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Environmental Accords and Commitments
Global conferences on environmental
topics bring together governments - and often their
top leaders - to hammer out agreements that entail
a commitment to sustainable development. This is the
aim of the Johannesburg Summit, but it was also a
key issue at previous meetings.
The United Nations-sponsored
World
Summit on Sustainable Development, in the South
African city, has its precedents in the UN
Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm
in 1972, and the UN
Conference on Environment and Development, which
took place a decade ago in Rio de Janeiro.
In 1972, the governments participating
in the Stockholm meet signed an important Declaration
of Principles. This served to put the issue on
the world agenda and established humanity's responsibility
in preserving the environment. Thirty years ago, that
was an innovative proposal.
At the end of that first environmental
summit, a plan of action was also adopted. It outlined,
among other things, goals for evaluating environmental
impact and for providing education about the importance
of conservation.
Two decades later came the international
conference in Rio, also known as the Earth
Summit, which introduced the notion of sustainable
development as a central element in the strategy to
save the planet.
In Rio de Janeiro, it became
evident that it would be difficult to negotiate agreements
related to the environment because countries had different
priorities and strategies. Even so, at the end of
that summit, in which more than 100 heads of state
and delegations from 170 nations took part, five important
documents were signed.
These five conventions are considered
a landmark achievement, even though there are valid
doubts about the political will of some governments
to achieve the established goals.
The Earth Summit produced the
Rio
Declaration, in which the first principle states:
"Human beings are at the center of concerns for
sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy
and productive life in harmony with nature."
The 1992 summit also produced
the Convention
on Biological Diversity, the Declaration
of Principles on Management, Conservation and Sustainable
Development of Forests, and the Framework
Convention on Climate Change, whose texts required
intense negotiations.
But perhaps the most important
document was the Agenda
21, an action plan for achieving sustainable development
in the 21st century. The text clearly sets forth the
main challenges entailed in reaching that goal, and
outlines actions to do so.
One of the objectives of the
Johannesburg Summit is to assess compliance with the
actions laid out in Agenda 21. However, over the last
several months, evaluations
have been published that show the international community
is far behind keeping those goals.
World
Summit on Sustainable Development - Johannesburg
UN
Conference on the Human Environment - Stockholm
Stockholm
Conference Declaration
1992
Earth Summit - Rio de Janeiro
Rio
Declaration on Environment and Development
Agenda
21
Convention
on Biological Diversity
UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change
Declaration
of Principles on Management, Conservation and Sustainable
Development of Forests
UN
Secretary-General's Report on Implementing Agenda
21
Keeping Tabs on Rio+10
Summit
The World Summit on Sustainable
Development taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa,
Aug 26-Sep 4, is the scenario of debates of planet-wide
importance. And those who do not have the chance to
attend in person can use the Internet to keep informed
about the event.
The existence of the Internet
allows an unprecedented level of access to the unfolding
of the Johannesburg Summit. Anyone interested in the
subject no longer depends on local or major media
news providers, but can turn to direct, specialized
sources of information or to headline
search systems that cover a broad range of media
outlets.
This new access to information
creates a radically different situation than that
of the United Nations-sponsored Conference on the
Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro
in 1992, when the worldwide web was only in its nascent
stages.
The Johannesburg Summit, also
known as Rio+10, has its own official
site, which provides news and is updated constantly.
The content of that web site
are complemented by a system that allows Internet
users to obtain news and other sources related to
the conference through Johannesburg
Live!
Meanwhile, the Johannesburg World
Summit Company, which is in charge of the mega-meeting's
logistics, has its own
news center.
The conference, of course, is
being covered by specialized media like Linkages,
of the International Institute for Sustainable Development,
and by a special edition of Tierramérica
itself, and its executor agency, Inter Press Service.
The World Summit on Sustainable
Development has drawn tens of thousands of delegates
and over a hundred heads of state. In other words,
it is a newsworthy event!
Official
Johannesburg Summit Web Site
Tierramérica:
Special Edition on Rio+10 Summit
World
Summit on Sustainable Development - Live!
Linkages
- International Institute for Sustainable Development
Worldnews:
Search headlines on WSSD
Johannesburg
World Summit Company - News
IPS
- Inter Press Service (search Environment and
Development categories)
Earthtimes.org
Environmental Conferences
Thirty years ago the United Nations
convened the first world conference on the environment
and development. In 2002, on the eve of the World
Summit on Sustainable Development, to take place in
South Africa, the challenge is to create a consensus-based
action plan to save the planet.
The first meeting convened by
the UN was the Conference
on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm in
June 1972. At that time, the issue was not yet part
of the international agenda, nor was it a major concern
of governments, most of which lacked any institutions
related to environmental protection.
The final declaration of the
Stockholm meeting stressed the responsibility of humans
in preserving their natural surroundings. It was the
beginning of a debate that continues to this day.
As a result of the 1972 conference, the United
Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was created.
Twenty years passed before the
next international environmental meeting. In 1992,
the UN Conference
on Environment and Development, also known as
the Earth
Summit, drew thousands of world leaders, experts
and activists to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.
That was the highest-level global
meeting ever: 172 countries sent delegations, and
an unprecedented 107 heads of state, along with tens
of thousands of civil society representatives. The
government leaders signed a series of commitments,
the most important of which was Agenda
21, which outlines a plan of action for achieving
human development that is compatible with the protection
of the planet.
In fact, a key contribution of
that Earth Summit was the dissemination of the notion
of sustainable development, in other words, measures
that allow us to meet the needs of people today without
compromising the ability of future generations to
provide for their needs.
The Rio Conference, which had
been preceded by the successful UN Summit on Children,
triggered planning for a whole series of world
conferences under the auspices of the United Nations.
And another decade passed before
the environment once again became the subject of another
high-level meet. From Aug 26 to Sep 4 the South African
city of Johannesburg will be the scenario for the
World
Summit on Sustainable Development.
The conference is also known
as Rio+10 because it is being held 10 years after
the Earth Summit. One of the objectives is to evaluate
progress made on the commitments made in Brazil, on
protecting biodiversity and the ozone layer, for example.
But there is also the underlying challenge to launch
a new strategy for achieving true sustainable development.
Will it be possible to meet that
goal? That is the big question hovering over the Rio+10
Summit.
UN
Conference on the Human Environment, 1972
UN
Conference on Environment and Development, 1992
World
Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002
Earth
Summit Report
Environment
and Sustainable Development
Agenda
21
UN
Conferences and Events
UNEP:
Mission Statement
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