The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

held in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

from June 3 to June 14, 1992. Earth Summit was created as a response for

member state A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign states ...

s to cooperate together internationally on development issues after the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. Due to issues relating to

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

being too big for individual member states to handle, Earth Summit was held as a platform for other member states to collaborate. Since the creation, many others in the field of sustainability show a similar development to the issues discussed in these conferences, including

non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

(NGOs).

Issues addressed

The issues addressed includes: * systematic scrutiny of patterns of production—particularly the production of toxic components, such as

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

, or poisonous waste including radioactive chemicals * alternative sources of energy to replace the use of

fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels m ...

s which delegates linked to global

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

* new reliance on

public transportation Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

systems in order to reduce vehicle emissions, congestion in cities and the health problems caused by polluted air and smoke * the growing usage and limited supply of

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

* importance of protecting the world's oceans.

Development

An important achievement of the summit was an agreement on the Climate Change Convention which in turn led to the

Kyoto Protocol The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (part ...

and the

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, Climate change a ...

. Another agreement was to "not to carry out any activities on the lands of

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

that would cause

environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment (biophysical), environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; an ...

or that would be culturally inappropriate". The

Convention on Biological Diversity The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty. The Convention has three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity); the sustainable use of its ...

was opened for signature at the Earth Summit and made a start towards a redefinition of measures that did not inherently encourage the destruction of natural

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

s and so-called

uneconomic growth Uneconomic growth is economic growth that reflects or creates a decline in the quality of life. The concept is used in human development theory, welfare theory, and ecological economics. It is usually attributed to ecological economist Herman ...

World Oceans Day World Oceans Day is an international day that takes place annually on 8 June. The concept was originally proposed in 1992 by Canada's International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) and the Ocean Institute of Canada (OIC) at the Earth Summit ...

was initially proposed at this conference and has been recognized since then. Although President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

signed the Earth Summit’s Convention on Climate, his EPA Administrator William K. Reilly acknowledges that U.S. goals at the conference were difficult to negotiate and the agency’s international results were mixed, including the U.S. failure to sign the proposed Convention on Biological Diversity. Twelve cities were also honored with the Local Government Honours Award for innovative local environmental programs. These included Sudbury in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

for its ambitious program to rehabilitate environmental damage from the local

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

industry,

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

for its

green building Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planni ...

strategy, and

Kitakyūshū is a city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fukuoka. It is one of ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

for incorporating an international education and training component into its municipal

pollution control Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

program. The Earth Summit resulted in the following documents: *

Rio Declaration on Environment and Development The 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" (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit. The Rio Decl ...

Agenda 21 Agenda 21 is a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. It is a product of the Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. It is an action age ...

Forest Principles The Forest Principles (also Rio Forest Principles, formally the Non-Legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests) is a 1992 document ...

Moreover, important legally binding agreements (

Rio Convention Rio Convention relates to the following three conventions, which were agreed at the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. At the Earth Summit, the decision-making process was tailored to promote a sustainable planet for future generatio ...

) were opened for signature: *

Framework Convention on Climate Change The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established an international environmental treaty to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system", in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in th ...

(UNFCCC) At Rio it was agreed that an International Negotiating Committee for a third convention the

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (UNCCD) is a Convention to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought through ...

would be set up. This convention was negotiated within two years of Rio and then open for signature it became effective in 1996 after receiving 50 ratifications. At this stage, youth were not officially recognised within climate governance. In order to ensure compliance to the agreements at Rio (particularly the

and

), delegates to the Earth Summit established the

Commission on Sustainable Development The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was a body under the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) tasked with overseeing the outcomes of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development/Earth Summit. It ...

(CSD). In 2013, the CSD was replaced by the

High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development The United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) is a subsidiary body of both the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Economic and Social Council responsible for the entire organization's policy on ...

that meets every year as part of the ECOSOC meetings, and every fourth year as part of the General Assembly meetings. Critics point out that many of the agreements made in Rio have not been realized regarding such fundamental issues as fighting

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

and cleaning up the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

Green Cross International Green Cross International is an environmentalist organisation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, founded by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993. Today, member organisations are in 30 countries. Its primary mission is to "respond to ...

was founded to build upon the work of the Summit. The first edition of Water Quality Assessments, published by WHO/

Chapman & Hall Chapman & Hall is an imprint owned by CRC Press, originally founded as a British publishing house in London in the first half of the 19th century by Edward Chapman and William Hall. Chapman & Hall were publishers for Charles Dickens (from 1840 ...

, was launched at the Rio Global Forum.

Youth

Although youth were not given specific recognition, there was a significant youth turnout at UNCED. Youth were involved in negotiating Chapter 25 of Agenda 21 on Children & Youth in Sustainable Development.

"25.2 It is imperative that youth from all parts of the world participate actively in all relevant levels of decision-making processes because it affects their lives today and has implications for their futures. In addition to their intellectual contribution and their ability to mobilize support, they bring unique perspectives that need to be taken into account."

Two years prior to UNCED youth organized internationally to prepare for the Earth Summit. Youth concerns were consolidated at a World Youth Environmental Meeting, Juventud (Youth) 92, held in Costa Rica, before the Earth Summit.

“The involvement of today’s youth in environment and development decision-making…is critical to the long term success of Agenda 21” (UNCED 1992).

Parallel to UNCED, youth organized the Youth '92 conference with participation from around the world. Organising took place before, but also afterwards. Many youth participants were dissatisfied with the rate of change.

References

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
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3-14 June 1992

Water Quality Assessments pdf

Video: Severn Suzuki, 12 years old, speaks for Environmental Children Organization UNCED 1992

Address at Rio Earth Summit

Tenzin Gyatso The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

Dalai Lama
Agenda 21 at the Center for a World in Balance
* A critica
New Internationalist
keynote about th
1992 Rio Earth Summit

Rio Summit
articles at the India Environment Portal
Rio+20 on India Environment Portal
{{Portal bar, Politics, Environment, Ecology United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Environmental conferences 1992 in the environment 1992 in Brazil United Nations conferences on the environment Diplomatic conferences in Brazil 20th-century diplomatic conferences 1992 conferences 1992 in the United Nations Politics of Rio de Janeiro (state) 20th century in Rio de Janeiro June 1992 events in South America

Issues addressed

Development

Youth

See also

References

External links