TOPIC: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment
- It is also known as United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).
- It was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the year 1992.
- Government officials from 178 countries and thousands of individuals from various governments, NGOs and media participated in this event to discuss solutions for global issues such as poverty, war, growing gap between developed and developing countries and many more.
- The emphasis of the conference was- economic and social progress depends critically on the preservation of the natural resource base with effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.
- In the late 1980s, before the Earth summit, the UNEP members decided to frame an international agreement to protect biodiversity. They worked on a draft agreement in the Nairobi Conference. In 1992, during the Earth Summit, they put forward the draft agreement and requested various countries to sign it. This signed international agreement then came to be known as ” Convention on Biological Diversity” or the “CBD”.
- Earth Summit, 1992 paved the way for three important conventions
- CBD to protect biodiversity.
- UNFCCC to reverse climate change.
- Agenda 21 to promote sustainable development.
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- The summit also led to the Rio Declaration on Environment & Development. It is a set of 27 principles designed to commit governments to ensure protection and responsible development. It was intended to be an Environmental Bill of Rights.
- The summit also gave the Rio Forestry Principles. It proposed 15 non-binding principles for the protection and sustainable use of global forest resources. These principles have often been regarded as a foundation for a process to negotiate and agree at International Forestry Convention.
- The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification was added in 1994 and is the first and only legally binding framework set up to address the problem of desertification.
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