The rio conference 1992 pdf

It is estimated that one third of the deaths in the third world are caused by food and water contaminated with human or industrial waste. Agenda 21 addresses all those groups and professions involved in the achievement of its goals. This will lead to an increase in the transfer of environmental technologies and highlights the need for financing from the industrialized world to the developing world. A number of contentious Agenda 21 issues were not agreed upon prior to the conference, including forest protection, desertification, financing, and who would oversee implementation of Agenda The developing countries suspect that the preservation of their forests is advocated only so that these can act as a sink for the carbon dioxide produced in the West.

The North-South standoff on this point was resolved by changing the language to read, "the parties will consider calling for a treaty on forest issues. Desertification affects one-quarter of the earth's landmass and is a particular problem in Africa. Over countries and some million people are affected by it, with Australia, the U. It can be combated by reforestation, afforestation and soil conservation. The wording describing the issue of desertification raised opposition from the South, which wanted a firm commitment to negotiate a treaty, whereas the U.

The final outcome was a call for the adoption of an international convention on this subject. The final major area of contention concerned who would oversee the implementation and finances of Agenda Most countries wanted the establishment of a new UN monitoring agency to be called the Commission for Sustainable Development. This was finally agreed to but the details of implementation have not yet been determined.

The World Bank's environmental record has been poor and the Third World has had little influence over it in the past. In the compromise agreed to the funds will be directed through a variety of entities including the GEF, regional banks and bilateral aid.

It is believed that the minimum amount of funding needed to implement Agenda 21 was not committed. It was hoped that the average assistance would amount to 0. Only Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands have reached that goal.

In funding calculations, environmentalism is often perceived as costly and involving expensive technologies and measures. Those opposed to increasing funding do not take into account the longer term benefits that would accrue or the economic opportunities in environmental fields; they do not encourage the adoption of more environmentally friendly economic development in Western countries.

Governments agreed that durable solutions must be found to the debt problems of low and middle income nations. Creditors were requested to provide debt relief to the poorest heavily indebted countries that are pursuing structural adjustment. Delegates largely avoided the population issue and its relation to poverty and development.

George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had hoped that his statements on Rome's doctrinal opposition to artificial birth control would help put the issue on to the agenda at the Earth Summit, in spite of the Vatican's efforts to keep it off. On the other hand, it is naive to believe that the population crisis is not a large problem and the cause of much environmental degradation.

The developing world must slow its population growth and the developed world must use fewer resources per person. Both approaches are important. Lastly, the use of environmental destruction as a weapon of war was not examined, nor was the need for more open trade and its environmental and developmental impacts. In his address at the Earth Summit on 12 June , Prime Minister Brian Mulroney pledged Canada's full support for the funding of international action to fulfil the environmental Conventions agreed to in Rio.

Canada agreed to consider an increase of new money to this fund to support environmental projects in the developing world. Mulroney said the national objective was to raise the level of Canada's official annual foreign aid from 0. Other aid packages were announced at the summit. The state of the world's forests calls for action; as a result of exploitation, fire, acid rain and alternative land use, they may not be sustainable. Deforestation is fast becoming one of the most pressing environmental issues.

It contributes to global warming, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, desertification and flooding, as well as depletion of an otherwise sustainable resource.

Deforestation is a global phenomenon that is most prevalent in the tropics, where demographic pressures convert forests into other land uses. This had increased to 1.

The developing countries are losing their forests to agricultural clearing, settlement, fuel, building materials and export. Although these are all valuable for mankind, trees and forests provide other essential services by modulating climate, acting as carbon sinks, moderating the water cycle and supporting biodiversity. This loss is not restricted to the tropics. The Earth Summit did not produce the convention on world forest management sought by Canada and several other countries.

It did agree on a declaration of principles for future progress, as a result of the efforts of the G-7 group of industrialized nations. Though it was originally intended to be a legally binding forest convention, some environmentalists believe it was so watered down that it is less stringent than the World Bank standards already in place. Efforts by the Western governments to persuade tropical countries to accept international supervision of their rainforests ended in failure.

India, China and Malaysia were the most vocal opponents to any suggestion that their natural resources should be "internationalized. All that survived was a general statement about balancing forest exploitation with conservation and a basic commitment to keep "forest principles under assessment of their adequacy with regard to further international cooperation on forest principles.

The document is a non-legally-binding authoritative statement of principles for a global consensus on the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests. The five program areas are as follows:.

Canada promoted the development of a convention on forests at the G-7 Houston Economic Summit. Subsequently, Canada played a leading role in building consensus on this topic with the developing countries during the PrepCom meetings. Canada's objectives for the statement were to:.

Forestry is vital to the Canadian economy. Canada announced three projects aimed at promoting sustainable management of forests.

Canada is acting nationally with the many Green Plan forestry incentives. The Green Plan promotes environmental harmony and pledges research dollars for environmentally acceptable solutions for insect and disease control and forest practices. Programs to maintain the genetic stock of Canadian forest ecosystems are planned to conserve Canada's forest diversity.

It had been hoped that the Earth Charter drafted five years ago as a moral framework for environmental development would be adopted as a legally binding document at the Conference. It affirmed the rights of all citizens to a clean environment and the rights of developing countries to pursue sustainable development.

Instead, the Earth Charter was replaced by a clause statement of principles called the Rio Declaration. The Canadian position put forward by Mr. Mulroney was to continue to urge the international community to adopt a true Earth Charter of environmental rights and responsibilities with , the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, as the target completion date.

Canada hopes that the Charter will be used to set up some soft law principles to provide international benchmarks for appropriate sustainable development. All the countries attending the conference passed a resolution committing themselves to the "conservation and sustainable use of marine living resources on the high seas.

John's, Newfoundland, in The summit set the oceans as the target for environmental protection in the s. Agenda 21 commits nations to long-term cooperative research to improve the quality of the information on the oceans and thus improve their effective management. The health of the oceans directly affects Canada in many ways. The oceans cannot support human exploitation unless it is carried out in a sustainable manner.

This has recently been brought home to Canadians through the economic and social implications of the cod moratorium and the subsequent impact on an entire region and industry. Canada had drafted the Federal Marine Environmental Quality framework included in the Green Plan initiatives prior to the convention.

This document supported all the issues at stake in Rio. This country also promoted a number of issues at the preparatory meetings and at the final negotiations in Rio, including a comprehensive approach to coastal-zone management CZM without compromising national sovereignty over living marine resources.

Canada also suggested a global strategy for the prevention, reduction and control of degradation of the marine environment from land-based activities and an institutional framework within the UN for regular consideration of ocean issues.

Canada felt the issues had been watered down and were not as strong as had initially been pressed for at the preparatory meetings. Agenda 21 firmly commits nations to new goals and objectives for CZM and control of marine pollution.

Three supplementary conferences were suggested in addition to the regular monitoring of oceans issues through the UN General Assembly. These conferences would be on CZM, degradation of the marine environment from land-based activities, and sustainable development in small island states.

How will all these promises, ideas and commitments made at Rio be implemented? The Earth Council and the International Sustainable Development Commission were suggested at the conference as possible overseeing agencies. The Earth Council is to be an independent watchdog operating outside the UN system. It will examine the legal and institutional framework of the International Agreements and instruments, and set a charter of the rights and obligations for the players in the environment and development process at the international, national and regional levels.

The International Sustainable Development Commission would most likely emerge as a permanent organization like the Brundtland Commission in Geneva. It would use moral pressure and public opinion to persuade countries to follow the policies outlined at the Rio Conference and would rely on information and evidence supplied by non-government, government, inter-developmental organizations and environmental groups.

Its duties would include monitoring, assessment and reporting on post-Rio progress. Although the Commission would have no powers of enforcement, it would be expected to influence events through moral suasion. It would in essence act as a watchdog to ensure governments kept their pledges. It was further proposed that representation on the Commission be at the ministerial level, with its first meeting be held no later than In the meantime, reports on the Commission's structure, administration and staffing are to be prepared for the General Assembly, based on the preliminary work to be done by the UNCED secretariat.

Though the negotiated positions of the participating governments at UNCED are well documented in the five major agreements, the positions of individual governments are not. The 'Earth Summit' also led to the creation of the Commission on Sustainable Development , the holding of first world conference on the sustainable development of small island developing States in , and negotiations for the establishment of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification UNCCD and an agreement on straddling stocks and highly migratory fish stocks.

See all official documents. See all press releases. Skip to main content. Toggle navigation Welcome to the United Nations. ID: University of Groningen staff: edit these data. At Rio de Janeiro Brazil , June Informal name. The Earth Summit. Juni in Rio de Janeiro statt. Saturday, June 6, Argentina will issue: Stamp "Whales" face value 0. Print: Offset lithography.