Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Critics, however, point out that many of the agreements made in Rio have not been realized regarding such fundamental issues as fighting poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
and cleaning up the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
.
The Green Cross International
Green Cross International
Green Cross International is an environmental organisation founded by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993, building upon the work started by the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil...
was founded to build upon the work of the Summit.
See also
- Ecology summitEcology summitIn March, 2008, led by green entrepreneur, Richard Stromback, and Virgin group owner, Richard Branson, some of the biggest names in the world of business and science decided to get together to find a way to resolve the persistent problem of climate change and global warming...
- International Institute for Sustainable Development (www.iisd.org)
- Precautionary principlePrecautionary principleThe precautionary principle or precautionary approach states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those...
- The Environmental InstituteThe Environmental InstituteThe Environmental Institute is a non-profit organization devoted exclusively to building and managing Integrated Biosystems that purify sewagewater in urban areas and for small farms and agro-industries in South America...
- United Nations Conference on the Human EnvironmentUnited Nations Conference on the Human EnvironmentThe United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was an international conference convened under United Nations auspices held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 5–16, 1972...
1972 - Earth Summit 2002Earth Summit 2002The World Summit on Sustainable Development, WSSD or Earth Summit 2002 took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002. It was convened to discuss sustainable development by the United Nations. WSSD gathered a number of leaders from business and non-governmental...
"Rio+10" held in Johannesburg - United Nations Conference on Sustainable DevelopmentUnited Nations Conference on Sustainable DevelopmentIn 2012 the United Nations will convene the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio 2012 or Rio+20, hosted by Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, as a 20-year follow-up to the historic 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development that was held in the same city...
also known as Rio 2012 or Rio+20, hosted by Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, as a 20-year follow-up to the historic 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). - Global MapGlobal MapGlobal Map is a set of digital maps which accurately cover the whole globe to express the status of global environment. It is developed through the cooperation of National Mapping Organizations in the world...
External links
- Documents from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (also known as UNCED or the Earth Summit) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992
- video: George Hunt reviews UNCED 1992
- video: Severn Suzuki, 13 years old, speaks for Environmental Children Organization UNCED 1992
- Address at Rio Earth Summit, Dalaï Lama
- Agenda 21 at Spencer Hofmans' Center for a World in Balance
- A critical New Internationalist keynote about the 1992 Rio Earth Summit