Global Compact International Yearbook Ausgabe 2011

Agenda
Rio + 20
Two Decades of
UN Earth Summits
2012
1992
Rio de Janeiro
The United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED) was a milestone in international
environmental policy when it took place in Rio de Janeiro
in 1992. The main incentive for this conference was the
Brundtland Report that had been published by the World
Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in
1987. For the first time, this report dealt with the guiding
principle of “sustainable development” as well as conditions
for lasting and practicable development that would be
environmentally compatible up to the year 2000 and beyond.
The report therefore had a strong influence on the global
discussion of environmental and development policy. The
1992 UNCED, attended by some 10,000 delegates from
over 170 countries, served as a declaration that the need
for action cited in the report merited implementation in
binding international treaties. Dubbed the Earth Summit, the
conference produced five important outcome documents:
these included the “Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development,” with 27 principles that the countries
would adhere to in order to protect the environment
and sustainable development in policy, business, and
science. A Climate Change Convention was also developed
that contained an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions enough to prevent a dangerous disturbance in
the global climate. Additionally a Convention on Biological
Diversity was developed in order to protect biological
diversity. It was geared towards maintaining the diversity
of species and the sustainable use of natural resources.
The Forest Principles were more non-binding, a declaration
of intent that set out guidelines for the “Management,
Conservation, and Sustainable Development of All Types
of Forests.” Concrete goals in this area fell through amid
resistance from some of the developing countries. Also
founded during the conference was an Intergovernmental
Negotiating Committee to combat desertification (INCD)
and to prepare an appropriate Convention. This convention
entered into force in 1996 and since then has been ratified
by over 110 countries. Of special importance, however,
is Agenda 21, which was adopted in Rio and includes
suggestions for sustainable development activity. It contains
an action plan for development and environmental policy
that is primarily an appeal to governments to develop and
implement appropriate strategies and plans at the national
level. As an advanced draft of the Agenda 21 states, “The
only way to assure ourselves of a safer, more prosperous
future is to deal with environment and development issues
together in a balanced manner. We must fulfill basic human
needs, improve living standards for all and better protect
and manage ecosystems.”
Johannesburg
Ten years later, it was time to work out concrete goals
and measures on the path to sustainable development.
Some 20,000 delegates from government, business,
NGOs and local authorities came together to do so at
the World Summit on Sustainable Development in the
South African city of Johannesburg in 2002. More than
anything, the results of the conference did not live up to
the expectations held by many NGOs. Organizations such
as Germanwatch nevertheless considered it a success
2002
that at least any steps backward from the world summit
in Rio in 1992 had been prevented, and that in some areas
there had even been unexpected advances. The WSSD
in Johannesburg ended with a political declaration, the
Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development,
in which the attending heads of state and government
leaders committed to developing national strategies on
sustainability. The industrialized countries also entered
into an agreement to support the developing countries in
drafting appropriate strategies. In addition, they adopted
a 65-page Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The
main result of the world summit in 2002, however, was
the assignment and inclusion of concrete goals into the
action plan, particularly the Millennium Goals. For example,
one of the most important resolutions was to reduce the
number of people living in absolute poverty with incomes
of less than one dollar a day by 500 million by 2015. All
children worldwide should also receive a primary school
education by 2015, and the proportion of people without
access to basic sanitation should be halved by that time.
What’s more, the decline in biological diversity was to be
markedly reduced by the year 2010. But there was another
step remaining: no target indicators could be created for
the expansion of renewable energies, because the global
disparities in this area were too large.
Rio de Janeiro
Sustainable development should now get a new boost from
the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
(UNCSD), which will take place back in Rio de Janeiro on
June 4-6, 2012. The political commitment to sustainability
should be secured once again. In addition, attendees are
expected to take stock of the advances made up to this
point and to identify the remaining gaps in the commitment
to sustainability. The conference will concentrate on two
main areas. One of these is the topic of the “green economy”
in the context of sustainable development and poverty
eradication. The United Nations Environmental Program
(UNEP) defines the term “green economy” as an economy
that “results in improved human well-being and social
equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and
ecological scarcities.” The subject has already generated
debate between poor and rich countries during a preparatory
meeting in New York. According to the UN minutes of the
meeting, representatives from developing and threshold
countries feared that “greener” production structures
would stifle their economic growth. The second focus of
the conference is the topic of an “institutional framework
for sustainable development.” This includes developing and
strengthening the formal and informal bodies, organizations,
networks, and arrangements that are a part of sustainable
political decision-making and implementation measures.
An effective institutional framework is essential to the
implementation of sustainable development at all levels.
The UN has decided that the results of the conference will
be codified in a “Synthesis Report.”
Compilation: Judith Bomholt
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Global Compact International Yearbook 2011
Global Compact International Yearbook 2011 49